Audrey Hepburn met her husband Mel Ferrer at a cocktail party organized by Gregory Peck her co-star in Roman Holiday.
“I was enchanted by meeting him, very interested to meet him. I’d loved his performance in Lili. The thing I remember most about that first meeting was that I thought he was so serious. He didn’t smile. I liked him… but that was all. He’d seen me in Gigi and we talked about doing a play together, the way actors and actresses do. And we said that if either of us found a play that would suit us, we’d send it to the other.” - Audrey Hepburn
Mel sent her a French play called Ondine, which Audrey liked, and rehearsals began. One thing led to another and, when Mel proposed, she accepted by sending him a platinum watch inscribed “Mad About The Boy”, from the Noel Coward song.
On September 24, 1954, they had a private civil ceremony followed by the wedding service which took place in the Burgenstock protestant chapel in Switzerland and was attended by close family and friends. The bride wore a white organdie wedding dress designed by French couturier and costume designer Pierre Balmain. It had a full midi length skirt, tiny waist and wide chiffon shoulders which suited her petite frame perfectly. She opted for a wreath of flowers sans a veil to finish the look. Sporting her signature gamine hair-cut, she walked down the aisle with her 37 year old groom who was in a navy suit with a white tie. She was 25 at the time. They honeymooned in a farm house 50 miles from Rome.
The groom, who had four children from his two previous marriages, was a Princeton educated producer, actor and director. Sadly, the ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’ star divorced him in 1968.