A wealthy animal rights activist is breaking the Guinness World Record for the most expensive animal wedding with a “fairy tail” fete for her pooch at the Jumeirah Essex House.
A $6,000 custom wedding dress for the tiny Coton de Tulear, a $5,000 sushi spread, and a $15,000 seven-piece orchestra are just a few accoutrements set for the Thursday night puptuals valued at $250,000.
“I know, how goofy is this?” said Wendy Diamond, the pet expert and TV personality throwing the wedding for Baby Hope, her adopted rescue dog. “But it’s for an amazing cause.”
The vendors are donating their services to the black tie gala, which benefits the Humane Society of New York.
Diamond, the daughter of wedding caterers in Ohio who made herself the upper West Side’s canine queen, has raised thousands for the charity since 1999. That’s when she adopted Lucky, a Maltese who inspired her to launch her Animal Fair Media empire.
Diamond photographed Lucky with hundreds of celebs, including Betty White, Kanye West and Barbara Walters, in one of her many campaigns to stop shelters from euthanizing pets.
She was devastated when Lucky was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year and decided to give the pooch one last hurrah: an elaborate wedding to celebrate her life. But Lucky never made it — she died in June.
Diamond had been fostering Baby Hope, and knew the lovable pup was fit to pick up Lucky’s veil.
“She is the funniest dog. I am so blessed,” she said. “And Baby is really getting into this wedding!”
Baby Hope is marrying Chilly Pasternak, a Virginia poodle chosen in an online vote.
Some 250 humans (including socialites LuAnn de Lesseps and Dylan Lauren) are expected to attend. As are 50 dogs, including Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog.
“It’s going to be the sweetest wedding — and just one of the funniest evenings ever,” said Diamond. “I never need to get married, now, because this wedding has everything.”
Thursday night’s black-tie reception would make anyone’s tail wag. Diamond tapped Harriette Rose Katz, who planned Billy Baldwin’s wedding to Cheyenne Phillips, to orchestrate the nups.
Katz (who typically commands a $25,500 fee) called in favors from her favorite vendors — “All animal-lovers,” she said — who were happy to throw her a bone.
Kleinfeld couture bridal designers Michelle and Henry Roth tailored a two-toned, white French lace-encrusted dress with Swarovski crystals and a silk train for the pint-sized bride.
Floralia Decorators (the Waldorf-Astoria’s florist) has crafted a $5,300 huppah, a canopy, for the mixed-faith service. “Baby Hope is a Jewish dog,” explained Diamond. And TLC’s “Cake Boss” based in Hoboken is unveiling a top-secret wedding cake.
Tix to Animal Fair’s “Pet Wedding of the Century” don’t come cheap: seats start at $250, with “distinguished sponsors” shelling out $10,000 for a table at animalfair.com. The canine couple will vow to carry on Lucky’s cause before hitting the Hamptons Saturday for a honeymoon celebration.
