Magazine scoops rivals for wedding pics

New Idea's publication of the Pitt-Jolie wedding pictures is regarded as a coup in the competitive women's magazine industry.

First came love, then came marriage - and then the big media deal.

New Idea won the New Zealand publishing rights to the official photographs of the wedding of the year: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's exchange of vows in France.

The magazine features 14 pages of the wedding at their Provence estate Chateau Miraval - an intimate affair, in which the couple's six children played integral roles.

A former women's magazine editor described the publication of the images as a coup in the intensely competitive women's magazine industry.

"It's the biggest international celebrity wedding of the year and the biggest since Kate and Wills. I would have paid a fortune for it. Watch the other two mags run Jen's Heartbreak stories."

The former editor said sales of New Idea - which goes on sale in Auckland today and the rest of New Zealand this weekend - could increase by as much as 50 per cent on the back of the official photo album.

The photographs have appeared internationally in People and Hello magazines.

The Daily Mail reported that Jolie, 39, took the unusual measure of letting her children decorate her wedding dress, walking down the aisle in a simple white satin gown and long veil that featured colourful drawings.

Her dress was created by Atelier Versace master tailor Luigi Massi. The gown featured a fitted bodice with simple thin straps, the bust complete with ruching, with a plain waist, kicking out into a full skirt.

Massi then hand-sewed the children's designs on to the back of the dress and the full-length veil.

"Luigi is like family to me and I couldn't imagine anyone else making this dress," the bride told People.

"He knows and cares for the children and it was great fun putting it together."

The Mail reported that Pitt, 50, also kept it simple, pulling a black suit from his already bulging designer wardrobe, though he had to borrow a tie from one of their sons after forgetting to pack one.

Staff reporter