Arsenal star Theo Walcott marries childhood sweetheart Melanie Slade in Italian castle.

The footballer and his girlfriend of nine years said "I do" in a lavish ceremony in Tuscany involving 'fun, feasting and fireworks'

Aww look how happy they look

Arsenal striker Theo Walcott married his teenage sweetheart Melanie Slade in a fairytale castle and luckily for those of us who like gawping at other people's wedding photos, they had a deal with Hello! magazine. Happy days.

Mel and Theo tied the knot (gotta love that cliche) at the Castello di Vincigliata, which as you might have guessed is in Italy.

She wore a strapless, sweetheart neckline lace dress and Theo wore a white tie and grey suit.

Walcott's team-mates flew out for the wedding including Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Aaron Ramsey, Thomas Vermaelen and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.             

No doubt Theo's outspoken mum Lynn had some words to say on the happy day.

She recently blasted Stuart Pearce on Facebook for saying Walcott hadn't played enough international tournaments.

Melanie and Theo met in 2004 in WestQuay shopping centre, when she was a schoolgirl and he was playing for Southampton's youth team.

Theo and Melanie at the Harry Potter premiere back in 2010

Getty

 

She was still doing her GCSEs when Theo was selected for the England squad during the 2006 World Cup and was called 'the new Coleen McLoughlin' by the media but preferred to keep a fairly low profile and concentrate on her career as a physiotherapist.

The couple got engaged on New Year's Eve 2012 .

Melanie told Hello! magazine: 'That moment when I saw Theo waiting for me at the altar was so overwhelming. Your emotions are all over the place - you're so excited and euphoric because you're marrying this person who you love so much, but there are some nerves there too because it's such a big step.'

The full interview is in the new edition of Hello! which is out now.