Jamie Oliver and wife Jools renew wedding vows in ‘special, funny and romantic’ Maldives ceremony

The couple have been married for almost 23 years

Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools have renewed their vows in a “special” ceremony in the Maldives.

The TV chef and the former model have been married for nearly 23 years. They wed in a church ceremony in Essex in July 2000 and have five children together.

On Sunday (9 April), Oliver, 47, posted photographs from the beach ceremony on his Instagram and wrote: “Morning all, me and @joolsoliver got married again!

“Yep, after 23 years together, we thought it would be a special moment to celebrate renewing our wedding vows before the kids all start leaving the nest.

“It was really special, funny and romantic with the words in the ceremony making more sense having come this far together.”

He continued: “It seems like a blink since the first wedding which we kept very private apart from the paparazzi at the village church, we thought it would be a happy and joyful moment to share with you all this Easter.

“We’ve always dreamed of going to the Maldives and it was just as you would have dreamed, simply amazing!”

The chef, who rose to fame as The Naked Chef, thanked luxury resort company Soneva for “blowing our minds and making this moment so special and memorable”.

The first photograph in the series showed Oliver and Jools, 48, holding hands and dancing on the beach while barefoot.

Oliver wore a pastel blue suit with a white shirt while Jools wore an off-the-shoulder wedding dress.

The other images show the couple and their five children, Poppy, 17, Daisy, 16, Petal, 10, Buddy, nine, and River, three, dressed in white and pastel blue outfits as they celebrated the occasion.

Jools also shared the same images, writing: “So wonderful the first time we did it again. What an incredible memory to treasure, so happy, emotional, romantic and beautiful. Seeing the children’s little faces made the whole experience so special.”

The couple’s famous friends and fans congratulated them in the comments, including Gary Barlow, Dermot O’Leary, and Daisy Lowe.

Oliver and Jools met when he was 17 and she was 18, and married nearly 10 years later.

In 2020, Jools opened up about suffering several miscarriages, including one during the Covid lockdown. She spoke about wanting to have a sixth child but said she had to “mentally check that it’s a good idea” as she was nearly 46 at the time.

“I’m really good at going, ‘Right, I’m pregnant but it won’t work. So I’m just going to carry on’,” she told the Made by Mammas podcast. “Whereas everyone gets really into it, I really have learnt to not, because I’m kind of not very positive about it. So I feel OK.”

She added: “If I was trying for number one, I don’t know how women do it and keep doing it. I think they’re so incredible, and I think I would keep doing it… but I just feel actually, I have got five, so shut up and you know, onto the school run.”