Two of Australia’s wealthiest families came together on Thursday for the wedding of heiress Lou Hay and property developer Jake O’Neil.
The couple tied the knot in a secret ceremony at the heritage-listed Carthona mansion in Darling Point, Sydney, surrounded by their close family and friends.
Lou, who is the daughter of the late Donald Hay, who founded cleaning products manufacturer Hayco in 1983 and built it into a major international company, stunned in a tulle wedding dress as she exchanged vows with the second-eldest son of millionaire superyacht broker and Rose Bay marina owner Denis O’Neil.
Inside the society wedding of the year: Heiress Lou Hay married property developer Jake O’Neil in a secret ceremony at a heritage-listed Sydney mansion on Thursday
Her wedding gown featured a strapless design, an embellished jewel bodice, a flowing train and romantic sheer sleeves.
The socialite wore her long dark hair loosely over her shoulders, and her makeup consisted of lashings of mascara and soft pink lipstick.
Jake, meanwhile, looked dapper in a classic black suit and bow tie.
Sealed with a kiss: Lou, who is the daughter of the late Donald Hay, who founded cleaning products manufacturer Hayco in 1983 and built it into a major international company, stunned in a tulle wedding dress as she exchanged vows with the second-eldest son of millionaire superyacht broker and Rose Bay marina owner Denis O’Neil
Blushing bride! Lou got ready at Sydney’s Crown hotel with her friends and ‘bride tribe’ ahead of her lavish nuptials
Lou, who has already changed her surname on her social media accounts to O’Neil, shared a series of stunning images from their big day on Instagram on Friday.
She simply captioned them with their wedding date, writing: ‘07.04.22’.
Jake’s sister Poppy O’Neil Tzaneros shared a sweet tribute to the bride and groom on their wedding day, writing: ‘Mr and Mrs O’Neil! Couldn’t be more proud and happy for my brother, marrying the girl of his dreams!’
Something blue: She was spotted chatting to guests outside of the hotel in a pair of blue pajamas
Family first: Louise’s sister and bridesmaid Simmie arrived at the Crown Hotel in a slinky red dress with gold strappy heels, left, as her mother Bi Hay, right, looked gorgeous in a blue and white gown paired Manolo Blahniks stilettos that matched her daughter’s bridal shoes
Lou revealed that despite getting married on Thursday, she and her new husband will also be celebrating with their extended family and friends on Saturday.
She kept her thousands of followers up-to-date ahead of her nuptials, showing off her jewel-encrusted Jimmy Choo heels and Manolo Blahnik on her Instagram stories as she got ready at Sydney’s Crown.
She also showed off her gorgeous diamond earrings and bracelet that fit the ‘something borrowed and something blue’ category.
Something blue: She showed off her gorgeous diamond earrings and bracelet that fit the ‘something borrowed and something blue’ category
All in the details: She kept her thousands of followers up-to-date ahead of her nuptials, showing off her jewel-encrusted Jimmy Choo heels and Manolo Blahnik on her Instagram stories as she got ready at Sydney’s Crown
‘I can’t believe we are getting married today! Can’t wait to celebrate with more of our friends and family on Saturday,’ Lou wrote to her 33,000 followers.
For the intimate ceremony, Lou had her sister Simmie Hay, sister-in-law-to-be Poppy O’Neil Tzaneros, Deborah Symond O’Neil, Alyce Tran, Caroline Tran, Hermione Underwood and India Banks as her bridesmaids.
Lou and Jake got engaged last year in September.
The brunette beauty, a content creator, took to Instagram to share with her 28,000 followers that O’Neil had gotten down on one knee in a Sydney cafe surrounded by family and friend.
Lou previously lived between Hong Kong and London with her long-time Norwegian fiance Nicolai Asplin.
The then-couple moved back to Sydney in 2020, where they threw a lavish engagement party at Bondi’s Icebergs, before breaking up within weeks.
She said at the time that the relationship ‘had run its course’.
Lou then reunited with Jake, who she had previously dated years earlier.
Sadly, the fashion blogger’s father Donald passed away in 2019 from melanoma at age 76.
Lou uses her platform to regularly urge her followers to get their skin checked while warning about the dangers of tanning.
Hong Kong-based Hayco, which sells toilet cleaning brushes, brooms and other household products, has 6000 employees and ships 200million items a year to more than 60 countries.
Meanwhile, Jake has followed in his successful father’s entrepreneurial footsteps and works for Addenbrooke, a luxury property development company.
‘Bride tribe’: For the intimate ceremony, Lou is believed to have had her sister Simmie Hay, sister-in-law-to-be Poppy O’Neil Tzaneros, Deborah Symond O’Neil, Alyce Tran, Caroline Tran, Hermione Underwood and India Banks as her bridesmaids
Deborah Symond O’Neil made headlines in Sydney’s society pages in 2018 when she married Jake’s brother Ned O’Neil in a lavish ceremony in the Whitsundays.
The couple booked out Hamilton Island’s exclusive Qualia resort for the three-day long celebration.
Deborah, who has launched her own successful fashion retailer to rival the likes of Net-A-Porter, wore a custom-made $200,000 Christian Dior haute couture gown she had especially curated in Paris.
The couple flew 120 guests, including the ten men and women in their wedding party, to North Queensland where they used the hashtag #Neborah on Instagram to show off the day’s festivities.
Deborah and Ned met over a decade ago through family friends before realising their fathers were old associates.
The pair welcomed their son Beau in February 2020 and are expecting a baby girl later this year.
Deborah’s father John and step mother Amber McDonald split their time between the their waterfront Sydney mansion, $75million superyacht and London penthouse.
Deborah, a content creator and owner of luxury clothing store Mode Sportif, congratulated Lou and Jake on Instagram, posting for all of her 36,000 followers to see.
‘SO excited for this beautiful couple,’ she wrote alongside a photo of the Lou and Jake when they got engaged.
Ned and Jake’s sister Poppy Tzaneros (nee O’Neil), who runs interior design company Poco Designs, also shared her excitement.
‘So happy for these two!’ Poppy captioned a photo of the pair embracing after Jake presented Lou with a diamond engagement ring.
Poppy married Anthony Tzaneros – the head of IT at ACFS Port Logistics – in an equally as lavish wedding wearing a custom Jaton Couture gown in October last year.
Deborah, Poppy and Lou are staples of Sydney’s high society social set, and regularly attend exclusive fashion and charity events together.
The trio often rub shoulders with socialite Nadia Fairfax, PR maven Montarna Pitt, The Daily Edited co-founder Alyce Tran, and her stylist sister Caroline.
