‘I turned round and she’d thrown black paint all over me!’ Bride whose fairytale wedding was ruined when her sister-in-law doused her £1,800 white dress in ‘revenge attack’ reveals bitter family feud behind it

A bride whose fairytale wedding turned into chaos after her sister-in-law threw black paint all over her dress has given the first detailed account of the horrific ‘revenge’ attack and revealed the bitter family feud behind it.

Gemma Monk was forced to change clothes at the last minute after her vengeful sister-in-law Antonia ‘Toni’ Eastwood tried to sabotage her big day on May 24, 2024, by soaking her white dress as she prepared to walk down the aisle.

Eastwood committed the spiteful act after falsely accusing Gemma of tripping him at her wedding to Gemma’s brother Ashley a year ago.

Gemma, 35, of Herne Bay, Kent, broke down in tears as she fled her wedding venue, Oakwood House, a Victorian manor house in Eastwood, Maidstone.

Gemma, who married her childhood sweetheart Ken Monk, got incredibly clean, borrowed a dress, gave a statement to the police and still said ‘yes’ two hours later.

As her attacker was given a suspended prison sentence this week, Gemma told the Daily Mail how she was so convinced Eastwood had ruined her wedding day that she decided to repay him in kind.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail from her home in Herne Bay, mother-of-two and mental health worker Gemma said there has been resentment between the couple ever since: ‘My brother’s marriage to Toni was a disaster.

‘One of our nephews fell and cut his head, and another couple caused a huge argument. There were so many things that went wrong.”

As Gemma prepared to walk down the aisle and say ‘I do’, Eastwood, who had not been invited, arrived at Oakwood House, a Victorian mansion in Maidstone, Kent, to sabotage her.

Gemma was so determined to marry her childhood sweetheart Ken Monk, pictured in the paint-spattered dress, that she spent two hours cleaning herself up and went through with the wedding anyway.

Antonia ‘Toni’ Eastwood (pictured with husband Gemma’s half-sister Ashley) pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was given a suspended prison sentence for destroying £1,800 worth of dresses.

The couple then started blaming him, he said.

“I’ve always been close to my sister Ashley and so the only thing I could think of was that Toni was jealous,” Gemma continued. ‘I believe she and Toni are delusional and are looking for someone to blame for their wedding day going wrong.

‘My brother was angry that his big day had somehow been ruined and texted me a few days later to tell me.’

‘They got married in September 2023. They didn’t say anything to me or Ken that day and we honestly had a blast. We gave them money as gifts and were the first couple to join them on the dance floor.

‘But two months later I was shopping in Sainsbury’s when I received a text from Toni. It appeared out of nowhere and stunned me.

‘He called me a ‘two-faced bitch’ and accused me of trying to ruin his wedding day. At first he accused me of making snide remarks as he passed me in the hallway, but then he accused me of sticking my foot out to trip him.

‘I’m about six feet tall, my legs aren’t long enough to trip him even if I wanted to.

‘The messages really shocked me, I couldn’t believe what he was accusing me of and why. It was incredible and it came out of nowhere.’

Gemma admitted she wasn’t fully supportive of her brother’s marriage.

He continued: ‘Although I was not very fond of him, there was no animosity between us before the wedding.

‘When I first met Toni she was telling me how she left her husband and children to be with Ashley, and Ashley left his wife and children. It was as if he was bragging about dividing two families.

‘They were both living in Spain at the time but had returned to England and lived in Kent. They had only been together for almost nine months before getting married.’

He said he tried to stop a fight from escalating but failed: ‘I told Toni and Ashley it was ridiculous that they were both accusing me of trying to trip her in the corridor. Later that day, I looked at a wedding video and saw Toni walking past me without incident.

‘Our fight meant we didn’t invite either Ashley or Toni to our wedding, but we did invite his ex-wife and 14-year-old daughter because we had at least remained friendly with them.’

But when she went to her own wedding, she had no idea about Toni’s surprising revenge plan – which caused her day to quickly turn into a literal car crash, or at least cause one.

Despite everything that happened, Gemma and Ken managed to have their wedding with these photos taken right after Gemma gave a statement to the police about the incident.

Gemma poses for photos in a spare dress. She said Eastwood attacked her because her wedding a year ago was a disaster and blamed Gemma for it.

Two months after her brother’s wedding to Eastwood, Gemma received a text message from Eastwood accusing her of being a “two-faced bitch” and claiming Gemma tried to trip him as he walked down the aisle at his own wedding.

Gemma continued: ‘I remember my dad had just dropped me off in his Range Rover. We went outside and he walked me to the door that led to what was called the bridal corridor of Oakwood House.

‘Where the bride waits just before walking down the aisle.

‘I had gone through the gate and my father had returned to park the car. Me, my 11-year-old daughter, and my niece, who were both bridesmaids.

I took a few steps when I heard my name being shouted. I turned around thinking I had been caught by the hem of my dress and black paint was splattered all over me!

‘The paint splashed into my eyes and hair. It also splashed on my bridesmaids.

‘Everything happened so fast that for a moment I didn’t realize what was happening. Instinctively, I ran after Toni and grabbed her by the hair.

‘But when I looked up I saw my father trying to get out of the car to help me. The vehicle was in reverse and was halfway out when the car hit a wall.

‘I left Toni to help my father and he ran away with my brother.’

Surprisingly, after this terrible situation, she still managed to turn the day around and marry white as planned.

She explained: ‘I spent £1,800 on the dress and I absolutely loved it.

‘But I waited 19 years to marry Ken. We’ve been together since I was 14. Nothing could stop me.

‘I showered at Oakwood House and they gave me a spare wedding dress to use. The police were called and I gave a statement before going out into the corridor – two hours later than expected.

‘The wedding photographer was fantastic and did his best but we only had a small number of photos, much less than we had hoped.

‘I actually don’t have any photos at home of what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Not on the mantel, not on the walls.

‘How can I? ‘They would bring back very bad memories.’

‘But despite leaving early, we had the ceremony and the reception afterwards at a nearby bar restaurant. We booked a room at Leeds Castle that night but I didn’t get to enjoy it.

‘We were saving money to go to the Maldives for our honeymoon, but I couldn’t face it either. We are planning to go with children this summer.

She remains shocked by Eastwood’s revenge plan. He said today: ‘This was a pre-planned attack. He and Ashley were actually crouched behind a wall and waiting for me.

‘They weren’t invited, but they found out where the wedding was going to be held through other relatives.

‘After the attack they ran to their car and drove to Manchester where they currently live. They literally snuck out there to the other side of the country.

‘At that time I was diagnosed with a tumor in my stomach. We didn’t know if anything bad had happened.

‘Luckily it turned out to be benign but we didn’t know that at the time. Toni knew what I was going through, but she did what she did anyway.

‘I later heard from other relatives that he defended his action by saying it was what I deserved and that he was taking revenge for ruining his wedding. But revenge for what? It’s something he made up.’

After the incident, sister Ashley stated that she disowned her sister and said, ‘We don’t want anything to do with her.’

He admitted that there were ‘disagreements’ in the family before the wedding, but he did not want to make them public.

He said: ‘There’s more. But now he was punished, he suffered more than necessary. ‘We want this to be over and done with.’ ‘He did what he did,’ he said, and now they wanted to leave everything behind. He added: ‘I can’t believe it’s taken 18 months to get to this point.’

Gemma said Eastwood later bragged about his work to friends and joked: “I’m the best decorator around.”

This month he was given a 10-month prison sentence suspended for 12 months, along with 160 hours of unpaid work, after pleading guilty to two counts of criminal damage.

In addition to the suspended prison sentence and unpaid work, the defendant was also given a ten-year restraining order.

He was told to pay compensation of £5,000, including £4,000 to Miss Monk and £1,000 to Oakwood House.

Eastwood pleaded guilty to criminal damage. He was told to pay compensation of £5,000, including £4,000 to Miss Monk and £1,000 to Oakwood House.

In her impact statement to the court, Gemma described the damage the incident had caused to her mental health. The couple hopes to take their postponed honeymoon to the Maldives soon

Giving her victim impact statement to the court, unable to hold back her tears, Gemma said: ‘When my brother’s wife threw paint at me, it changed my perspective on life and made me question whether I had done something really bad or something wrong.

‘This has had a dramatic impact on my life. In fact, while giving this statement at the police station, I became very emotional and started crying while telling about the incident.

‘If it wasn’t for my children and family since the incident, I don’t think I would even get out of bed to look after myself. I lost all my dignity and good habits in life. I lost the person I used to be. ‘This turned the most special day of my life into the worst memory that I will never forget, and neither will my family.’