A BRIDE has broken her silence on a family feud after her sister-in-law hurled black paint at her as she walked down the aisle.
Gemma Monk, 35, was forced to switch dresses at the last minute after she was set upon in a revenge attack at a plush venue in in 2024.
A bride has broken her silence on a family feud after her sister-in-law wrecked her wedding day Credit: Cover Images
Gemma Monk, 35, was doused in black paint as she was about to walk down the aisle Credit: Cover Images
Gemma was about to tie the knot with her childhood sweetheart, Ken Monk, at Oakwood House in after the couple had saved for years to pay for their big day.
The mum-of-two had been wrongly accused by her sister-in-law, Antonia Eastwood, of trying to trip her up at her own wedding the year before.
It was that grudge that led to Antonia sabotaging Gemma’s wedding as an act of revenge, leaving her face and £1,800 covered in black paint.
Eastwood, 49, is married to Gemma’s older brother Ashley and neither had been invited to the ceremony due to the ongoing family feud.
Gemma, a mental health worker from Herne Bay told the Daily Mail how her brother’s wedding the year before had been a “disaster”.
“I believe that he and Toni are delusional and were looking for someone to blame for their wedding day going wrong,” she said.
Two months after her brother’s wedding, Gemma said she received a text from Antonia that left her “reeling” and “came out of nowhere”.
“She called me a ‘two-faced b***h’ and accused me of trying to ruin her wedding day. At first she accused me of making snide remarks as she walked past me down the aisle but then accused me of sticking my foot out to try and trip her,” Gemma continued.
Beforehand, Gemma had admitted that there had been no “bad blood” but she didn’t “warm to her all that much”.
As a result of the ongoing feud, Gemma didn’t invite Antonia and Ashley to her own wedding – something the couple would ignore.
She recalled the moment she was attacked just moments before she was due to walk down the aisle, stood alongside her 11-year-old daughter and niece who were both her bridesmaids.
Gemma heard someone called out her name and initially thought she had caught the train of her dress when Antonia appeared from nowhere in a “premeditated attack”.
“She and Ashley had actually crouched down behind a wall and were lying in wait for me,” Gemma said.
She added that her father, who had been parking the car, tried getting out to help her and the car crashed into a wall as a result.
Gemma said Antonia Eastwood was hiding behind a wall before she launched her revenge attack Credit: Cover Images
It turned Gemma’s big day ‘into the worst memory”. Credit: Cover Images
The paint covered her eyes, hair and dress and even hit the bridesmaids stood next to her.
Realising it was her sister-in-law she went to grab her by the hair but she got away and fled.
Following the attack, Gemma quickly cleaned herself up as an usher dashed off to find a replacement dress.
After giving a statement to the police, the ceremony went ahead and Gemma walked down the aisle two hours later.
But the memory remains bittersweet and the couple don’t have any pictures of “what should have been the happiest day of my life” at as they “would bring back such bad memories”.
She added that even after the ceremony, they “couldn’t enjoy” themselves and the couple called off their dream honeymoon to the Maldives because “she wasn’t up to it”.
The wedding ordeal came as Gemma also suffered a cancer scare, during which she lost weight, going down to a size four.
Gemma, who has since been given the all-clear, said her sister-in-law knew about the medical issue at the time but “still decided to ruin the most important day of my life and put me at risk.”
Since Gemma’s wedding, her brother Ashely told The Mirror that he had disowned his sister, saying “we don’t want anything to do with her”.
“There’s more to it. But she’s been punished now, she’s suffered more than enough. We want it over and done with,” he said.
Gemma also said that Eastwood had later boasted what she did, telling friends that she was “the best decorator around”.
Antonia later pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was slapped with a 10-month suspended sentence at Maidstone Crown Court.
She was ordered to pay £5,000 in compensation – £4,000 to Gemma and £1,000 to Oakwood House.
Gemma, told the that the ordeal had turned the “most special day of my life into the worst memory”.
She said: “To have paint thrown over me by my brother’s wife changed my outlook on life and made me question whether I had done something really bad, whether I had done something wrong.
“Since the incident, if it wasn’t for my children or my family, I don’t think I would even get out of bed to care for myself.
“I have lost all my dignity and good habits in life. I have lost who I used to be.
“This has turned the most special day of my life into the worst memory I will never forget, and neither will my family.”
Gemma and Ken are childhood sweethearts and had been saving for their special day Credit: Cover Images
Gemma was eventually able to walk down the aisle after a replacement dress was found Credit: Cover Images
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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