Bride doused in black paint by ‘jealous’ sister in regulation breaks silence on revenge assault
Bride Gemma Monk has spoken out after her sister-in-law ambushed her outside her wedding venue, dousing her £1,800 gown in black paint moments before she walked down the aisle
Gemma Monk, 35, had to change gowns at her wedding(Image: Cover Images)
A bride who was brutally sabotaged by her angered sister-in-law has spoken out. Newly-married Gemma Monk has broken her silence on her “delusional” family and a feud that led to her wedding dress being doused in black paint as she walked down the aisle.
Gemma, 35, had to change gowns moments before marrying her childhood sweetheart Ken at Oakwood House in Maidstone, Kent, in 2024. Changing dresses wasn’t a fairytale moment, but the unfortunate result of a revenge attack that ruined her £1,800 original dress.
Mum-of-two Genna reportedly said the feud began at her brother’s wedding the previous year, which she called a “disaster”.
She told the Daily Mail: “I believe that he and Toni are delusional and were looking for someone to blame for their wedding day going wrong.” Monk claimed she was later sent a shock message by her sister-in-law, Antonia “Toni” Eastwood, which left her “reeling” and “came out of nowhere”.
Gemma added: “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.”
However, according to Gemma, one of her nephews fell over and cut his head open, and another couple sparked an “almighty row”. With many things going wrong, the couple began blaming Gemma.
She added to the Daily Mail: “I had always been close to my brother, Ashley, and so all I can think of is that Toni was jealous of that.” She admitted: “The first time I met Toni, she was telling me how she left her husband and children to be with Ashley, who in turn had left his wife and children too.
“It was like she was bragging about splitting up two families. They were both living in Spain at the time but had moved back to England and lived in Kent.
“They’d pretty much only been together for nine months before marrying.” Monk claimed she tried to stop the feud, telling them they were “ridiculous” and insisting the wedding video shows “Toni walking past me without any incident at all”.
She added the fallout meant they didn’t invite Ashley or Toni, though they did invite his ex-wife and “14-year old daughter”, and she had no idea about Toni’s revenge plot, which saw her wedding day unravel and even lead to a car crash. She said: “I remember my dad had just dropped me off in his Range Rover.
“We’d got out and he’d walked me to the door which led into what is called the bridal corridor at Oakwood House. It is where the bride waits just before walking down the aisle.
“I’d gone through the door and dad had gone back to park the car. I was with my 11-year-old daughter and my niece who were both bridesmaids.
“I’d taken a few steps when I heard my name shouted. I turned round thinking that I’d caught the train of my dress and had black paint thrown all over me.”
The paint got into her eyes and hair, she said. The substance also reportedly splashed the bridesmaids.
Monk said it happened so fast she “instinctively… grabbed her by her hair” before letting go when her father, trying to help, caused a car to reverse into a wall and the pair fled.
Despite the shock, she pressed on, showered, wore a spare dress, spoke to police and walked down the aisle two hours later. But she said she keeps no photos at home because “they would bring back such bad memories”.
Gemma described it as “a premeditated attack”, claiming the pair “crouched down behind a wall and were lying in wait for me”, then drove up to Manchester. She said her sister-in-law knew she had a stomach tumour scare yet still did it, later justifying it as “what I deserved”.
Eastwood was eventually given a 10-month sentence suspended for 12 months, 160 hours of unpaid work, a 10-year restraining order and £5,000 compensation (£4,000 to Mrs Monk and £1,000 to Oakwood House).
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