The bride and groom on golden thrones, a dress that took 1,500 hours to embroider, jewellery worth millions and a carousel for guests… Yep, sounds pretty much like the princessy stuff of fairy tales.

So anyone wanting wedding inspiration along those lines need only look to the nuptials of Serena Williams and Alexis Ohanian, pictures of which have just been released.

The tennis ace wed Reddit co-founder Ohanian in New Orleans on 16 November, and the couple gave their wedding planner one key word: Disney.

A word that was evident in the bride’s huge princess gown by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen – the first of three dresses Williams donned.

In fact, as vogue.com reports, the wedding was basically Beauty and the Beast-themed, right down to a ballroom-inspired cake, a band playing Be Our Guest and a first dance to Tale as Old as Time.

Wedding planner Jennifer Zabinski told the magazine: “Serena’s very girly. She was like, ‘I love Disney, how can we incorporate it in?’ Then Serena and Alexis said, ‘What do you think about a royal ball?’ Serena was like, ‘I just want it to be opulent. I want it to be like a fairy tale.’”

So saying, the couple – who welcomed baby daughter Olympia in September – also wanted the ceremony to be “as non-traditional as possible”, so, according to Vogue, other details included guests sat on sofas and Williams’ dog Chip being carried down the aisle.

And despite the fairy-tale theme, Williams was never going to go for the full-on helpless princess vibe – the table plan was themed around her incredible sports achievements (tables named “Australian Open 2” and so on), the wedding favours were miniature trophies, there was a sports drink ‘recovery bar’ to help guests party into the night and the bride donned Nike trainers after her first dance (albeit bejewelled ones, of course).

As for the dress, Williams has revealed she never expected to want such a traditionally princess style: “I flew to London to meet with Sarah and ended up falling in love with the ball gown silhouette, which is completely the opposite of what I ever thought I would choose for myself.”

And there were two more to come; her second dress was a beaded and feathered Versace number (the one that took 1,500 hours to make), while she donned another, shorter Versace design for after the first dance.

As well as sister Venus acting as bridesmaid, the star-studded wedding saw guests such as Beyoncé, Tina Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Kim Kardashian West, Anna Wintour and Eva Longoria. 

And while the lavish bash is obviously something reserved for the budgets of the rich and famous, there’s nothing wrong with a quick inspiration browse…

Image: instagram.com/alexisohanian