My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (2010-2012) - Specials Episodes and Ratings

If you thought all the wedding excitement of 2011 is focused on Westminster Abbey, think again. Channel 4 viewers will have front row seats to celebrate THE wedding of the year: a Big Fat Gypsy one. Some people may live in palaces and some in caravans, but regardless of wealth or title everyone wants their own wedding day to be absolutely perfect. In this one-off special from the makers of Big Fat Gypsy Weddings cameras follow behind the scenes as a team of wedding planners are tasked with orchestrating the biggest, fattest wedding of the year.

This one-off Valentine's special explores love and courtship in the Traveller community, following Ina and Danielle as they prepare to wed their first loves. In the Traveller world it is still common to get hitched young. Both the brides in this episode are 16-year-olds marrying their first loves. Ina Casey is marrying her first boyfriend. After having got together in secret, the couple were 'outed' by Ina's uncle - who 'squealed' - and they were quickly engaged. Now she prepares for her wedding day with a dress made from glitter fabric, material more commonly used in wallpaper. The show also catches up with Travellers Danielle and her 21-year-old fiancé Brendan as the groom-to-be celebrates his stag do, Traveller-style, and the young couple prepare for their wedding day. Danielle's wedding is scheduled to take place just a day after her 16th birthday. But despite her youth, Danielle is convinced she has made the right choice.

Ever since the first Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, millions of viewers have watched the extravagant weddings and asked the same question: where does the money come from? It has been one of the Travelling community's most closely guarded secrets. Until now... Gypsies and Travellers form some of the richest and the poorest elements of society, from Alfie Best, a Romany Gypsy worth a reported £100 million, to down-on-his-luck Romany Gypsy George. This programme lifts the lid on a community with its own unique customs, traditions and attitudes to money. Meanwhile, Irish Traveller Larry is planning an amazing wedding for his eldest daughter Margaret. Eight bridesmaids, 300 guests and a huge white dress don't come cheap, and Larry has been saving all his life. But as he later reveals, some Travellers have a secret way of financing their breath-taking weddings...

Dressmaker Thelma Madine reveals the secrets behind her most outrageous creations, from design and production through to the unique excitement of a Traveller or Gypsy wedding day. Thelma relives the mayhem and magic that went into creating the most incredible outfits, recalling everything from glow- in-the-dark wedding dresses to her famous pineapple and palm tree costumes.

This episode follows one travelling clan over the course of a tumultuous year, witnessing the clan's constant game of cat and mouse with the councils, the daring 'land grabs' in the dead of night, the battles with the local residents, the hardships of long winters in freezing caravans, and the joys of being free spirits and testing the limits of the law.

Ladies' Day at the races is a big date in the Gypsy calendar. This one-off special explores the unique bond between the Travelling community and their horses. While the splendour of Ladies' Day at the races is traditionally seen as the preserve of the British aristocracy, across the racetrack, on the other side of the fence, thousands of Travellers and Gypsies gather for one of the biggest dates in the Gypsy calendar. From the unique spectacle of a horse fair to the excitement of a controversial road race in the dead of night, the races may mean many things to Traveller men, but to many Traveller women it's a place to stand out from the crowd, and, more importantly, to find love.