The sign pinned to the house a mile from Down Hall read “Media circus”, helpfully accompanied by an arrow pointing the way.

Assembled outside the gates of the 18th-century country house on the border of Essex and Hertfordshire yesterday were a hundred photographers, policemen and well-wishers, all there to play their part as Jade Goody married her fiancé, Jack Tweed.

The 27-year-old reality television star, who is terminally ill with cervical cancer, said that she had always wanted a fairytale wedding. And on a bitterly cold, windy, grey Sunday, she got her wish.

Range Rovers, Aston Martins and BMWs ferried guests to the venue's gates, 400 metres from the hotel. Photographers held flashbulbs to blacked-out windows — bursts of light picking out permatanned blondes perched on leather seats.

A high-rolling crowd had been promised but did not materialise. The 50 or so souls who had turned up “to support Jade” shrieked as a Range Rover carrying what looked like Cheryl Cole pulled up to the gates. Alas, it was not the Girls Aloud member. Reports claimed that celebrities such as Jonathan Ross were expected to attend the £300,000 wedding. Instead we got Nick Ross, the former Crimewatch host. And that was about it.

An exclusive deal with OK! magazine, worth £700,000, meant that no one other than guests was allowed within the hotel walls. Down by the gates, a throng of Goody's fans clutched camcorders.

“I'm just here to support Jade,” said Claire Taylor, 32, accompanied by her daughter, Jodie, 3. “I've been a big fan from the day she went into the Big Brother house. I just can't wait to buy the magazine to see how it went.”

Jack Tweed, 21, the groom, arrived in a blue Rolls-Royce, wearing a tracksuit over the top of women's underwear, in which he had posed outside his mother's house earlier in the morning. He was given special dispensation by Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, to stay away from home after the 7pm curfew imposed upon his release from prison after serving five months of an 18-month sentence for assault.

The rigours of the day proved almost too much for the bride, who wore a concealed pouch containing painkilling drugs hidden within her £3,500 wedding dress, which had been donated by Harrods.

Max Clifford, Goody's publicist, said that she stood for 40 minutes of the wedding service in the hotel chapel after being given away by her 70-year-old grandfather, John Caddock, but asked to sit down for the final moments. Mr Clifford said: “It was just a very beautiful, very moving service. They are obviously very much in love, which the bishop commented on. They were very happy to be there and get married.

“I think it's a huge relief that she was able to handle it the way she did, because obviously it's been a worry to her. When they came out, having signed the register, they got a standing ovation from everybody there. It was just a very heart-rending, happy ceremony with lots of tears and lots of smiles and lots of laughter.”

As proceedings continued into the evening more guests arrived, including Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. Later, 200 guests were entertained by the pop group Sugababes. Living, the digital channel, paid £100,000 to film the event as part of a project following Goody's life. She is thought to have earned more than £3million, all of which will be placed into a trust fund for her two children, Bobby, 5, and Freddie, 4.

Goody, who may have only weeks to live, has an outpatient appointment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in southwest London on Wednesday. After that she is expected to do a television interview with Piers Morgan for which she will earn £100,000. Then, Mr Clifford says, the cameras will stop.

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