Zoe Ball shares the real story behind 'iconic' 90s wedding day photo: 'It sums up who I was'

For many radio listeners and music fans, Zoe Ball was one of the ultimate It Girls of the 90s - and the iconic photo of her heading to her wedding only solidified her status.

The shot, taken on the morning of her wedding day to Norman ‘Fatboy Slim’ Cook, showed Zoe, dressed in a cowboy hat, vest and jeans, clutching a cigarette and a bottle of Jack Daniels whisky.

So 90s. So cool. So not the traditional image of a bride-to-be. During an episode of her hit podcast, Dig It, which she hosts alongside Jo Whiley, Zoe reminisced on how the iconic photo came to be, the person who made it all happen, and how, despite liking cancelled plans and being boring now, it "sums up how she used to be".

On the episode of the podcast, Zoe explained, "That was the morning that I went to get married. And there is a bit of a story behind it because I hadn't slept.

"I'd been trying to make a mixtape to play at the ceremony. And my brother came down and he was like, ‘What are you doing?’

"I was in the lounge with CDs everywhere and he was like ‘I think we need to get you to bed so you could have a little nap before you get married’".

Packing her bag to leave the house, she recalled, "I was walking out the door and my brother just stuck the hat on me, handed me the Jack Daniels and went, ‘Good luck kid’."

Little could he have known the press would immortalise the moment in a photo that Zoe said "sums up who I was at that point".

Fans in the comments absolutely love the photo, with one calling it the "90s in one photograph" and another adding, "An iconic picture".

But one of the sweetest comments on the post came from Zoe’s ex-husband. The two, who were married on August 21, 1999, have remained friendly after splitting in 2016. And as Zoe recalled the glorious story behind the iconic photo, Norman commented, "...And what’s why I married you..x".

The pair were married at Babington Hall in Somerset, and the wedding was just as effortlessly cool as Zoe’s now iconic photo.

Madness singer Suggs sang It Must Be Love for the couple and the pair delayed the ceremony after Zoe’s Radio 1 guests got stuck in traffic on the Radio 1 Sun Bus on the way there.

As it turns out, the pair’s children - Woody and Nella Cook - are apparently a fan of just how cool their mum was, too, with Zoe explaining, “my kids love this picture. They're like, mum… It really sums you up."