March 27, 1979
Eric Clapton & Pattie Boyd

Boyd & Clapton on their wedding day

It’s not often when an ex-husband is invited to his former wife’s wedding ceremony. But in the case of Pattie Boyd, not only was her ex George Harrison present, he also performed at the reception.

Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton fell in love with Boyd when she was married to the former Beatle. He wrote the song “Layla” confessing his love for her and asking her to “please don’t say we’ll never find a way and tell me all my love’s in vain.”

Despite Clapton’s advances, Boyd remained faithful to Harrison, who had immortalized her in the song “Something” (read about their marriage here). As their marriage was falling apart, Clapton and her became good friends.

The story goes that Clapton went to Harrison (a longtime friend of his) and revealed that he and Boyd were in love. In response, Harrison told Clapton that he could have her.

Two years later, they married in Tuscon, Arizona in a ceremony that was conducted entirely in Spanish. Along with Harrison, their guests included Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger and Elton John, just to name a few.

Unfortunately, their marriage was full of problems including drug addiction and infidelity, and the couple divorced in 1988.

Even though their love wasn’t destined to last forever, it did produce the song “Wonderful Tonight”, a wedding dance favorite, which Clapton wrote for Boyd. To this day, the couple remain close friends.