Taylor Ward and Riyad Mahrez have completed their wedding trilogy with a stunning third ceremony at the opulent Lake Como in Italy, celebrating with 150 of their nearest and dearest.
Riyad has playfully told Taylor he’s keen on having “wants a football team” of kids, and the couple are now looking to grow their family, which already includes two year old Mila and Riyad’s daughters Ayla and Inaya from his previous marriage. “Riyad would love a football team,” Taylor, aged 27, shared. “He’s a brilliant dad. He needs more kids, that’s for sure.”
Influencer Taylor, daughter of Real Housewives Of Cheshire’s Dawn Ward and ex-footballer Ashley Ward, first exchanged vows with Riyad in 2022 during a cosy Muslim ceremony at their home.
They then made it official at The Londoner Hotel with a select group of 30 family and friends in September 2023. Their grand finale wedding took place in July 2024, coinciding with little Mila’s second birthday celebrations.
“I have three sisters, so I want to give Mila the same. I want her to have a big family,” Taylor revealed, expressing her desire for a large family like the one she enjoys with her own sisters Darby, Charlie, and Aston. With Mila turning three this coming July, Taylor feels the time is right to consider another pregnancy and embrace the joys and challenges of a new baby.
Taylor candidly opens up about the pressures of motherhood, saying: “I’ve got to carry the children and do the pregnancy, which is not easy,” and adds, “The newborn stage is a lot more challenging than people think. Those sleepless nights are probably what’s made me hold off having another one straight away. But I’m definitely more ready now than I ever have been.”
The struggle was real for Taylor as she dealt with interrupted sleep with little Mila. She shares her experience: “Even when you think you’ve just got it all under control and they’re sleeping through the night, two weeks later it might change, and they start waking up again and you think, ‘Oh,this is just never ending,'” Taylor confides.
Despite her husband bagging an estimated £44 million a year playing for Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli, and having a nanny and staff to support them in their stunning home, Taylor insists on being actively involved in raising her child. She clarifies: “I do have a nanny and I do have house help but we live abroad,” and adds: “I don’t have any of my family, I don’t have any of Riyad’s family in Saudi so we have zero family support.”
She emphasises her role as a parent, “So I do have help, but I am very hands-on. Me and Mila, we have a very, very close bond and she just wants her mother. You can have 10 nannies, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t make your role as a parent any less.”
Riyad is keen on having a son to join their family, but Taylor believes he’s an exceptional dad to girls. She gushes over how he takes care of his three daughters: “Riyad grew up with two sisters and a brother and he’s got three daughters so he’s used to being around women,” says Taylor.
“When I see him with his daughters it just works so perfectly to the point where now, as much as he would love a little boy, I think he’s so good at being a girl dad that I just can’t imagine him with a little boy now. He’s just so caring and so understanding and loving. He’s just really good with his girls and he’s just a really good dad.”
Before considering a second pregnancy, Taylor wanted to remove her old breast implants, which caused discomfort during her first pregnancy with Mila. “When I was pregnant the first time, it made my pregnancy a lot more difficult,” says Taylor.
“Boobs get bigger again when you’re pregnant and they caused me so much pain and so many problems. I always knew that I needed to sort them before I had another child because it just drove me insane.”
Taylor was only 21 when she underwent her first breast augmentation, but as she aged, she began to feel less comfortable with her implants. “When I was 21 I was a lot skinnier, I was a lot smaller and I didn’t have much boobs, so I had implants. Then my body developed and I’m definitely a lot curvier now than I used to be,” says Taylor.
“I’ve had children and your body just changes so much and it didn’t really feel like they fit my body any more. They got to a size where they were causing me loads of problems. They didn’t have bras in my size because they were so big. I used to wear sports bras everywhere. I just wanted to make them a lot more natural.”
Fans of Taylor will catch an intimate glimpse into her life as Prime Video documents her surgery journey in the second series of Married To The Game. The reality TV star tackled the operation ahead of her dream wedding, which, despite years of planning, saw her picking out her iconic dress in a crunch-time fashion frenzy.
“I was so unorganised with my dress,” Taylor confessed. “I had this one dress in mind and there’s a showroom in Dubai, and I thought I’d just go to try it on and that was the dress I was having. So I left it till really late before the wedding. And then when it came to trying it on, I didn’t like it. I wasn’t keen on the material and it just wasn’t anything like the pictures.”
With only five months until her big day, Taylor’s dress dilemma sent her into a spin. “I just went into complete panic mode,” she admits.
But thankfully, her sister came to the rescue with a recommendation – a lifesaver dress designer from Istanbul named Rasit Bagzibagli. “Luckily my sister gave me the contact of a dress designer in Istanbul, Turkey, called Rasit Bagzibagli. He’s amazing. I gave him a call and he was just so calm. He literally pulled together exactly what I wanted. I was really lucky with that one.”
Viewers tuning into Married To The Game will catch the tender moment when Taylor, accompanied by her father, walks down the aisle towards an emotional Riyad. Reflecting on that day with a smile, Taylor shared, “It was really special,” and continued to describe the rush of feelings she experienced: “You envision that moment for so long but when you’re actually living it… my adrenaline was pumping, I was nervous, I was excited, and it was just amazing. I didn’t think I’d be nervous.”
Recounting her calmness that morning and the sudden wave of reality as the ceremony began, she said: “I was so calm all morning. And then as soon as I heard the music play, I was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s happening!’ It’s such a special memory. That was probably my favourite part of the day. And the vows and all that kind of stuff. It was really special to see everyone’s faces when I walked down the aisle.”
Married To The Game features Taylor alongside Riyad, highlighting their unmistakable connection. Unlike some duos on the show, including Cat Harding and Jorginho, Claudia Rodríguez and Marc Cucurella, Gabrielle Figueiredo and Gabriel Magalhães, and Stephanie Hope and Leon Bailey, this pair is less physically affectionate.
Taylor opened up about Riyad’s reserved nature upon first meeting, saying, “When people first meet Riyad, he’s quite closed off and it takes a while to understand him as a person,” but revealing his true colours at home: “Behind closed doors, he’s such a loving person and he cares so much about his family and his friends, and he always puts us first. He’s just got a really nice way of making the people that he loves feel special. I think he’s so caring and his loving nature is what I love most about him.”
Riyad’s sharp wit and candid nature have won over Taylor, who sees a reflection of her mum Dawn, famed from The Real Housewives Of Cheshire. “Riyad’s humour is very dry,” Taylor shares. “It takes people off guard to start with because anything he says is just so painfully honest but that’s what I love about him as well.
“When him and my mum are together it’s hilarious because they’re both the exact same. They’re both so painfully honest and truthful. He’s always going to say what he thinks and what’s on his mind. I love that about him.”
As Dawn’s parents gear up to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary, Taylor hopes for a lasting bond with Riyad. “Riyad’s a very strong character as well,” she remarks. “My parents have been married for 30 years this year, so if we could have 30 years plus, then that would be amazing and I really, truly believe that we will.”
Taylor, known for her fiery temperament, finds balance in Riyad’s composed demeanor. “Riyad is a very easy person to be married to and we really complement each other because I’m probably more hot-headed nature whereas he’s very chill,” she explains.
“Whenever I get loud about something, he brings me back down because he’s not the type to shout or raise his voice or get mad. We really even each other out in that sense, which is good.” The couple currently resides in Saudi, but Taylor envisions a future in Dubai, close to where her parents live.
“I absolutely love Manchester, it’s my home so it will always have a massive place in my heart,” Taylor gushed. “But Riyad’s from Paris originally so Manchester is not his home and I wouldn’t want to live in Paris… so I think somewhere like Dubai would be a really nice place for us to settle. Riyad’s Muslim and he speaks Arabic and my family live out there. The schools and everything are amazing but it depends what he does after football and where that takes us.”
For Taylor, home is wherever Riyad and their brood of little ones are. “As long as we’re all together, we’ll be happy,” she beams.
Married To The Game is available on Prime Video.