The wedding was during the live shows, where week after week someone gets voted off. I think it was actually the penultimate week of the show when the wedding conflicted with the live show date. So even though Olly did get through to the live shows there was absolutely no guarantee that he would still be in the competition come the time of the wedding.
I remember the papers and the forum talk of the time suggested that even at the last minute Olly might be able to do both, because the wedding and the X-factor performance were scheduled for different times of the day, but Simon Cowell put his foot down and said no (understandably really).
I can't see how rescheduling the wedding would have even been an option. It had been planned long before Olly auditioned for the X-Factor. They would have only known that Olly had got through to the live shows in August which is roughly four months before the wedding. Can you really change the date of a £45,000 winter-themed wedding that close to the date? Especially knowing that there was a large chance that Olly would get voted out before then.
Ben should not have sold his brother out in an article calling his brother a sell-out. I can understand his feelings and how hurt he is with everything but he shouldn't have gone to the press. He shouldn't have complained about the rest of his family either.
But the very least that Olly could have done was to call his brother on his wedding day and send his best wishes. There was quite a big deal about "oh no, poor Olly, missing his brother's wedding, evil Simon Cowell" at the time. If Olly really had been that bothered about it he should have contacted his brother on the day and not just given a shout out on TV.
If what's written is true there's been a rift for 8 months. The only reason that the papers are covering it now is because Olly has a single out next week. Being the cynic that I am I think it's any opportunity to raise Olly's profile and remind people of who he is.
They really should keep these sort of matters private though.