No matter how much you want to stick to a budget, diligently sticking to a checklist – your wedding will most likely cost a wee bit more than what you and your significant other had planned on spending. Yes, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event (hopefully) and you want to make it perfect. You probably want to mark the start of your beautiful married life with the one you love with a big bang …However, is a big, flashy wedding a sure-fire way of ensuring a long and happy married life?
Not counting Royal Weddings (William and Kate, Charles and Diana), and the weddings of Arab sheikhs, here are a dozen celebrity weddings that have made headlines, not just because of the popularity of the couple getting married, but because of how much was spent when bride and groom exchanged “i dos”.
Honorable Mentions
Before we go into the REAL BIG SPENDERS, let’s have a look at a few celebrities who splashed out on their weddings, spending roughly $1 – $2 million on their special day.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston’s $1 million dollar wedding in 2000 is fairly cheap compared to the other celeb weddings in this list. It was reported that the couple spent $50,000 alone on flowers and a fireworks display.
Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas were a wee bit more frivolous than Brad and Jen, spending $1.5 million for their wedding in New York. The couple sent out invitations with invisible ink and holograms, and Catherine wore a diamond tiara.
Madonna and Guy Richie spent $1.5 million for their wedding too! They rented a castle and booked all 21 rooms for their guests. When you get married in a castle, does it mean you have to play the part and pretend to be a princess too? Must be, because on that day, Madonna wore a tiara that was once worn by Princess Grace of Monaco.
When Christina Aguilera & Jordan Bratman tied the knot, they spent $2 million, with $80,000 going to Christina’s Christian Lacroix gown. They must have paid a fortune on decorations because the tent they were married in was festooned with white roses, silver and crystals.
Couch jumping Tom Cruise spent $2 million on his wedding to Katie Holmes. A castle just outside of Rome was rented out for this occasion and the bride wore a gown that was personally designed by Giorgio Armani. Andrea Bocelli serenaded the couple and Tom Cruise, in turn, serenaded Katie with the song, “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” (which is so not appropriate for the occasion).
No. 7 : Liz Hurley and Arun Nayer
When Elizabeth Hurley married Indian businessman Arun Nayar, the couple spent $2.5 million for their 8-day wedding extravaganza. The couple had 2 weddings – one in Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, United Kingdom; and another at Umaid Bhawan Palace in India.
No. 6 : Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills
The 2002 wedding of former Beatle Paul McCartney and former model Heather Mills cost $3 million. The wedding was held at a church in Ireland, but a lot of the budget went into lakeside tent that featured an Indian-themed party and a vegetarian feast. The couple also treated guests to a luxury yacht ride after the ceremony.
No. 5 : Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault
Salma Hayek’s 2009 wedding to French millionaire François-Henri Pinault cost whopping $3.5 million (peanuts, compared to what Pinault is worth). The couple had a carnival-themed masked ball and their guests were a treated to a performance by Bono at the reception.
No. 4 : Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky
Liz Taylor’s 1991 wedding to her nth husband, Larry Fortensky cost $3.8 million way back then. They paid Michael Jackson $1 million for exclusive use of his Neverland Ranch, and Liz wore a pale yellow Valentino dress reputably worth $30,000.
No. 3 : Liza Minnelli and David Gest
Liza Minnelli’s 2002 wedding to David Gest cost $4.3 million. The couple spent a fortune on flowers ($70,000), and cake ($40,000), and on entertainment. They had a 60-piece orchestra playing during their reception and noted performers Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder and Natalie Cole were on hand to entertain the newly weds and their guests.
No. 2 : Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel
JT brought big spending back when he married Jessica Biel. They were rumored to have spent $6.5 million for their wedding because they rented out an entire hotel and reportedly had the building adjacent to it closed off to keep paparazzi out.
No. 1 : MICHAEL JORDAN & YVETTE PRIETO
Air Jordan married his 2nd wife Yvette Prieto in front of 2,200 guests in Palm Beach, Florida just this summer of 2013. Michael Jordan had several tents each roughly the size of a football field erected to accommodate all of their guests. Based on the number of guests alone, can you guess how much they spent on the wedding? A cool $10 million!
WOW! That’s a lot of money spent on celebrating the union of two people who are in love. Sadly, 8 out of the 12 weddings that we’ve featured ended in divorce. Perhaps, if the couples invested more time on strengthening their marriages, instead of investing so much on creating their dream weddings, the success rate would be much higher.