It’s no secret that a wedding ceremony can cost a lot of money. But in our selection we will talk about truly fabulous amounts – from 70 million to 4.5 billion rubles. We tell you how celebrities, billionaires and politicians get married, and what they spend so much money on.
One of the most expensive weddings of the 20th century was the marriage of Princess Diana and Prince Charles. It cost 48 million dollars ($137 million or 10 billion rubles taking into account inflation). As with other royal weddings, a significant portion of the budget was spent on security, with approximately 5,000 police officers lining the route along which the wedding carriage passed. And also a large number of officers worked undercover – they disguised themselves as lackeys of the royal couple and ordinary citizens of London. Another major expense was Princess Diana’s famous wedding dress. It was created in a single copy, but according to Harper’s Bazaar estimates, the retail price of this outfit in 1981 could have been about 90 thousand pounds sterling (347 thousand pounds sterling or 35 million rubles today).
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Only 120 of the 3,500 guests at the wedding ceremony at St. Paul’s Cathedral received invitations to the reception. The tables included such delicacies as strawberries and cream, brill in lobster sauce and, of course, Suprême de Volaille Princesse de Galles – a special dish created by the royal chefs in honor of the Princess of Wales. It featured a chicken breast stuffed with lamb mousse, wrapped in pastry and topped with asparagus and Madeira sauce. For dessert, guests could choose from 27 gourmet mini-cakes. But the “official” five-tier wedding cake, decorated with flowers and royal coats of arms, weighed almost 100 kg. It was designed over the course of 11 weeks by David Avery, chief pastry chef at the Royal Naval Cookery School.
Of course, not every modern couple – be they pop stars, businessmen or royalty – can repeat the scope and splendor of Charles and Diana’s celebration. However, many are trying to get closer to this high bar. They order almost three-meter wedding cakes, exquisite couture dresses or even flower arrangements costing about 75 thousand dollars or 5.5 million rubles (yes, Brad Pitt did not skimp on the decoration of his wedding with Jennifer Aniston). We invite you to admire the most expensive celebrations of the 21st century – from relatively “low-budget” to incredibly luxurious.
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner
Approximate cost of the wedding: 1 million dollars (70 million rubles)
The wedding of Donald Trump’s daughter and businessman Jared Kushner took place in October 2009 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The bride wore a wedding dress from Vera Wang, and on her finger was a 5.22-carat diamond ring given by the groom. Before the start of the celebration, all guests, including Anna Wintour and Natalie Portman, were offered a piece of a 13-layer birthday cake, which cost 70 thousand dollars. From this gesture, the scale of the budget budgeted by the newlyweds for the wedding is already approximately clear. It’s funny, but judging by the list of desired gifts that Ivanka and Jared compiled, it seems that they decided to partially “recoup” their expenses. The cheapest option for a wedding present was a Tiffany vegetable spoon costing $300. However, most likely, the couple expected to immediately receive a set of such cutlery.
Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston
Approximate cost of the wedding: 1 million dollars (70 million rubles)
In 2000, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were one of the most beautiful and famous couples in Hollywood, so many would sell their souls to see their wedding ceremony with their own eyes. But only 200 guests had such a unique chance. “The wedding was spectacular,” the bride’s 67-year-old father modestly noted. Brad and Jennifer exchanged funny wedding vows on the Malibu beach (for example, the actor vowed to “set the thermostat at a temperature that suits them both,” and his chosen one promised to always make “his favorite banana milkshake”), after which the happy newlyweds and their guests moved into the hall for a festive banquet. It’s interesting that Brad Pitt personally thought through the decor of this room for 7 months. The “Zen garden” style and 50 thousand fresh flowers cost him 75 thousand dollars. The show program also turned out to be rich: live performances by an orchestra, a 40-member gospel choir, and the newlyweds’ favorite musicians; a touching slide show in the guest tent and, of course, an incredibly beautiful 13-minute fireworks display on the night coast.
Donald and Melania Trump
Approximate cost of a wedding: from 1 to 2.5 million dollars (70-185 million rubles)
Today, the former US President’s net worth is about $2.5 billion, but even in 2005, when he married model Melania Knavs, he was already a very wealthy entrepreneur. Their wedding took place at the private residence of Mar-a-Largo, owned by Donald Trump, so we can say that the newlyweds saved money on the venue. However, they clearly did not skimp on all the other attributes of the celebration. The bride appeared before the guests in a Dior dress with a long train, which cost 100 thousand dollars (she later changed into a less pompous outfit from Vera Wang). The decoration of the celebration was carried out by a specially hired New York designer Preston Bailey. He decorated chairs and tables with white braid and satin fabric, created luxurious candelabra (each 1.5 meters high) to visually expand the space, and also decorated the hall with floral arrangements of 10 thousand hydrangeas, roses and orchids. The “star” of the festive evening was a seven-tier wedding cake weighing about 100 kg and costing 50 thousand dollars. Its creation took almost two months. Having attended the Trump celebration, famous boxing promoter Don King admitted with delight: “It was a royal wedding. It was something monarchical.”
Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky
Approximate cost of the wedding: from 2 to 5 million dollars (147-369 million rubles)
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Like Ivanka Trump, the heir to the Clinton presidential couple celebrated her wedding on a grand scale. Chelsea married her longtime boyfriend, successful banker Mark Mezvinsky, in a lavish ceremony at the historic Astor Courts estate on the banks of the Hudson River in New York State. 250 thousand dollars were spent on floral decoration alone. The bride’s wedding dress cost the same. Famous New York chefs commanded the kitchen, whose services cost $750,000. But the main expense item was ensuring the security of the ceremony. Chelsea and Mark made sure that the wedding was as closed as possible from the prying eyes of paparazzi and random people. The road to the estate was blocked in advance (the neighbors received a bottle of wine for the inconvenience), the sky above Astor Courts was closed to flights, and stern police officers and security guards were on duty at the gates around the clock. Journalists wandering around the area could only try to find out something from the celebrity guests arriving at the ceremony. But neither Vera Wang, nor Oprah Winfrey, nor Tom Hans succumbed to provocations and adequately preserved the secrets of the newlyweds.
Alexandra and Andrey Melnichenko
Approximate cost of the wedding: 4.1 million dollars (305 million rubles)
Russian businessman Andrei Melnichenko married his chosen one, Serbian model Alexandra Nikolic, in 2005. The celebration took place in a private villa located on the Cote d’Azur. To please his beautiful bride, Melnichenko ordered the construction of a small Russian chapel – an exact copy of an ancient religious building in the Moscow region, which Alexandra liked so much. It was there that they exchanged wedding vows, after which they went to the gala banquet. For three hundred guests invited to the holiday, planes and a five-star hotel in Cannes were booked, in the rooms of which gifts were waiting for them – evening dresses for women and Armani tuxedos for men. According to the Serbian model, this was done “to save loved ones from unnecessary expenses.” Also on private planes arrived Julio and Enrique Iglesias, Whitney Houston and Christina Aguilera – the main stars of the celebration’s musical show program. And to ensure that the guests did not get bored, they were entertained by about 200 circus performers, dancers and Cossacks on horses, delivered by air from Moscow. As Kommersant writes, the famous French chef and restaurateur Alain Ducasse was responsible for the treats, and the services of a famous photographer specializing in photo shoots for glossy magazines cost the newlyweds 500 thousand dollars.”
George and Amal Clooney
Approximate cost of the wedding: 4.6 million dollars (338 million rubles)
Famous American actor George Clooney and successful lawyer Amal Alamuddin played a luxurious three-day wedding in Venice, where only close friends and relatives of the couple were invited. Among the guests of honor were Matt Damon and his wife, Cindy Crawford and her husband, as well as Bill Murray, Anna Wintour, Emily Blunt, Bono and many others. Rooms were purchased for them at the five-star Aman Canal Grande Venice hotel (each of which cost about 4 thousand euros per night), and the wedding ceremony itself took place in the real Cavalli Palace, built in the 16th century. To match the stunning backdrop, Amal chose a lace, white Oscar de la Renta dress with a long train and floral-embroidered veil. In a word, the bride looked like a true queen. Residents of Venice were delighted with the wedding of George and Amal. In subsequent years, many local couples asked to style their weddings after this star-studded celebration (but, of course, in a more budget-friendly version).
Lolita Osmanova and Gaspar Avdolyan
Approximate cost of the wedding: 10 million dollars (745 million rubles)
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If you are the daughter of a major Russian businessman who marries the son of a billionaire, then a $10 million wedding is just a given. Gaspar Avdolyan and Lolita Osmanova tied the knot at the famous Dolby Theater in Los Angeles (where the Oscar ceremony is usually held). The hall was decorated with floral arrangements that cost approximately 500 thousand dollars, as well as gold decorative elements. The bride walked to the altar in a luxurious dress with dropped shoulders and a multi-meter sparkling train, which was created by the famous designer Zuhair Murad. The outfit was completed with a tiara and a bouquet of snow-white peonies. After the exchange of vows, Lolita changed her look, appearing before the guests in a creamy white dress, the bottom of which was decorated with feathers, and the top with the same legendary Zuhair Murad embroidery. Another major expense item was invited guests. According to media reports, the newlyweds paid $2 million for the performances of Jason Derulo and Lady Gaga alone. In addition to them, Nikolai Baskov and Stas Mikhailov flew in from Moscow, and Andrei Malakhov and Ksenia Sobchak became the hosts of the holiday.
Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries
Approximate cost of the wedding: 10 million dollars (745 million rubles)
For her wedding to rapper Kanye West in 2014, TV star Kim Kardashian approved a relatively modest budget of $2.8 million (not counting the Parisian pre-party at the Chateau de Wideville mansion for 200 guests). But three years before that, she had a wedding with basketball player Kris Humphries, for which the newlyweds had to pay a fantastic 10 million dollars. The media dubbed this celebration the second wedding of the year after the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The ceremony was held on a grand scale at the residence in Montecito. Among the 400 guests were almost the entire Hollywood celebrity crowd, from Lindsay Lohan and Demi Lovato to Eva Longoria and Avril Lavigne. The bride appeared in a delicate off-the-shoulder Vera Wang dress, complementing the look with Guiseppe Zanotti sandals and precious jewelry (earrings with 28-carat diamonds alone cost $5 million). “It was a real fairy tale,” said the bride’s mother. But alas, just 72 days after this fairytale wedding, Kim and Chris’ love boat crashed and they filed for divorce.
It is curious that Kim and Chris are the only couple from our selection who managed to earn more from their wedding than they spent on organizing it. They were paid $15 million by E! for the right to be the first to show a wedding ceremony on television; $2.8 million – People magazine for the right to write about the engagement and be the first to publish photos from the celebration; 100 thousand dollars – “OK!” edition for exclusive photographs of preparations for the wedding.
Angela Baby and Huang Xiaoming
Approximate cost of the wedding: 31 million dollars (2.2 billion rubles)
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Angela Baby – the famous socialite who is also known as the “Chinese Kim Kardashian” – married successful actor Huang Xiaoming in a $31 million ceremony. The wedding took place in one of the largest convention centers in Shanghai – The Shanghai Exhibition Centre, built in the style of Stalinist architecture and formerly called the Palace of Sino-Soviet Friendship. In this huge room (more than 18 thousand square meters), decorated in a fairytale style, 72 tables were placed for 2000 guests. There were 200 guards on duty outside the building. The bride entrusted the creation of her wedding dress to the craftsmen of the Dior fashion house. After 5 months of intensive work, they managed to sew a beautiful ivory dress with 7 skirts and a three-meter train. Guests of the celebration were entertained by more than 100 Chinese A-list celebrities, and the wedding ceremony was broadcast live on YouTube. The highlight of the celebration was an incredible cake, decorated with thousands of edible roses and reaching a height of 2.5 meters.
Prince William and Kate Middleton
Approximate cost of the wedding: 34 million dollars (2.5 billion rubles)
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This wedding became one of the most memorable in modern royal history. At the request of Kate Middleton, a real maple alley “bloomed” in Westminster Abbey for the special day. This green installation cost a decent amount, which was covered by the bride’s parents. Kate walked down the aisle in an elegant dress designed by Sarah Burton, creative director of the Alexander McQueen Fashion House (she then changed it to another outfit, again designed by Sarah). The wedding look was complemented by a Cartier tiara, borrowed from the treasury of Elizabeth II, and diamond earrings made in the form of stylized oak leaves and echoing the Middleton family coat of arms (a gift from the parents). Among the 1,900 guests at the celebration were 50 members of the royal family, 40 foreign royalty, and many celebrities. The wedding cost the British treasury and the newlyweds’ relatives $34 million. But according to an insider, almost all of this amount ($33 million) was spent on security.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Approximate cost of the wedding: 42.8 million dollars (3.1 billion rubles)
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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle managed to exceed the wedding budget of the future king of Great Britain and his chosen one. Megan’s dress from the French fashion house Givenchy cost about 550 thousand dollars (34.3 million rubles). This is almost twice as expensive as Kate Middleton’s wedding dress. However, to be fair, it should be said that Meghan paid for her dress herself, while Kate received it as a parental gift. The BriedBook portal writes that 150 thousand dollars were spent on the services of the wedding organizers, the musicians were paid more than 400 thousand dollars, the work of the florists was estimated at 150 thousand, photographers and cameramen – at 23 thousand dollars. Another 450 thousand dollars had to be spent on treating guests and creating a wedding cake. But the largest part of the budget, of course, went to pay for the work of security services – $40.1 million.
Vanisha Mittal and Amit Bhatia
Approximate cost of the wedding: 66 million dollars (4.5 billion rubles)
Lakshmi Mittal, the owner of the largest metallurgical empire and one of the richest people of our time, invariably appears in Forbes ratings. In 2008, he even managed to rise to 4th place with a fortune of $45 billion. In a word, it was nothing for him to spend 66 million dollars on organizing the wedding of his beloved daughter Vanisha. To exchange wedding vows with banker Amit Bhatia, she traveled to the heart of Europe – Paris. To transport all the guests from India, the bride’s parents rented 12 Boeings. On the way to the wedding, they were able to study in detail the personalized wedding invitations, consisting of twenty pages, packed in silver boxes. In Paris, all 600 rooms of the Le Grand Continental hotel were rented for guests, and through a special television channel in any room it was possible to follow the progress of the wedding celebrations. The first floor was turned into a beauty salon, where you could use the services of hairdressers and makeup artists absolutely free of charge. Drummers in Indian national costumes were responsible for the festive mood. Each lady invited to the wedding was also given a special gift – a Prada or Gucci handbag with jewelry inside.
The holiday lasted six days, during which the guests attended the official betrothal in Versailles; a lavish banquet in the Tuileries Gardens; a colorful party in Bollywood style, where guests were entertained by famous actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai; the groom’s blessing ritual at the InterContinental Hotel and the Jaimala ceremony, during which the newlyweds exchanged flower garlands and then invited everyone to a feast prepared by the chef of Lakshmi Mittal’s favorite Calcutta restaurant. At the last event alone, more than five thousand bottles of Mouton Rothschild champagne were drunk, with a total value of about $1.5 million. But the most important ceremony was the gala dinner at the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, one of the most famous palaces in France, built under Louis XIV. The pompous Indian holiday came as a surprise to the workers of the architectural masterpiece, who were accustomed to European celebrations. Many world newspapers wrote about this luxurious wedding, but the most complete review was provided by the Indian publication. It was published under the title “Dad, buy me the Eiffel Tower.”