Celebs Who Either Spent Insane Amounts Of Money On Their Wedding Or Kept It Surprisingly Low-Key
Spending $42 million on a single wedding is just completely insane.
Celebrity weddings can be wildly different, even when the guest list is full of famous faces. Some stars go all out with lavish venues, designer dresses, and headline-making budgets, while others keep things small, private, and surprisingly affordable.
This roundup looks at couples who chose very different ways to celebrate their marriage, from ultra-expensive ceremonies to low-key celebrations with just a handful of guests. The contrast makes each story stand out for a different reason.
From palace-level spending to courthouse vows, the details are hard to ignore.
1. Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas
SAJJAD HUSSAIN / AFP via Getty Images2. Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux
JB Lacroix / WireImage via Getty Images3. Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn
In early 2019, Sheeran married his girlfriend Cherry Seaborn in a ceremony that was kept secret. Sheeran described the wedding as a “tiny affair, with hardly anyone there,” on “a random day in the middle of January, in the middle of nowhere. … No one knew, no one came to it; we lit candles, got married, went back, and had a curry.”
Stephen Pond / Getty Images
4. Sir Elton John and David Furnish ($1.5 million)
The wedding cost a reported $1.5 million. The civil union took place at Windsor Guildhall and had 700 guests.
Michael Kovac / Getty Images for BAFTA
5. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi
Despite originally planning a large wedding, Ellen and Portia opted for an “intimate, candlelit ceremony” at home after it became too stressful. Only their family and close friends were invited, totaling 19 people.
That’s a big shift from the wedding they first imagined.
6. Chrissy Teigen and John Legend
In 2013, Teigen and Legend were married at Villa Pizzo in Lake Como, Italy. Stevie Wonder performed at the wedding, in addition to Legend himself. On top of that, Chrissy wore three different Vera Wang dresses that day.
The guest list included 125 people, mostly stars such as Kanye West and Brooklyn Decker.
7. Raven-Symoné and Miranda Pearman-Maday
Raven and Miranda decided to tie the knot during quarantine. The ceremony was held in Debbie Allen’s LA yard and was officiated by their friend Erica Summers. Only six other friends attended the ceremony, and the whole event lasted only an hour.
“We were in and out. And Mama D. was like, ‘I’ll cook something,’ and then someone else was like, ‘We have to have champagne,’ so we had to have a cake.” After Miranda suggested sweatpants, Raven styled the two in Gucci; the veil, on the other hand, was only a $4 purchase from Amazon.
It sounds equal parts casual and unforgettable.
8. Khloé Kardashian and Lamar Odom ($1,850,000)
Kardashian and Odom wed after only two months of dating. The entire ceremony was televised and held in Irving Azoff’s Beverly Hills mansion.
Many celebrities attended, such as Chelsea Handler and Ryan Seacrest. A 10-piece orchestra played as Kardashian walked down the aisle in a Vera Wang dress. The event reportedly cost $1 million in total, plus an additional $850,000 for the 12.5-carat diamond ring.
E!
And if you think low-key weddings avoid conflict, a sister’s lavish wedding funding fight with the bride’s own refusal will change your mind.
9. Lenny Kravitz and Lisa Bonet (Eloped)
In 1987, Kravitz and Bonet decided to travel to Las Vegas one morning after deciding to marry each other while in bed. Lisa and Lenny eloped there without any of their families present.
Vinnie Zuffante / Getty Images
10. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry ($42 million)
Prince Harry and Meghan married at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. The ceremony was attended by a total of 600 guests, while 200 attended the reception.
A whopping $42 million was spent on this wedding, and celebrities such as George Clooney and his wife Amal, as well as Elton John, were in attendance.
OWEN HUMPHREYS/AFP via Getty Image
11. Hilary Duff and Matthew Koma
The two married in a 20-minute ceremony at their LA home. Only close friends and family were present, making the ceremony quite low-key.
12. Katy Perry and Russell Brand
Russell and Perry were engaged in India on the back of an elephant with fireworks above their heads. The ceremony took place at the Aman-e-Khas luxury resort, which is located right across from the Ranthambore tiger sanctuary. It's rumored that Brand bought a rare female tiger for Perry as a wedding gift at that same sanctuary.
Anthony Harvey / Getty Images
13. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas ($1.5 to $2 million)
UK Press via Getty Images
14. Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden
Donato Sardella / Getty Images for REVOLVE
15. Tiger Woods and Elin Nordegren ($1.5 million)
Andrew Redington / Getty Images
16. Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman
Their ceremony was attended by 150 non-celebrity guests, consisting mainly of friends and family.
Kurt Krieger - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
17. Penn Badgley and Domino Kirke
The two were married at a Brooklyn courthouse in 2017. However, they hosted a larger celebration later on in upstate New York.
18. Nicole Richie and Joel Madden
The two were married in a lavish Versailles-themed tent. The ceremony included 155 guests, all of whom were greeted by an elephant upon their arrival.
Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images
19. Amy Schumer and Chris Fischer
The two married in a "casual afternoon ceremony" in Malibu with 80 guests.
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20. Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman ($2 million)
The Napa Valley ceremony hosted 130 guests and cost a reported $2 million.
Splash
21. Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley (Between $20,000 and $30,000)
Robbie and Ackerley only invited 100 guests to their Byron Bay, Australia, ceremony. It was a very private wedding where social media and phones were banned.
That kind of privacy is rare in celebrity circles.
At the end of the day, people will do what makes them happy, and if that means spending ridiculous amounts of money, they will do it as long as they can afford it. It's their own money after all, and if they wish to spend it on something that brings them joy, it shouldn't concern anyone but them.
As for the celebrities who opted for a low-key wedding, props to them for saving money while still making their wedding day extra special by surrounding themselves with the people they love and care about most.
Either way, the wedding story says a lot.
After Sheeran’s “hardly anyone there” wedding, see what to do when in-laws demand payment against your partner’s wishes: in-laws paying for a wedding your partner doesn’t want.
