Hollywood Celebrity Weddings
How the Rich and Famous Tie the Knot
Just as the idea of Hollywood inspires bigger than life dreams of fame and fortune, Hollywood weddings excite the imagination with visions of lavish and expensive weddings. For some undeniable reason, we are drawn to the relationships and romances among Hollywood celebrities and can't help but watch with fascination as the real life drama unfolds before our eyes. While not all Hollywood celebrity weddings end in happily ever after, the details of their extravagant and over-the-top weddings last forever.
We have been enthralled with celebrity romances and weddings since Hollywood became an iconic symbol of fame and fortune. Some of the earliest and greatest Hollywood love stories are the relationship of Clark Gable and Carole Lombard and the romance between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. Both couples chose simple and quiet wedding ceremonies. Clark Gable and Carole Lombard eloped to Arizona in 1939, where they were married in the house of a local minister. The only witnesses at their wedding ceremony were the minister's wife and the local high-school principal. In 1945, when Lauren Bacall married Humphrey Bogart, they chose the country home of a close friend in Lucas, Ohio as the setting for both their wedding and honeymoon.
Some modern Hollywood couples have also opted for private and simple wedding ceremonies. When actors Rebecca Romijn and Jerry O'Connell were planning their wedding, she convinced him to exchange vows on their own Calabasas Ranch outside of Los Angeles. They married on July 14, 2007 in front of 100 family and friends as they stood under a flower-adorned tree. While the setting was homestyle and fun, the bride was very glamourous in her white Ralph Lauren wedding gown and Neil Lane diamond accessories. In November 2007, actress Ellen Pompeo and music exec Chris Ivery kept their plans a secret and were quietly married in a quick and simple civil ceremony at Manhattan's City Hall. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg served as the witness for their wedding ceremony. Ellen Pompeo had previously said she did not want "a big thing" when asked about her wedding plans.
Two other Hollywood celebrity couples that chose small and private weddings were Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. No, not to each other, but after their very public engagement and breakup, when they did get married to other partners, they both opted for low-key wedding ceremonies. Jennifer Lopez found love again with Marc Anthony. They married in a quiet home wedding in June 2004. They tried to keep their wedding a secret from the media by inviting their guests to an "afternoon party" at Jennifer's Beverly Hills estate. When Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner married in June 2005, they slipped away to the exclusive Parrot Cay Resort in the Caribbean islands of Turks and Caico for their sunset wedding.
Eva Longoria and Tony Parker celebrated their marriage at Chateau-Vaux-le-Vicomte in France
Some celebrity couples prefer a bigger and more extravagant wedding ceremony. One of the popular settings for lavish and expensive wedding ceremonies is at a castle. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes choose the privately owned Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy as the location for their wedding in November of 2006. Skibo Castle in Scotland, now a private member's club, has been the site of several celebrity weddings including that of Madonna and Guy Ritchie in December 2000 and of Ashley Judd and Dario Franchitti in December 2001. Eva Longoria and Tony Parker were married in Paris on July 7, 2007, with a religious ceremony at the church that once served the French royal families, the parisian Eglise Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church, and then hosted a reception at the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th century castle, located in Maincy, France just south of Paris. Truly the wedding of fairytales, Eva and Tony booked the castle for two days, a venue which typically rents for $45,000 an hour. Most recently, in August 2007, Usher Raymond and Tameka Foster celebrated their marriage at the Chateau Elan Winery and Resort, a luxurious recreation of a 16th-century French castle nestled on 3,500 acres of rolling hills in Atlanta, Georgia.
As Hollywood celebrities plan their weddings, they are able to follow their hearts desire and spare no expense. While the average American wedding costs between $22,000 and $27,000, weddings among the Hollywood rich and famous far exceed that amount. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes reportedly spent an estimated $2 million for their fairytale, castle wedding in Italy. Also spending about $2 million were pop princess Christina Aguilera and music exec Jordan Bratman. Their November 2005 wedding destination was Staglin Family Vineyard and the Auberge du Soleil resort in California's Napa Valley. Oscar-winning actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones were married in November 2000 at New York's famed Plaza Hotel, with an estimated wedding cost of $1.5 million.
Weddings among Hollywood celebrities set trends and influence weddings around the world. It doesn't matter whether a celebrity couple gets married in a small, intimate wedding ceremony or a large, grandiose wedding extravaganza. Some famous brides and grooms choose a traditional wedding ceremony, other celebrities choose a unique ceremony that reflects their own personal whimsy and style. Pictures and descriptions of celebrity weddings fill the pages of social websites and bridal magazines, feeding our curiosity and inspiring other brides-to-be as they plan weddings of their own. Whatever the details may be, however, it confirms that for any couple in love, even the rich and famous, that weddings reflect our hope that dreams do come true.
