Top 10 Most Expensive Weddings of All Time

Weddings are the most expensive occasions, and celebrities don’t miss the chance to flaunt on their wedding day. The nuptials of all proportions is held across the world, ranging from low-budget personal weddings to large-scale events. The scale of the celebration is determined by various criteria, including wedding guests, wedding budget, and wedding location, among others.

The wedding budget, however, is the most important consideration. But imagine if the budget was no constraint at all. The quantity of your bank account will mostly determine how grand your wedding reception will be. The larger the event, the more money you spend. However, more doesn’t always mean better. Let’s take a look at the top ten most expensive weddings of all time, and you decide who did it best.

List of Most Expensive Weddings of all time

10. George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin – $4.6 Million

George clooney and amal clooney-min

George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin made news for throwing one of the world’s most extravagant weddings. George and Amal opted to have their wedding in Venice, where they paid for all of their guests. As a result, the majority of the cash was spent on lodging their visitors at the luxurious Hotel Cipriani. The reception was held at The Aman, which is likewise extremely expensive but was the perfect venue for their celebrity-studded guest list.

9. Chelsea Clinton & Marc Mezvinsky – $5 million

Most Expensive Weddings
Credit: CBS News

Chelsea Clinton, the former Secretary of State and daughter of former President Bill Clinton, married investment banker Marc in an extravagant wedding ceremony at the Astor Courts in 2010. The location provided a peaceful and lovely view of the Hudson River.

Authorities created a no-fly zone above the Hudson Valley as guests arrived in limos, and adjacent highways were allegedly closed. Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Barbra Streisand were among the 500 attendees at the wedding.

8. Wayne Rooney & Coleen McLoughlin – $8 million

Most Expensive Weddings
Credit: Ok.co.uk

Wayne Rooney of Manchester United married his childhood girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin in 2008 in the Abbey of Cervara near Genoa, Italy. The Irish boyband Westlife, who cost $670,000, serenaded the newlyweds and their guests. Rooney arranged for five private planes to carry 64 of their wedding guests.

The wedding took place in the Villa Durazzo, a 17th-century castle in the Mediterranean town of Santa Margherita Ligure. While the event was lavish, when a magazine paid $4.2 million for the exclusive rights to the wedding photographs, the couple received little help in paying their debts.

7. Virat Kohli & Anushka Sharma – $10 million

Most Expensive Weddings

Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma, often known as Virushka amongst their fans, married each other in a secret ceremony in an 800-year-old luxury lodge in Tuscany, Italy, in 2017. Borgo Finocchieto is the world’s second highest priced property, a 13th century restored medieval luxury hamlet.

The mansion can only seat 44 guests at a time, and a week’s stay in the villa costs INR 1 Crore. Given the attendance of 44 guests, the entire expenditure amounts to INR 45 crore. Both Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma donned Sabyasachi ensembles made by the country’s most recognized designer.

The couple made headlines when they hosted two wedding parties. Among the two fantastic festivities that followed were ones for the Bollywood and Cricket fraternity. The couple welcomed numerous celebrities for their second round of celebrations, including none other than Shah Rukh Khan, King Khan himself.

6. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West – $12 Million

Nobody knows how much Kimye spent on their extravagant wedding, but it was most likely between 12 and 20 million dollars. Kanye West, who had been in love with Kim for almost a decade before eventually capturing her heart.

The weekend celebration was held in Italy and France, where they spent $400,000 on the location, $500,000 on Kim’s Givenchy gown, $500,000 on flying their wedding guests over and covering the costs of lodging, and about $5000 on a marble table with their guests’ names etched on it.

5. Prince William & Kate Middleton – $34 million

Fifth in the list of most expensive weddings of all time, the wedding almost every Gen Z remember. On April 29, 2011, Prince William and Catherine Middleton married in Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom. Prince William was the second in line to the throne of the United Kingdom. The bride, Catherine Middleton, has been his partner since 2003.

John Hall, Dean of Westminster, presided over the service; Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated at the wedding; Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, gave the sermon; and the bride’s brother James read. Prince Harry made an appearance as the groom’s best man, while the title of maid of honor was given to Pippa, the bride’s sister.

The bride’s and groom’s families attended the ceremony, as well as members of foreign royal families, ambassadors, and the couple’s personal friends. Following the wedding ceremony, the pair made the usual appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.

4. Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas – $40.8 million

In a Western Christian wedding, American singer-songwriter Nick Jonas and former Miss World, and Indian actress Priyanka Chopra exchanged vows in 2018 at the five-star historic hotel Taj Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. According to reports, the couple reserved the entire hotel for the wedding from November 29 to December 3, 2018.

3. Vanisha Mittal & Amit Bhatia – $66 million

Vanisha Mittal is the daughter of one of the world’s wealthiest men, Lakshmi Mittal. Her marriage to Amit Bhatia was, appropriately, one of the costliest weddings in the world in 2004. The wedding took place in the renowned 17th-century Chateau Vaux le Vicomte near Paris. The couple performed an engagement ceremony at the Palace of Versailles prior to the wedding. Kylie Minogue, music artist and performer, was paid $330,000 for a half-hour performance at the wedding.

2. Isha Ambani & Anand Piramal – $100 million

Isha Ambani, daughter of Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries Ltd, married Anand Piramal, son of Mumbai-based billionaire entrepreneur Ajay Piramal, in 2018. Various news outlets described the wedding as the largest Indian event of the year, with everything from tens of chartered planes to thousands of luxury automobiles to the booking of five-star hotels to the A1 guest list of biggies to pre-wedding parties.

The wedding of Isha Ambani was full of beautiful rites and customs, much like a typical Indian wedding. The pre-wedding festivities were conducted at the Hotel Udaivilas in Udaipur, Rajasthan’s most beautiful tourist attraction. Isha Ambani, who received a 450-crore house as a present from her in-laws, had her multi-million-dollar pre-wedding celebrations at The City of Lakes, a prominent event management firm that oversaw the same.

According to accounts, the motif of the pre-wedding ceremony setting was pontoons and boats. In Udaipur City, a large pontoon was erected on one of the sides of Lake Pichola. Another pontoon for 1,000 guests was built upon the ghat of Hotel Udaivilas.

1. Prince Charles & Diana – $178 million

 Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s grand royal wedding which happened over 40 years ago, is the costliest wedding in the world. On July 29, 1981, Prince Charles and Lady Diana married in St Paul’s Cathedral in London, United Kingdom. Their wedding was nicknamed the “wedding of the century” and a “fairytale wedding”. It was viewed by an estimated 750 million people on global television and was personally observed by 3,500 individuals. According to accounts, Princess Diana’s bridal gown featured a 25-foot train and the designer encrusted the dress with 10,000 pearls.

The wedding ceremony was a conventional Church of England affair. Alan Webster, Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, presided over the service, and Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie officiated at the wedding. Other royal families, relatives of the bride’s and groom’s families, and republican heads of state were among those present. Following the wedding ceremony, the pair made the usual appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. To honor the wedding, the United Kingdom proclaimed that day a national holiday.

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