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All you really need to get married is love–and maybe a ring, and a marriage license. But that doesn’t stop celebrities from going overboard when they’re ready to tie the knot, hosting parties decorated with thousands of exotic flowers, serving food flown in from all over the world, and donning wear-once gowns to celebrate with 200, or 500, or 1,500 of their closest friends. Of course these weddings are incredibly beautiful, but the sheer quantity of energy and resources that go into them highlight a love for each other–not for the planet.
1. Donald Trump and Melania Knauss
The Donald has never been known for subtlety or a less-is-more approach, and his 2005 wedding to model Melania Knauss was no exception. Knauss wore a custom-designed Dior dress made from 50 pounds of fabric, rhinestones, and pearls that was rumored to cost between $100,000 and $200,000–but only for the ceremony and first dance, after which she changed into a Vera Wang dress for the rest of the night. More than 500 guests drank $650 bottles of champagne and ate from a 200 pound cake sporting 3,000 icing roses.
2. Ryan Sutter and Trista Rehn
With ABC footing the bill for the wedding of Bachelorette Trista Rehn and contestantRyan Sutter, the couple went all out: The reported cost of $3.77 million included more than 30,000 pink and white roses, the bride’s diamond-encrusted Stuart Weitzman shoes, and a reception meal that served food custom-delivered (by plane) from 14 countries, 200 pounds of seafood, and 180 bottles of champagne.
3. Elizabeth Hurley and Arun Nayar
While many couples who decide on destination weddings have one small ceremony abroad and another, less formal party for friends back home, Elizabeth Hurley andArun Nayar needed no such restriction, hosting one ceremony at England’s Sudeley Castle and, a week later, hosting a second at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in India. The more than 200 guests who traveled to both were treated at the Indian celebration to “dancing white horses, walkways lined with millions of red chili peppers, and a sacred fire surrounded by Hindu priests chanting in Sanskrit,” according to MSN.
4. Liza Minnelli and David Gest
More than seven years later, Liza Minnelli and David Gest’s festivities still claim a spot as one of the most expensive celebrity weddings of all time, with an estimated cost of $3.5 million. Nearly 1,500 guests turned out to witness Minnelli’s fourth marriage–where attendants included best man Michael Jackson and maid of honor Elizabeth Taylor–to celebrate at a reception that included a six-foot-high, 12-layer wedding cake. (No word on which of the almost-400 items they registered for at pricey retailer Tiffany’s wound up on the couple’s gift table.)
5. Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman
Wow