Botanica wedding planners pick their top seven luxury weddings
Unsurprisingly, the million dollar marriage of Neville Crichton to Nadi Hasandedic in Sydney this past weekend caught the ever-roaming eyes of the Botanica Wedding planning team. You see, like many of you, we secretly love our celebrity and society weddings. The photographs, the romance, the opulence and the sheer scale of these events are nothing less than epic. Yes, we know it may be pure fantasy (and sometimes even a tiny bit trashy), but it’s a great distraction on a Monday, so we took a vote to give you a little glimpse of our team’s ‘all time favourite’ celebrity and society weddings. There’s no need to thank us for this well deserved break from your work-day. You’re very welcome…
While we considered keeping the list to just Australian weddings, it seemed such a shame to miss out on all of the fabulous castles and palaces of Europe. So to line up each wedding with an ‘apples to apples’ approach, we’ve translated the estimated costs of the weddings to Australian dollars. While we all know that money isn’t everything, seeing these figures may be comforting to those of you out there who are planning a wedding and watching helplessly as your cost estimates rise.
So read on! At the very least you can be assured there are brides and grooms all over the world investing in celebrations that are costing much more than yours is likely to. And on a side note, if you’re engaged and you do want some real wedding costs just click here. Our team of wedding planners creates incredible celebrations each month and can show you what’s truly possible in a stunning wedding day.
1. The Greek Wedding
Images by kind courtesy of David Swift // Daily Telegraph
When Greek Cypriot businessman Andrew Constantinou, 33, married his 32-year-old sweetheart Rachel Carter in Sydney last April, the press went wild. Some highlights included the groom arriving in a Ferrari to be met by 25 million dollars worth of luxury cars, including fleets of Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Rolls Royces and Harley-Davidsons. There were also troupes of dancing drummers and saxophonists on site and an appearance from the Queensland Cowboy’s Johnathan Thurston who ‘just happened’ to be in the area. While no one shared the actual costs of the big day, we predict it would’ve come in at well over $200,000 Australian dollars.
2. The Presidential Wedding
Image by kind courtesy of Getty
After three weddings Donald Trump finally got it right when in 2005 he married Slovene, Melania Knauss, who was then a model, but unpredictably went on to become the First Lady of the United States. And though we don’t necessarily agree with all of his politics, we have to admit the man knows how to throw a wedding. The ceremony itself was elegant and traditional but the reception, at Trump’s oceanfront estate was extravagant beyond all measures. The guests were fed caviar, lobster and truffles while Billy Joel entertained them.
Melania wore couture by Christian Dior’s John Galliano, the dress, which was said to take more than 1,000 hours to make, featured hand stitched crystals and pearls and was itself worth over 100,000 USD. She also wore a 13-carat emerald-cut diamond but was disappointed when the local town council wouldn’t allow the extravagant display of fireworks she had in mind. Total estimated cost: 2 million Australian dollars.
Notably, the Mar-a-Lago' resort where they married is now being referred to as the "Winter White House" and Trump spends more time here than in the actual White House.
3. The Indian Wedding
Image by kind courtesy of Rumournews
When Vanisha Mittal and Amit Bhatia were married, the term “money is no object” was truly put to the test. The Indian born steel magnate spared no costs over the week long affair which was set in Paris and said to cost around $60 million USD. Over 1,000 guests received silver case invitations and were jetted to various five star locations for dinners, dances and lavish parties at locations including; the Palace of Versailles, the Jardin des Tuileries, and the Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th century chateau where they exchanged vows. Entertainment was provided by Kylie Minogue, several Bollywood stars and of course, there were fireworks at the Eiffel Tower. We adjusted the costs for inflation to today’s rate then translated them to Australian dollars to give you a startling figure of $89 million.
4. The Royal Wedding
Image by kind courtesy of Getty
We couldn’t help ourselves from mentioning this one! The marriage of Kate Middleton and Prince William was surrounded by fanfare and marked a new era for British Royalty. They said their vows at the medieval abbey in front of the Archbishop of Canterbury after Kate arrived at the altar in an ivory gown with lace appliqué by British designer Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.
Securing the veil, she wore a 1936 Cartier diamond “halo” tiara as her “something borrowed” from the Queen, and carried a bouquet of flowers that included Sweet Williams. They were transported by horse-drawn carriage and received a tandem bicycle as a gift from the major of London. While most of the money was spent on security for this event, it did feature 800,000 worth of flowers and an 80,000 wedding cake. The total? $34 million Australian dollars. Notably, the bridesmaid that threatened to steal the show in *that* dress - Kate's sister Pippa is herself now getting married. We can’t wait to see what Kate wears!
5. The Formula One Wedding
Image by kind courtesy of Getty
When Petra Ecclestone and James Stunt said ‘I do’ in 2011, it was in a 15th century medieval castle on the banks of Lake Bracciano near Rome. Notably, The Castello Orsini-Odescalchi was also where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were married.
As the daughter of billionaire Formula One racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone, the bride faced a genetic challenge to keep everything as low key and un-Bridezilla-like as possible. But regardless of this the three-day long event included performances by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrea Bocelli, Eric Clapton, Alicia Keys, and Black Eyed Peas. There were also fireworks, an acrobatics show, royal guests and of course, wine worth $6,500 per bottle. She wore Vera Wang, a dress worth $130,000 and arrived in a Rolls Royce. The guests were asked to donate to charity and the total costs came in at around 25 million Australian dollars.
6. The Kardashian Wedding
Image by kind courtesy of Getty
When reality star Kim Kardashian married Kanye West in 2014 they included a variety of European luxury spots in the itinerary. There were pre wedding events held in Paris and guests were then flown to Florence for the ceremony which was held at the 16th-century Forte di Belvedere in front of a massive wall of flowers. The whole family wore Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci, Andrea Bocelli sang sweetly while Kim was walked down the aisle, and John Legend performed the first dance song at their reception. The post wedding celebrations were nothing less than lavish and included matching leather jackets. His said ‘just’ while hers said, ‘married’. There were of course, many ‘selfies’ taken. Total estimated cost was $16 million Australian dollars.
7.The Football Wedding
Image by kind courtesy of Esposa
When Wayne Rooney and Coleen McLoughlin married in 2008 they chartered a plane for 65 British friends and family to Genoa where they held a masked ball on a 120 million dollar yacht. Guests relaxed on the boat (and at a five star hotel) before witnessing the nuptials at a 17th Century Villa in Portofino. Luckily there was a medieval abbey directly above the space for the reception - so the event only came in at 10 million Australian dollars.
Some expect lavish luxury while others are happy with love
You can tell by our tone that these examples don’t represent what the average Australian couple is likely to pay for their nuptials, and the ‘million dollar’ weekend wedding of Neville Crichton to Nadi Hasandedic isn’t really either. What they do do is provide contrast to the vast difference between fantasy and reality. The weddings we mention above would’ve taken months of planning with huge teams of staff and unlimited budgets in many areas.
We know you are unlikely to have those resources at your disposal, but it’s still quite ok to want (and get) elements of escapism and fantasy as part of your big day. Botanica has been planning weddings of all scales for many years and can help you to achieve your dreams for a cost that might surprise you! These days, many exotic destination weddings come in at over 100,000 Australian dollars, but Botanica has locations that are just as beautiful for significantly less. Please don’t hesitate to contact us today for a chat about creating your dream wedding.