With unheard of, limitless wedding budgets, affluent brides have been known to drop a
lot of moolah on their gowns for the big day. Starting from price tags in the thousands
and working our way up to the millions, we rounded up the most expensive wedding dresses
of all time. These costly, one-of-a-kind frocks are the stuff of wedding dreams and will go
down in gown history.
The hotel heiress wed James Rothschild in
2015, at Kensington Palace, no less. With a venue that exquisite, you definitely need
a dress of equal caliber. Hilton's long-sleeve Valentino gown did just the trick, weighing
in at $77,000. We expect another five-figure gown for her sister Paris's upcoming wedding.
This Material Girl definitely lived in a material
world while wearing quite the pricey wedding dress to her 1985 wedding. The Queen of Pop
tied the knot with actor Sean Penn in a quintessential '80s tulle and mesh number, which sold at
an auction for $81,250 in 2014. She's no stranger to high-end bridal garb—Madonna's second
wedding dress for her marriage to Guy Ritchie is believed to have cost around $80,000.
Naturally, the Trumps did it big for their
2005 wedding, including Melania's $100,000 dress. The now-FLOTUS wed in style, sporting
a custom Dior frock with 1,500 embellishments. The grandiose gown required lots of heavy
lifting—it took 500 hours to make and weighed a whopping 60 pounds. She even landed a cover
shot on Vogue wearing her wedding dress!
Posh Spice's wedding dress certainly lived
up to her former fashion-forward Spice Girls persona, which of course means it probably
cost a pretty penny. The bride wore a Vera Wang gown with a 20-foot train, and is estimated
to be worth $100,000. To top their wedding off in true '90s fashion, the pair traded
their costly tux and gown for matching purple outfits at their reception.
Think pink—Biel took a unique approach to
her wedding day look with a blush Giambattista Valli Haute Couture number when she married
Justin Timberlake in 2012. But the spunky-colored gown still managed to build up quite the price
tag—$100,000 to be exact.
Catherine's marriage to Michael Douglas has
stood the test of Hollywood time. The pair tied the knot 16 years ago, with the ever-gorgeous
Catherine rocking a $140,000 Christian Lacroix wedding dress.
Despite marrying eight times, Taylor showed
that the first time was the charm in terms of wedding dresses. Her now-famous gown from
her 1950 wedding to Conrad "Nicky" Hilton was designed by Helen Rose and sold for $187,931
at a London auction in 2013.
Miller wed her husband, Prince Pavlos, in
1995 in true royal fashion—while sporting a stunning long-sleeve traditional dress,
and an expensive one at that. The Crown Princess of Greece's pearl-encrusted Valentino number
cost $225,000, 14-foot length Chantilly lace train and all.
Mariah Carey and James Packer broke off their
engagement, so her wedding dress never got its time to shine on the big day, but the
would-have-been gown by Valentino cost $250,000. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise,
considering Carey's lavish taste and her $10 million engagement ring (that she reportedly
still wore post-breakup). In overtly dramatic fashion, the "Obsessed" singer actually set
her gown on fire in one of her music videos after splitting from Packer.
Meghan Markle’s wedding dress for her big
day, May 19, 2018, was a white silk, simple gown.
Meghan’s sleek dress — designed by British designer Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy
— featured an open bateau neckline, a sculpted waist and slim three-quarter sleeves. It also
incorporated a long train, which flowed in soft round folds cushioned by an underskirt
in triple silk organza. For this dress, Megan paid $ 350,000
George Clooney and his bride spared no expense
when it came to her wedding dress—or their entire $4.6 million nuptials, for that matter.
Amal said "I do" while wearing an off-the-shoulder lace Oscar de la Renta number that cost $380,000.
Her gown, the last wedding dress the late designer created before he passed away, gained
so much notoriety that it was temporarily featured in an Oscar de la Renta exhibit at
the Museum of Fine Arts. Despite its astronomical price tag, the gown's value is pretty priceless.
Duchess Kate's dress from her 2011 wedding
to Prince William was truly fit for a royal, with a price tag of $434,000. Sarah Burton
for Alexander McQueen designed the classic gown, complete with long lace sleeves and
a full skirt. We're envious of the royal wedding budget.
It's no surprise that Kim Kardashian would
land on the list for most expensive wedding dresses of all time, considering she's never
been one to take the simple route. When Kimye tied the knot in 2014, the bougie bride walked
down the aisle in a $500,000 custom-made couture Givenchy gown with long sleeves and a trumpet
silhouette. And, one dress wouldn't suffice—Kim later changed into a minidress designed by
Olivier Rousteing, creative director for Balmain.
Ranking as runner-up for the most expensive
wedding dress of all time, the Swarovski jewelry heiress's custom-made gown has an estimated
price tag of…over ONE. MILLION. DOLLARS. Naturally, the dress was decked out with over
500,000 crystals—because just a few thousand wouldn't cut it.
Although the exact price of this Chinese star's
custom Dior wedding dress has been kept under wraps, her entire wedding racked up a $31
million bill. Angelababy's notorious gown reportedly took five months to complete, and
totes seven petticoats, a 10-foot train, and 100 hand-cut Chantilly lace roses. So, it's
probably a fair assumption that a large chunk of her wedding budget most likely went to
her over-the-top dress, landing her at the number one spot for most expensive wedding
dress of all time.