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Much Ado About “I Do”
Jeff Bezos’s three-day wedding celebration in Venice—with a star-studded guest list including Oprah Winfrey, Mick Jagger, and Kim Kardashian—begins this week. The affair is estimated to cost as much as $20 million, but that’s just a fraction of the price tags attached to the following nuptials.
Considered the most expensive wedding in modern history, this 2016 event between the son of a Russian oligarch and a 20-year old dental student featured entertainment by Jennifer Lopez, Sting, and Enrique Iglesias—and reportedly cost as much as $1 billion.
Radhika Merchant and Anant AmbaniThis union featured two of India’s wealthiest families and is estimated to have cost between $600 million and $1 billion. Performances by Rihanna, Andrea Bocelli, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber, and an elaborate light show that included 5,500 drones, headlined the events.
Diana Spencer and Prince CharlesWhen adjusted for inflation, the 1981 royal wedding between Prince Charles (later Charles III) and the future Princess Diana (pictured below) cost some $166 million. Pre-wedding festivities included a gala ball at Buckingham Palace and a massive fireworks display, and the bride’s dress, said to have cost nearly $115,00 (or about $380,000 today), contained 10,000 pearls.

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