Expected price tag: $16 million
Price tag: more than $3 million
In the biggest royal wedding since Lady Di married Prince Charles, Sweden's crown princess wed her former trainer at a cost of more than $3 million. An audience of close to 1,200 (including six kings and nine queens) packed into the Stockholm Cathedral, while an additional 250,000 watched the ceremony and accompanying procession from the streets, which the government had decorated with flower arrangements. Several parties disapproved; the brideâs father wasnât hot on the idea of her marrying a commoner, the publicâs disdain for the modern monarchy increased with news of the affairâs grand cost, and royalists were upset that the brideâs father escorted her down the aisle rather than the groom, as Swedish custom dictates.
Price tag: nearly $5 million
At the time, the wedding of Princess Diana and Prince Charles was dubbed âthe most expensive in history,â though in total the nuptials cost just $2 million ($4.7 million, adjusted for inflation). The largest check was written for security, which at $600,000 was twice the price paid for the two-week honeymoon aboard the royal yacht Britannia. Other big-ticket items included $40,000 for the five-foot-high cake, $100,000 for flowers and decorations, $100,000 for a pre-wedding reception, $10,000 for five bridesmaidsâ dresses and, of course, $60,000 for Dianaâs diamond and sapphire engagement ring thatâs now embellishing Kate Middletonâs hand. The princessâ dress was a spectacle itself, with a 25-foot train that trailed behind her for the three-and-a-half minute walk down the aisle as some 750 million people watched from home.
Price tag: nearly $6 million
At the tender age of 17, the commoner Sarah Salleh became Brunei royalty at the sultan of Bruneiâs palace during a wedding that included 2,000 guests (about half a percent of Bruneiâs total population) and a price tag of $5 million in 2004. About 20,000 people in the surrounding area were able to see a 15-minute fireworks display. Following the ceremony the new couple was honored with a five-mile parade, along with more than 100 limousines for family members. Guests included Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito and Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard, according to official reports.
Price tag: at least $7 million
According to reports, the total bill for the wedding and reception for the duty-free heiress and her Grecian prince was between $5 million and $8 millionâwhich equates to between $7 million and $11 million in 2011 dollars. Why so costly? The night before the nuptials, a dinner and reception for more than 1,200 guests were held, adorned with giant tents built to look like the Parthenon, 100,000 flowers flown in from Ecuador, and so many lights that they had to be approved by Heathrow Airport. Marie-Chantalâs Valentino dress, requiring four months of work and 12 types of lace, cost an additional $225,000. The reception following the wedding included 300 cakes in addition to the eight-tier wedding cake.
Price tag: Unknown, in the tens of millions
The marriage of Hollywood royalty Grace Kelly to Prince Rainier of Monaco was a union forged in destiny. When Kelly was young, she
told her sister, âOne day Iâm going to be a princess.â Little did Kelly the child know that Kelly the movie star would fulfill that dream. Her engagement ring was a 12-carat diamond, flanked by smaller diamonds and her dress, designed by famed film costume designer Helen Rose, took six weeks, 36 seamstresses, 25 yards of taffeta, 100 yards of silk net and thousands of pearls to complete. As a wedding gift, Prince Rainier gave her a yacht. The wedding itself was a media event along the lines of the upcoming British royal union, with thousands of photographers and reporters and a live broadcast to Europe and an estimated 30 million people tuning in on television. According to biographies of the starlet, Prince Rainierâs father demanded a $2 million dowry in advance of the nuptials from the brideâs father, Jack Kelly, a construction mogul. Ultimately, he paid half that sum (about $8 million in todayâs money).
Price tag: Unknown, in the tens of millions
King Mohammed and Salma Bennani broke several traditional molds with their marriageâthe first that the king
publicly announced his engagement to the computer engineer Bennani in October 2001. The following March, the king and Bennani signed a marriage contract, making their union official. Against custom, Bennani was given an official title: Her Royal Highness Princess Consort of Morocco. In July 2002, the couple was feted with a lavish public ceremonyâwhich had traditionally been privateâthat included 1,500 guests, among them Bill and Chelsea Clinton, 1,400 horsemen, and the freeing of more than 8,000 prisoners, the Associated Press reported. In another break with tradition, Salma Bennani is the kingâs only wife; King Mohammedâs father had two wives and a harem.
The upcoming wedding between the second-in-line to the throne Prince William and budding fashion icon Kate Middleton is sure to be the celebrity event of the year for the United Kingdom, if not all of Europe. The relationship between Middleton and Prince William was cemented November 16, 2010, when their engagement was announced. The reception for 600 guests is scheduled at Buckingham Palace, with Australia and Canada rumored as potential honeymoon locales. With a bank holiday declared for the wedding date and more than 200,000 spectators expected in Hyde Park, London will be on virtual shutdown. The estimated $16 million wedding could also produce a consumer spending boost of around $1 billion.
Kirsty Wigglesworth / AP Photo
Price tag: nearly $29 million
Just two months after a terrorist bomb killed 191 commuters in Madrid, Crown Prince Felipe married former news anchor and divorcee Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano. More than 1,500 dignitaries attended the ceremony at Madrid's Almudena Cathedral, which was decorated with more than a million flowers, with 20,000 police in tow for security (still, an uninvited retired Spanish colonel carrying a gun was able to sneak into the eventâto no serious malady other than embarrassmentâaccording to The Toronto Sun). Along with a pre-wedding feast hosted by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia and the post-wedding reception that included more than 1,000 bottles of Champagne, the event cost an estimated $25 million in 2004. The wedding was dedicated to those killed in the terrorist bombing.
Price tag: $100 million
Seven days, a brand new stadium with a capacity of 20,000, and about $100 million (in inflation-adjusted dollars)âthose
were the numbers for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum and Princess Salamaâs wedding. Ambassadors, princes, and other royals and officials from Arab and African nations were brought in on
34 private jets. In keeping with tradition, Salama was unable to enjoy the festivities herselfâshe had to stay in her room for the seven days. The wedding is still considered the most expensive in modern times, when adjusted for inflation.
Price tag:
$325 million
The wedding that united the English and the Burgundians, to the dismay of King Louis XI of France, was so grand its anniversary was celebrated with a street parade in subsequent years that imitated the post-nuptial pageant. The festivities also included a four-day joust between the most prestigious European knights and a crown built for the bride coated in pearls and diamonds.
