Wedding season has certainly undergone quite the evolution across the past few years.
Thanks to the ongoing global pandemic, the simple act of gathering to witness two lovers tie the knot was rendered something of an impossibility, with brides- and grooms-to-be forced to either pare down their plans to something more aligned with social distancing guidelines or postpone them altogether. And that went double for the extravagant celebrity nuptials we all love to obsess over.
While mass testing and carefully adhered to COVID protocols has brought large gatherings back in style, allowing us to, for instance, analyze every last second of Paris Hilton and Carter Reum's three-day wedding weekend, other celebs are still waiting to have their moment play out exactly as they'd dreamed.
Asked whether she and Orlando Bloom had secretly slipped off and eloped some time in the three years since they got engaged on Valentine's Day 2019, Katy Perry insisted they're still in limbo.
"It's a destination location," the American Idol judge explained during a Feb. 9 appearance on Australia's Kyle and Jackie O Show, "we're still trying for it to work out. But every couple of months it's like, new variant! New variant! New variant!"
So while we continue to wait for the world to work its way back to a normal enough place so that over-the-top affairs in far-flung exotic locales can once again be a (relatively!) stress-free ordeal, we'll just have to scratch our wedded-bliss itch by looking back at some of the celeb weddings over the years that we wished we'd witnessed firsthand.
From the gorgeous locations to the ultra-famous attendees, these are the nuptials we're still not over. As we celebrate another Valentine's Day, join us for a trip down marriage memory lane!
The A-list actor and human rights attorney's 2014 wedding extravaganza cost a pretty penny—$4.6 million at that! The couple sold their wedding photos to multiple magazines, but despite the picturesque album's public availability, it would've been incredible to witness Amal walk down the aisle in her custom Oscar de la Renta gown. And a three-day pre-wedding excursion in Venice, Italy? Count us RSVP'd!
After surprising everyone by tying the knot in Las Vegas after the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, the Game of Thrones star and "Sucker" singer held a much more formal affair in the south of France in June 2019. Following the ceremony, the couple and their guests—which included his famous family and her GoT co-star Maisie Williams—celebrated with a reception at Château de Tourreau. Chic!
A year after the pop star and his bride had a courthouse ceremony, they had a much more lavish celebration at the Montage Hotel's Palmetto Bluff location in South Carolina in September 2019. Guests at the event, which was organized by planner to the stars Mindy Weiss, included Kendall Jenner, Justine Skye, Scooter Braun and a smattering of Baldwin family members.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall at this star-studded affair! Music's most powerful couple has revealed little from their 2008 wedding, but by all accounts it was nothing short of stunning. Only about 40 of Bey and Jay's nearest and dearest attended, including Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin.
Who doesn't love a destination wedding? Or in this case, a destination reception. A week after saying their vows before 70 guests at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in L.A., the Botched surgeon and his wife hosted 65 loved ones on the picturesque Greek island of Santorini for a celebration at the beachfront resort Rocabella Santorini.
After dating for years and welcoming two daughters into the world, the actor and his longtime love made things official in an intimate ceremony on the Hawaiian islands in Aug. 2019. Judging by the photos of the big day shared by Johnson when he announced the exciting news, the event was downright postcard worthy.
The main reason we wish we'd have had an invite to the October 2018 nuptials between the Oscar-winning actress and the American Horror Story co-creator? The guest list! Among the 75 attendees were famous faces like Robert Downey Jr., Cameron Diaz, Rob Lowe, Jerry Seinfeld and Steven Spielberg—who acted as the unofficial videographer, natch. That's not to say the tastefully rustic Hamptons setting wasn't a draw on its own, however.
It took multiple traditional prenuptial rituals, two ceremonies and three receptions in Dec. 2018 before the singer and his actress wife were able to rest as husband and wife. And everything about the days-long event—from the 26-acre location (the Umaid Bhawan Palace in the bride's native India) to the A-list guest list—was extravagant with a capital E.
Not unlike a royal wedding, the longtime partners swapped vows and exchanged diamond wedding bands in an intimate ceremony at Windsor's Guildhall in 2014. The 600 guests—including the Beckhams, Donatella Versace, Claudia Schiffer and Sharon Stone—partied and sipped pink champagne on the grounds of the couple's Windsor mansion. A bargain at $2 million!
The R&B songstress and NFL star surely felt like a king and queen as they tied the knot in 2016 at the Peckforton Castle in Cheshire, England. Nothing short of an absolute fairy tale, the wedding party included Lala Anthony, Kelly Rowland and more stars.
Yes, TomKat's marriage ended in 2012, but not before they threw a $2 million wedding we'd bet anyone would pay cold hard cash to have witnessed. The pair wed outside Rome at the 15th-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano. Not too shabby!
In 1999, the British pair dropped $800,000 on a lavish ceremony at Luttrellstown Castle in Dublin. Elton John performed and, in true Beckham fashion, their cake was topped with nude figurines of the bride and groom.
(This story was originally published on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2020 at 3 a.m. PT.)