15 Most Expensive Celebrity Wedding Dresses

The celebrity lifestyle is a source of envy for a lot of reasons. Extravagant wealth and the adoration of millions sounds like a pretty sweet deal to the majority of us. This great deal of wealth is most appealing in times when money would most guarantee convenience, like when one is planning a wedding. Though it's supposed to be one of the most special moments of a person's life, weddings can, unfortunately, become very stressful due to the stress of planning and the overwhelming amount of expenses. Weddings generally require a significant investment regardless of one's economic status, but you may have never realized that this is true for celebrities too.

Though there are stars that choose a surprisingly understated route and get married in courthouses (i.e. Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard), most of them spending a whopping amount even when you consider their wealth. One of the most expensive components of these weddings is the dress of course, and you'll be shocked to see how much some stars spent on theirs. That's why we've compiled a list of the most expensive celebrity wedding dresses of all time. From actresses, heiresses, to princesses, your mind will boggle at how much these public figures spent on just this one element of their extravagant weddings!

15 Grace Kelly's $65,000 Gown Was Made With 25 Yards Of Silk

She's a style icon with an image that has proven itself timeless.  Actress Grace Kelly became the Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III in 1956, in what was probably the most highly anticipated wedding of the time. It's no surprise that her dress was extravagant! The gown was designed by Helen Rose (even the designer's name sounds elegant) and used over 400 yards of fabric, including 25 yards of silk taffeta. Basically, she was wrapped in a cloud. At $65,000, Grace's dress certainly wasn't cheap, but she didn't have to pay for it herself.  The dress was actually gifted to her by MGM, the famous film studio she was contracted to for the duration of her acting career. Grace's is one of the most famous wedding dresses of all time, and below you'll see another celebrity whose dress was actually inspired it!

14 Kim Kardashian Married 2nd Husband Kris Humphries In A $75,000 Vera Wang Dress

Before Kimye became the power couple they are now, Kim had a few stumbles down the aisle with some other suitors. It may seem like forever ago now, but back in 2011 Kim and Kris were the "It" couple. Subtle is not really in the Kardashian vocabulary, so it's no shock that Kim celebrated her wedding in not one, but three custom Vera Wang gowns that evening. Though Kim and Kris' marriage is mostly remembered for how brief it was, the details of their wedding are also noteworthy. The star-studded guest list included frenemy Linsdey Lohan, the cake consisted of 8 tiers, and all of the bridesmaids (i.e. all the Kardashian-Jenner sisters) also wore Vera Wang. If you think the wedding was a waste of money, don't worry, it's reported that Kim was paid $1 million to broadcast the wedding. From a business standpoint, the entire event was a huge win!

13 Heiress Nicky Hilton's Valentino Gown Cost $77,000

When Heiress Nicky Hilton married billionaire banking heir James Rothschild at the Kensington Palace three years ago, it was obvious that their wedding was royally inspired. Nicky's $77,000 Valentino was reminiscent Grace Kelly's as well as many other royal women of the past. The wedding was certainly an extravagant affair, yet it pains us to admit it; considering the amount of money these two have, an almost $80,000 dress was actually a modest choice! Nicky's dressed featured an extreme high neck, a generous amount of lace, and one of those trains that are so long it seems impossible to keep clean. This style is certainly not for everyone, yet it's impossible not to appreciate all of the detail and intricate work that went into this designer gown. Nicky's sister Paris is now engaged, so we'll be watching to see if she takes any inspiration from her sister's dress!

12 Madonna Married Guy Richie In An $80,000 Stella McCartney Dress

Another blast from the past is Madonna's 2000 wedding to Guy Ritchie. The pair (who were married for eight years) had a wedding that was incredibly secretive, even for a celebrity! According to Daily Mail, guests were brought to the venue days before the actual wedding. Once there, they were pretty much expected to stay with little access to the outside world, including their own cell phones. Sounds a little bit like the beginning of a horror movie! Madonna's dress for the occasion was designed by Stella McCartney, and even though it's valued at nearly $80,000, there are rumors she didn't have to pay for it. It's hard to ignore the irony of the wealthiest celebrities getting extravagant dresses for free, but we suppose it's hard to put a price on publicity.

11 Melania Spent $100,000 On A Christian Dior Dress To Marry Donald Trump

A valuable lesson to all brides is remembering that a lavish wedding is in no way connected to the quality of a marriage or future happiness. When Melania married Donald Trump in 2005, she did so in a dress that just might have drowned a smaller woman. Melania's $100,000 dress was designed by Dior's John Galliano, and it is quite the sight! Featuring 300 feet of satin, hand-beading, a 13-foot train, and a 16-foot veil, it feels almost as if the price of this dress was justified solely by the size of it. Apparently, Melanie had to make special accommodations for the dress, including sitting on a bench instead of a chair to help disperse the weight. She was even advised to eat well so she could handle the weight of the gown! Melania apparently changed into a Vera Wang dress for the after party because the $100,000 one was too difficult to move in. Can you imagine spending that much money on a dress that's too uncomfortable to wear? Ah, to be rich.

10 Victoria Beckham Still Has Her $100,000 Vera Wang Dress

David and Victoria Beckham have been married for almost two decades, which we would agree is a long time for anyone, but especially in Hollywood. It's pretty impressive that Victoria has managed to keep her dress for that long, but it's apparently because she's keeping it for her daughter Harper! Now we know that when mothers try to save their wedding dresses for their daughters, it normally doesn't work out. Aside from obvious changes in style, a dress has a to be very high quality to remain in pristine condition for that long. However, we're pretty optimistic about Victoria's $100,000 Vera Wang dress. Even though Harper is only six, the dress is still stunning by 2018 standards, so there's a good chance it will still be beautiful in another two or three decades.

9 Jessica Biel Walked Down The Aisle In A $100,000 Dress As Husband Justin Timberlake Serenaded Her

We have to applaud Jessica for not going down the traditional route. The idea of a bride in a white dress is certainly classic but maybe overdone as well. If you consider how much the price of everything gets hiked up once the word "wedding" gets thrown in, going with a non-white dress is probably a good way to save money. Jessica didn't seem to get this memo, however, because she spent $100,000 on a Giambattista Valli Haute gown. Unlike Victoria's dress, Jessica's is arguably not so timeless,  so we hope she was able to sell it and make some money back. After all, her future hypothetical daughter might not like pink! Nevertheless, the dress does look great in pictures. This lucky bride was reportedly serenaded by husband Justin Timberlake as she walked down the aisle. What more could a girl ask for?

8 Catherine Zeta-Jones' Christian Lacroix Gown Cost A Whopping $140,000

Another celebrity couple that is about to hit the two-decade mark is Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas. They were married in 2000, but Catherine's classic dress looks like it'd probably fit into any time period. Then again, it better for $140,000! According to Brides, Catherine got married in a custom, hand-beaded Christian Lacroix in a wedding that took place at the beautiful Plaza Hotel in New York City. Rest assured, everything about this wedding was glamorous. Catherine's 10-carat engagement ring is believed to have cost her husband $1 million. So that's more than $1.1 million spent, and that's before flowers, food, and the honeymoon. It's a good thing their union has lasted!

7 Petra Ecclestone, Daughter of Billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, Also Got Married In A $140,000 Dress

By now you may have realized that coming from a rich family is a big advantage when you have to plan an extravagant wedding. This list has almost as many heiresses and princesses as it does actors! Though you may not know Petra Ecclestone, all you need to know is that her father, Bernie Ecclestone, is the former CEO of the Formula One Group. He happens to be worth a few billion dollars, so we suppose Petra could have gone for a more expensive dress. In 2011, Petra married businessman James Stunt in a $140,000 Vera Wang gown in a wedding attended by socialites like Paris and Nicky Hilton. According to Daily Mail, Petra and James unfortunately divorced in late 2017, so we're not too optimistic about the dresses' fate.

6 The Crown Princess of Greece, Marie-Chantal Miller, Got Married In A $225,000 Custom Valentino Gown

Marie Chantal-Miller followed in the footsteps of many princesses before her. She chose an expensive gown consisting of endless yards of lace and apparently inspired by Grace Kelly's dress. Marie married Pavlos, the Crown Prince of Greece way back in 1995 in a pearl-encrusted, ivory silk dress that apparently took four months and 25 people to make. According to The Telegraph, the dress featured 12 different kinds of lace! Are we the only ones that didn't know that there was more than one kind of lace? And while we're on the subject of things we didn't know, who knew Greece still had royals?! Don't worry, we did some googling and learned that Princess Marie and her husband don't actually have any political authority, just fancy titles… that come with a lot of money attached. Sounds like a good deal to us!

5 Mariah Carey Never Made It Down The Aisle In Her $250,000 Valentino Dress

She's always had a reputation for being a diva, so this tidbit may not come as a surprise to some of you, but brace yourselves nevertheless. Mariah Carey was engaged to  James Packer, who was supposed to be her third husband, back in 2016, but they never made it down the aisle. When the two broke off their engagement, Mariah did the only logical thing one could do in a situation like this: she BURNED her $250,000 Valentino dress in the music video for her song, I Don't. There were rumors that Mariah's billionaire ex-fiance is the one who broke off the engagement, so we can understand her anger, but donating the dress to another bride would have been could too. In case you were concerned, Mariah did manage to make quite a bit of money from the breakup despite burning a quarter of a million dollars. Not only did she keep the $10 million engagement ring, she reportedly sought a $50 million "inconvenience fee" from James after the breakup as well. The two eventually reached an undisclosed settlement, so we suppose things worked out pretty well for her in the end.

4 George Clooney's Bride, Amal Alamuddin, Spent $380,000 On A Custom Made Oscar De La Renta Gown

It's almost offensive to refer to Amal Alamuddin as George Clooney's wife. Amal is an Oxford graduate and human rights lawyer that has worked on some of the world's most controversial cases. Her 2014 marriage to George Clooney was notable because quite frankly because no one ever expected him to get married. It was a star-studded event in Lake Como, and the dress was just one component of an already beautiful occasion. Overall, Amal's Oscar De La Renta dress was stunning but fairly simple. Though we respect her aversion to anything too over-the-top, it does make it more difficult to justify the $380,000 her dress cost. Nevertheless, it was hand embroidered with pearls and diamond stones, and it did feature yards of French lace, so we suppose that contributed to the cost. Did you hear that? Now we can name one type of lace! Hooray!

3 Kate Middleton's $400,000 Dress Was Fit For A Queen

We're sure you'll be shocked to know that Kate Middleton's dress was also inspired by Grace Kelly's. Who would have thought? By now you probably know the formula, this dress featured lots of lace, silk tulle, and a 9-foot-long train. Kate's lace sleeves were an obvious homage to Grace, while her train referenced Princess Diana's 25-foot-long one. Designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, the gown cost an inconceivable $400,000. Now, we're doubtful that Kate had to shell out any of that money; we've seen that designers are eager to give celebrities gowns for publicity, and royal weddings are some of the most watched events on television history, but a $400,000 gift would be rather generous for any designer. Nevertheless, we can imagine designing a wedding dress for a royal would be the height of any designer's career!

2 Kim Kardashian Married Kayne West In A Givenchy Gown That  Cost Half A Million Dollars

The only person to grace our list twice is non-other than Kim Kardashian. She's so extravagant that she's now in the business of one-upping herself. Needless to say, the $500,000 couture Givenchy gown she wore to marry Kayne makes the $75,000 Vera Wang she wore to her second wedding seem like a steal! To put things into perspective, it cost the couple $400,000 to rent the Fort di Belvedere in Florence, Italy where they got married. Not only did the Givenchy dress cost more than the venue, it also wasn't Kim's only dress for the night. She also wore a sparkling mini dress designed by Balmain's creative director, Olivier Rousteing. We don't even want to go into how much that cost because it hurts too much, but just know that the entire wedding costed almost $3 million. Honestly, she probably made it back by selling the publicity rights, just as she did with her first wedding. Whose to say business and pleasure don't mix?

1 Victoria Swarovski's Family Has A Crystal Empire, So She Got Married In A $1 Million Dollar Dress

You're wondering who could possibly top a Kardashian wedding? Why, an heiress, of course! Victoria Swarovski, yes, like Swarovski crystals,  married Werner Murz in June of last year in a wedding that cost more money than most people make in their whole lives. This is because Victoria's dress, which was designed by Michael Cinco, featured about 500,000 crystals. Hopefully, she got a family discount! The dress, which weighed about 100 pounds, still looks more manageable than Melania's to be fair. We imagine it's hard to decide where to hold your ceremony when your dress costs $1 million. It's probably difficult to get the rest of the details to measure up, but Victoria managed to do so by holding her wedding at the Cathedral of San Guisto in Trieste, Italy. Until someone decides to top everyone on this list with a space wedding, Italy seems to be the most extravagant place anyone can think of, so we're sure it was an event to remember. We can only imagine!

References: Biography.com, Kansascity.com, Brides.com, TheKnot.com, Good Housekeeping.com, DailyMail.com, MarieClaire.com