The Most Memorable Celebrity Weddings Throughout The Years
Whenever high-profile couples get married, it's all the media ever talks about for weeks. Sometimes the wedding is so huge, it gets dubbed the celebrity wedding of the year. This isn't a new trend though and the same can definitely be said about the celebrities of yesteryear. We're here to remind you about some of the most memorable — and some forgotten! — nuptials in the last half-century.
1953: Jackie O + JFK
The wedding of Jacqueline Bouvier and John F. Kennedy was perhaps the first highly-publicized celebrity wedding of the 20th century. Bouvier and Kennedy frequented the socialite pages in those days, becoming superstars by the time JFK popped the question.
More than eight hundred esteemed politicians and socialites attended the nuptials in Newport, Rhode Island on September 12, 1953. The high-profile wedding was such an event that people in attendance compared it to a coronation, according to LIFE. Almost 2,000 fans even lined up outside St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church to celebrate the new Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy.
1960: Marlon Brando + Movita Castaneda
In 1960, Marlon Brando's sudden marriage to Movita Castaneda was the talk of Hollywood. In fact, people weren't even aware that Brando had married his second wife until he was asked about it in court according to the Times.
Castaneda was a Mexican actress who starred in Mutiny on the Bounty in 1935 opposite Clark Gable. Coincidentally, Brando would end up starring in the 1962 remake, but unfortunately, this is when his marriage with Castaneda came to a close. Over their two years together, they had a son, Miko, and a daughter, Rebecca.
1961: Martha + Andrew Stewart
Martha Kostyra was modeling to pay her way through Barnard College when she married Yale Law student Andrew Stewart in 1961, giving her the legendary name she is known by today. In true Martha fashion, she wore a wedding dress that she designed with her mother.
The couple had one daughter, Alexis, born four years later, but unfortunately, the marriage didn't last. They separated in the late '80s and were officially divorced by 1990. According to Stewart's own daughter and other sources, the homemaking expert is actually a difficult person to work and live with.
1962: John Lennon + Cynthia Powell
When art student Cynthia Powell discovered she was pregnant with then-boyfriend John Lennon's baby, he said, "There's only one thing for it Cyn, we'll have to get married."
With very few people in attendance, the wedding is said to have been a farce, as a jackhammer was going off at the time the nuptials were said, among other mishaps. Manager Brian Epstein insisted that they keep the marriage and pregnancy a secret so as not to harm the band's budding popularity. After the birth of their son Julian, Lennon wouldn't prove to be a great family man, eventually leaving mother and son by 1968.
1963: Barbra Streisand + Elliott Gould
Barbra Streisand was an up-and-coming actress auditioning for I Can Get It for You Wholesale, a musical in which esteemed actor Elliott Gould was the lead. Although they tried to hide their relationship at first, the rest of the company was on to them and soon, they were living together in a small Manhattan apartment above a seafood restaurant.
They got married in Carson City, Nevada in 1963 and by then, Streisand's career was on the rise. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for Gould, who Streisand reportedly viewed as a "stabilizing influence." The couple had one son, Jason, before their split in 1971.
1965: Larry King + Billie Jean
Female tennis superstar Billie Jean met Larry King in college, where he encouraged her to pursue tennis as a career. King himself had thought up the idea of a professional women's tennis tour and would eventually go on to be one of the founders of World Team Tennis. Billie Jean fell in love with King and the two went on to marry on September 5, 1965.
Well into her tennis career, Billie Jean realized her attraction to women and pursued an extramarital affair with her female secretary, Marilyn Barnett, who would later sue in a palimony lawsuit. King stayed with his first wife through this, however, they eventually split but remained close.
1966: Mia Farrow + Frank Sinatra
Mia Farrow was only 19 when she met actor and singer extraordinaire, Frank Sinatra, who was 48. Sinatra was taken by Farrow and the feeling was mutual. Despite public criticism, the pair wed at The Sands Hotel in Las Vegas on July 19, 1966. The ceremony was only 15 minutes and Farrow sported a simple white dress and a newly shorn pixie cut (which was allegedly only done to spite Sinatra).
When Sinatra ordered Farrow to quit acting, she refused and went on to star in Rosemary's Baby despite her husband's protest. It was on the set of that movie that he sent her divorce papers after only a year of marriage.
1967: Elvis + Priscilla Presley
In 1967, Elvis Presley married Priscilla in a small private ceremony in a suite at the Aladdin in Las Vegas. Arranged by Elvis's manager Colonel Tom Parker, everything was shrouded in secrecy to keep the event as intimate as possible. In the middle of the night, Elvis and his party snuck out of his backyard and took a private jet loaned by Frank Sinatra to get to Vegas.
Regarding her wedding day, Priscilla has said, "My wedding was very unusual. It was the people closest to us, and private, and that's how we wanted it. We didn't want a fan club. We didn't want a circus."
1973: Farrah Fawcett + Lee Majors
Lee Majors and Farrah Fawcett were at the height of fame when they tied the knot in 1973. The year of their marriage, Majors was cast as Colonel Steve Austin in Six Million Dollar Man and Fawcett would go on to play Jill Munroe in Charlie's Angels in 1976.
Their high-profile marriage would end by 1979, however, and their divorce would be finalized by 1982. The couple had no children together and it is suspected that the marriage ended when Fawcett became involved with actor Ryan O'Neal after Majors asked him to look after Fawcett when he went to Canada to shoot a movie.
1975: Hillary + Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton met Hillary Rodham at the library after she so boldly introduced herself to him when he wouldn't stop looking at her. According to The Knot, Bill proposed to Hillary on numerous occasions, but she kept saying no due to the uncertainty of her future following college.
After seeing a house for sale and hearing Hillary mention that she liked it, Bill bought the house and told her, "Do you remember that house you liked? Well, I bought it, so now you'd better marry me because I can't live in it by myself." Bill and Hillary married in the living room of their new home on October 11, 1975.
1977: Donald + Ivana Trump
In 1977, "The Donald" got married for the first time to Ivana Zelníčková, a Czech model and supposed skiing alternate for the 1972 Czechoslovakia Olympic ski team. Trump's first wedding was a lavish affair at the Marble Collegiate Church and was officiated by famed minister Norman Vincent Peale.
The Trumps went on to become prominent social figures in the '80s and Ivana even reportedly said, "in 50 years Donald and I will be considered old money like the Vanderbilts." Well, their marriage didn't exactly pan out how Ivana might have hoped and ended after Donald's scandalous affair with model Marla Maples.
1979: Eric Clapton + Pattie Boyd
Eric Clapton became friends with The Beatles member George Harrison in the late '60s, which is when Clapton met and became infatuated with model Pattie Boyd. She at first denied his advances and went on to marry Harrison, which sent Clapton into a downward spiral of alcohol and substance abuse. J
ust as he was recovering, Boyd and Harrison were breaking up and with Harrison's blessing, Boyd and Clapton tied the knot in 1979. Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr were all in attendance at the intimate nuptials in Clapton's garden. Unfortunately, Clapton's alcoholism and infidelity led to their eventual divorce in the '80s.
1983: Carrie Fisher + Paul Simon
Actress Carrie Fisher met musician Paul Simon on the set of Star Wars and "[once] they saw each other, no one else mattered to either of them," writes Peter Carlin, author of Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon. The two went on to date through the late '70s and early '80s before marrying in 1983 in Simon's apartment.
The marriage lasted just under a year before they divorced, although Fisher and Simon would pick right back up after they started dating again. They are said to have shared a relationship that was, at times, tumultuous between Fisher's substance addiction and the couple's respective mood disorders.
1984: Janet Jackson + James DeBarge
Janet Jackson's 1994 marriage to R&B singer James DeBarge would only last 121 days. Jackson and DeBarge were childhood friends and they actually eloped after Jackson's proposal. They got married on September 7, 1984, but the marriage was annulled by 1985.
"I was a young boy who loved a girl tremendously and things happened how they did. Janet and I were real close, but I guess not as close as I thought," DeBarge said. In 2012, he made headlines with the shocking claims that he and Jackson had a baby and that he believes she is still out there.
1987: Lenny Kravitz + Lisa Bonet
Musician Lenny Kravitz and actress Lisa Bonet met in 1985 at a New Edition concert and became close friends. After moving in together in 1987, the couple eloped in Las Vegas on Bonet's 20th birthday on November 16th of that year. The following year, their daughter Zoë was born, but the marriage would only last until 1993.
After an amicable divorce, the two remained close and Kravitz has even said on Oprah's Master Class in 2013, "We were very young... I see now what it was all about: It was really all about bringing this beautiful child to the planet. Zoë's mom and I now are best friends."
1992: David Bowie + Iman
Rock legend David Bowie married supermodel Iman on April 24, 1992 in a civil ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland. Only two witnesses and an interpreter were present during the nuptials. Their connection was instantaneous and undeniable, despite the fact that Iman didn't even think about marrying him at first.
"I was not ready for a relationship. Definitely, I didn't want to get into a relationship with somebody like him." Still, after tying the knot in 1992, they would remain married for over twenty years until Bowie's death in 2016. The two had a daughter together in 2000 named Alexandria.
1994: Michael Jackson + Lisa Marie Presley
In 1994, the legendary Michael Jackson and daughter of the late Elvis, Lisa Marie Presley, married in a secret wedding in the Dominican Republic. While on vacation there, the couple drove to the house of a local judge and paid a small fee to be married in holy matrimony on May 26, 1994.
When the judge asked if he would take Presley to be his wife, Jackson reportedly said, "Why not?" Although they tried to be so secretive that they didn't even tell their parents, a Dominican newspaper leaked the story and the marriage became a national scandal, especially since Presley had divorced her first husband just 20 days prior!
1996: Angelina Jolie + Johnny Lee Miller
Actors Johnny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie met on the set of the 1995 film Hackers and by March of 1996, the couple tied the knot. Jolie, known to be quite a wild card in her early career, showed up to her wedding in black rubber pants and a T-shirt that had Miller's full name written on it with Jolie's own blood.
The New York Times reported Jolie as saying, "It's your husband. You're about to marry him. You can sacrifice a little to make it really special." The young couple, of course, separated the following year and were officially divorced by 1999.
2000: Jennifer Aniston + Brad Pitt
After going on a blind date set up by their agents in 1998, Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt became Hollywood's golden couple, dating for just over two years before getting engaged. On July 29, 2000, Brad and Jen tied the knot in a $1 million wedding at a Malibu mansion. America's favorite couple basked in the glow of Hollywood success for about four years before things started going south.
By 2005, Aniston publicly announced their separation and they were officially divorced a couple months later. Many speculate Pitt began an affair with Angelina Jolie, his co-star in Mr. and Mrs. Smith towards the end of the marriage.
2014: George + Amal Clooney
George and Amal Clooney's high-profile wedding is one of the most memorable of the current times. The Italian nuptials were a truly star-studded affair with guests ranging from Anna Wintour and Cindy Crawford to Bono and Bill Murray.
Amal donned an Oscar de la Renta-designed wedding dress at the ceremony in the Aman Canal Grande Hotel in Venice. The party didn't end there as the Clooney's then headed off for a civil marriage service to seal the deal. The party reportedly went on until five in the morning, before they headed to their honeymoon in London, where the bride's family threw another party.
1954: Audrey Hepburn + Mel Ferrer
Let's rewind back to 1954 when Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer traveled to the Swiss Alps to get married in secret. The couple married at a local Protestant church in Bürgenstock, Switzerland on September 25, 1954.
Hepburn, widely regarded for her classic style, wore a white organdie A-line wedding dress with chiffon sleeves made by Pierre Balmain. She complimented the look with a flower crown. Hepburn wrote in a letter, "We want to keep it a dark secret in order to have it without the 'press.'" After having one child together, Hepburn and Ferrer filed for divorce in 1968.
1956: Grace Kelly + Prince Rainer III Of Monaco
American actress Grace Kelly married Rainer III, Prince of Monaco, in what Vogue dubbed the "wedding of the century" back in 1956. The two-day event became international news and MGM even had rights to film it as a part of a deal for letting Kelly out of her contract.
Kelly wore a stunning gown of antique lace, silk, taffeta, and tulle designed by Academy Award-winning costume designer, Helen Rose, who commissioned a total of 30 seamstresses to help construct the dress over the course of three weeks. Kelly was only 26 by the time she went from Hollywood starlet Princess Kelly of Monaco.
1964: Elizabeth Taylor + Richard Burton
After scandalously getting involved in an affair with the already-married Eddie Fisher and then marrying him herself, Taylor once again found herself the subject of scandal when she was caught cheating on Fisher with Richard Burton.
The two started canoodling on the set of Cleopatra and they would end up getting married (for the first time) in Montreal in 1964. Irene Sharaff, the costume designer of Cleopatra, designed Taylor's canary yellow wedding dress, which she complemented with hyacinths and lilies weaved into her glamorous updo. After ten years, Liz and Dick split up only to tie the not again in 1975.
1968: Johnny Cash + June Carter
While performing in Ontario, Canada, the Man in Black proposed to girlfriend June Carter on stage. The pair had met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry years earlier when Cash was still with his first wife and the mother of his four daughters.
Regardless, Cash divorced his first wife and eventually married Carter just two weeks after proposing to her. The couple married in Franklin, Kentucky. Carter wore a light blue dress for her nuptials. Cash's best man was Merle Kilgore, who helped co-write Cash's hit, "Ring of Fire."
1969: John Lennon + Yoko Ono
You've already read about John Lennon's marriage to Cynthia Powell, but seven years after that, Powell had by then filed for divorce and it was granted in 1968. The following year, Lennon married the polarizing figure, Yoko Ono, in a ten-minute ceremony.
They wanted to get married on a cross-channel ferry on the way to Paris, but since Ono wasn't English, they wouldn't let her on. So they had to improvise and they decided to go to the British colony of Gibraltar and married at the British Consulate office there. The episode is recounted in the Beatles song "The Ballad of John and Yoko."
1970: David Bowie + Angelina Barnett
Before he married Iman, Bowie's first wife was journalist Angie Barnett. The pair met through a mutual friend, record executive Dr. Calvin Mark Lee. A year after meeting, they tied the knot in London at the Bromley Register Office on Beckenham Lane.
Angie is credited with helping Bowie reinvent himself as Ziggy Stardust. She would often accompany him on tour and Bowie even wrote "The Prettiest Star" about her. The marriage would last a good nine years before they eventually called it quits. Within that time, the couple only had one son together, Duncan Jones.
1971: Mick Jagger + Bianca Pérez-Mora
Mick Jagger married his then-girlfriend Bianca Pérez-Mora, a Nicaraguan socialite. By the time she was four months pregnant in 1971, the couple decided to tie the knot in St. Tropez, France. When word of the wedding broke, the media went on a frenzy and the tiny streets of the French Riviera town were flooded with people.
After marrying in a Roman Catholic ceremony and working their way through the crowds, the couple sped off in Jagger's Bentley. Of course, a rock star wedding isn't complete without a star-studded guest list. Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Brigitte Bardot, and Julie Christie were all in attendance.
1974: Quincy Jones + Peggy Lipton
In 1974, everyone was talking about the marriage between record producer Quincy Jones and actress Peggy Lipton, who was on The Mod Squad. That year, Jones had suffered a brain aneurysm and was certain that he was about to die.
Miraculously, he survived and he subsequently married Lipton, after his divorce from his second wife Ulla Andersson was finalized. Jones and Lipton's marriage lasted for 12 years before they separated. Their divorce was finalized in 1990. Within that time they had two kids, Kidada and Rashida.
1980: Mel Gibson + Robyn Moore
After filming Mad Max in Australia, Mel Gibson met dental assistant Robyn Moore. On the side, Moore was also an actress with the South Australian Theatre Company, so it wasn't like the couple was worlds apart.
Not long after meeting, the couple married in a Roman Catholic church in New South Wales in 1980. Over the course of their 26-year marriage, Gibson and Moore had seven children together; one daughter and six sons. They separated in 2006 and filed for divorce three years later citing irreconcilable differences.
1978: Meryl Streep + Don Gummer
The story of how Meryl Streep came to be with her husband Don Gummer is actually a little sad. In the late '70s, Streep was in a relationship with actor John Cazale, but suddenly, he was diagnosed with terminal bone cancer.
Streep couldn't bear to stay in the apartment they shared after he was gone. Friend Don Gummer offered Streep his apartment while he was away, but he began to fall in love with her. Eventually, they married in 1978 and have been together ever since. At the time, Streep said, "I haven't got over John's death, but I've got to go on living and Don has showed me how to do that."
1995: Tommy Lee + Pamela Anderson
Pamela Anderson, at the time known for her roles on Baywatch and Home Improvement, was vacationing with Mötley Crüe rocker Tommy Lee in Cancún, Mexico when they suddenly decided to tie the knot in 1995.
They were partying in the Mexican vacation destination when suddenly Lee declared that he wanted to marry Anderson. So they got married on the beach the next day in front of eight guests. No one in attendance wore shoes. Not everyone was happy about it either. Anderson's mother told People, "It is heartbreaking and shocking. This was the first I'd heard of him."
1998: Dennis Rodman + Carmen Electra
In 1998, Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra were married. The pair have been dating for a while, when news broke that they were suddenly married on November 14 of that year. It wouldn't have been that surprising if not for the details surrounding the nuptials.
They apparently tied the knot at in Las Vegas at the Little Chapel of the Flowers at 7 A.M. That detail alone was enough to make people think that it was a bad decision after an all-night bender in Vegas, but still, many people were happy for them. But two weeks later, the couple filed for annulment with Electra saying she was not of sound mind when it happened.
1999: Reese Witherspoon + Ryan Phillippe
In the late '90s, Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe were the "It" couple of Hollywood. The pair met at Witherspoon's 21st birthday party back in 1997 and were engaged just a year later.
The bride was walked down the aisle by her father at sunset, which led to tears from nearly everyone in attendance. Witherspoon was several months pregnant with the couple's daughter, Ava, when she and Phillippe tied the knot at the Old Wide Awake Plantation in Charleston, South Carolina. Ava was born just a few months later.
2002: Jessica Simpson + Nick Lachey
Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey started dating in 1999 after going on tour together. Nick reportedly told CBS News, "The first time I ever heard her sing, I got chills. And I told the guys [in 98 Degrees]... 'I'm going to marry that girl one day.'"
Lachey followed through on his declaration on October 26, 2002. Soon after they said "I do," however, Lachey and Simpson invited everyone in on their private lives with Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica which was the beginning of the end. Everyone saw that the couple had little in common and believe they succumbed to what people call the "reality TV curse."
1999: David Beckham + Victoria Adams
David Beckham first laid eyes on Victoria — who was then known as Posh Spice of the Spice Girls — at a hotel. In 1999, they tied the knot in a wedding that was so lavish, it could have passed for a Royal Wedding.
The wedding was heavily secured to keep the press away from what is supposed to be an intimate moment. Later, the Beckhams sold some wedding photos to OK! Magazine. Not only did the Beckham nuptials include his-and-hers gold thrones and fireworks, there was even a nude sculpture made of the couple.
1981: Prince Charles + Lady Diana Spencer
Perhaps one of the biggest weddings of the '80s was that of the United Kingdom's Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer. The even in itself made the couple international celebrities.
Princess Diana wore an ivory silk taffeta gown valued at £9,000 at the time, which would probably be five times that cost today. The intricate dress was decorated with lace, hand embroidery, sequins, and 10,000 pearls. Her 25-foot train was one of the most jaw-dropping elements of the whole ceremony and Diana reportedly wanted the longest train in history.
1982: Ozzy Osbourne + Sharon Levy
Ozzy Osbourne met his wife Sharon when she was just 18 years old. Her father, Don Arden, was managing Black Sabbath at the time. When Osbourne was kicked out of the band, he and Sharon started dating. In 1982, the couple married in Maui, Hawaii.
The couple remains together to this day, but it hasn't always been easy. Sharon has admitted that Ozzy has had multiple extramarital affairs over the course of their marriage. "Thirty-five years with someone is a hell of a long time. And I think I fell out of love with my husband and then fell back again," Sharon has said as a host of The Talk.
1985: Madonna + Sean Penn
In 1985, the Material Girl married the up-and-coming Sean Penn on the former's birthday in August. Everyone was certain that the marriage wasn't going to last. Penn's unpredictable outbursts were often in the press and in 1987, he was arrested for attacking a photographer.
By then, Madonna had finally had enough. She filed for divorce but quickly withdrew them, probably after having second thoughts. But still, she filed for divorce again in 1989, filing a complaint of assault against Penn. After the divorce, the pair remained on good terms and have even sparked reconciliation rumors in recent years.
1986: Caroline Kennedy + Edwin A. Schlossberg
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Jackie O and the late JFK, made the headlines in 1986 when she got married to designer Edwin A. Schlossberg. Despite the family's desire to remain out of the spotlight, Kennedy's wedding in 1986 generated a lot of interest.
Kennedy's uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, walked his niece down the aisle in the absence of her father. Kennedy herself wore a white silk organza gown designed by Carolina Herrera. In true '80s style, the dress had puffy sleeves. Maria Shriver served as Kennedy's matron of honor, while her brother, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was the best man.
1988: Mike Tyson + Robin Givens
Professional boxer Mike Tyson met his first wife Robin Givens in March of 1986. At the time, Given was an actress known for the sitcom Head of Class. They married two years later on February 7, 1988.
Their marriage quickly began to fall apart after Given reportedly suffered a miscarriage. From there, things were tumultuous and they even appeared on a joint interview for 20/20, in which Givens said life with Tyson was "torture, pure hell, worse than anything I could possibly imagine." A month after the interview aired, Givens sought a divorce on the grounds that Tyson was allegedly abusive.
