10 of History's Most Spectacular Weddings

The July 1468, wedding of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy and Margaret of York—sister to England’s King Edward IV—featured nine days of feasts, wine fountains, pageants and jousting. Historians estimate it might have cost the modern equivalent of $200 million.

In his memoir, Charles’ adviser Olivier de la Marche wrote that Margaret arrived “clad in white cloth of gold…on her hair rested a crown,” followed by English ladies on horseback. Charles wore a jewel-encrusted golden gown estimated to be worth millions today. The festivities included the Tournament of the Golden Tree, one of the era's grandest spectacles, featuring knights, exotic animals and a gilded lion. Since 1958, the city of Bruges has hosted a reenactment of the wedding every five years.

After marrying by proxy on April 19, 1770, Louis-Auguste (later Louis XVI) and Marie Antoinette’s formal wedding at Versailles drew more than 5,000 guests, while an estimated 200,000 people gathered outside. The 14-year-old bride wore a silver gown covered in diamonds.

Two weeks of celebrations included a series of banquets and balls, culminating in a fireworks display that turned deadly. According to The Life of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, a 19th-century account by Charles Duke Yonge, stated “rivers of fire poured forth cascades spangled with all the variegated brilliancy.” The pyrotechnic display triggered a stampede that killed at least 132 people, though some estimates put the death toll at more than 600.

When Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria married Princess Therese on October 12, 1810, the wedding was both a royal celebration and a political showcase for a new kingdom. “As first in line to a brand new throne, Ludwig had an important public role and his wedding was a PR opportunity waiting to happen,” Royal Central reports.

Munich invited its residents to join the festivities, including horse races, parades, beer and public feasts. The festival grounds were later named Theresienwiese after the bride. According to Bavaria’s official cultural site, Therese wore a gown in Bavaria's national colors of white and blue, and food was handed out “by the hundredweight.” The final horse race on October 17 became an annual tradition. It eventually evolved into Oktoberfest, now the world’s largest folk festival.

Queen Victoria’s February 10, 1840, royal wedding to Prince Albert changed bridal fashion for generations. Her all-white satin-and-lace gown helped establish the white wedding dress as a lasting tradition. She also ordered that no one else wear white at her wedding and “had the pattern for her dress destroyed so that no one could copy it afterwards," according to Vogue.

Thousands of people stood in heavy rain to watch her gold carriage pass through London. After the ceremony at St. James’ Palace, Victoria changed outfits for a feast and then traveled to Windsor. Even the cake was a spectacle: a 300-pound three-tier creation topped with busts of the couple.

Grace Kelly’s marriage to Prince Rainier was dubbed “the wedding of the century” and brought Hollywood glamour to Monaco’s royal family. The couple held a civil ceremony on April 18, 1956, and a religious ceremony the next day, as Monaco law required. The gown Kelly wore remains one of the most influential bridal designs in history.

An estimated 30 million people watched the wedding on television, while 600 guests—including Cary Grant, Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra—attended in person. Monaco celebrated with eight days of festivities attended by thousands of people. The couple even received a message from the Pope.

“The princess-to-be had barely set foot in Monaco when the principality and much of the rest of Europe were there bearing gifts,” Life reported at the time. “The wedding presents ranged from the fabulous to the foolish. Among the more practical was a Rolls-Royce, among the less useful a gold and bone hatchet.”

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s first wedding was secretly held at Montreal’s Ritz-Carlton on March 15, 1964, but quickly became a major celebrity story. They checked in as “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” ordered crates of champagne and asked the room-service manager to witness the ceremony.

Taylor wore a yellow chiffon dress with a Bugatti brooch and earrings valued at $150,000 at the time. By the next morning, crowds had swarmed the hotel and Burton insisted on greeting them. The couple’s second wedding, after their divorce, also made headlines.

One of the most-watched weddings in TV history took place on The Tonight Show. Ukulele-playing singer Tiny Tim married Vicki Budinger, known as Miss Vicki, on live television on December 17, 1969.

The broadcast reached more than 21 million households and an estimated 45 million viewers, making it Johnny Carson's most-watched episode until his farewell in 1992.

The July 29, 1981, wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral became a global cultural event. Broadcast in 74 countries, it drew 750 million viewers. The day was declared a public holiday in the United Kingdom and 600,000 people lined London’s streets to celebrate.

Diana’s dress had a 25-foot-long train, which bridesmaids had to manage carefully. Newspapers across the United Kingdom covered the event with headlines like “Diana, This Is Your Day” in the Daily Express, “A Right Royal Street Party” in the Financial Times and “For Richer and Richer” in the Communist Party’s Morning Star.

Prince William and Catherine Middleton's April 29, 2011, wedding rivaled the spectacle of Charles and Diana's royal nuptials, drawing an estimated 2 billion viewers worldwide and more than 1 million spectators to London's streets. Nearly 2,000 guests filled Westminster Abbey, according to the church’s official website, including foreign royals and celebrities like Elton John and David Beckham.

The abbey bells rang for three hours, and the couple’s kiss on the Buckingham Palace balcony became one of the day’s most famous images. Royal Air Force planes performed a ceremonial flyover, and receptions hosted by Queen Elizabeth and Charles, then Prince of Whales, followed.

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s May 24, 2014, wedding spanned across Paris and Florence. The celebration began with a pre-wedding party at the palace of Versailles that featured horses, musketeers and lavish decorations.

The ceremony then took place at Florence's historic Forte di Belvedere, rented for $400,000. Guests dined at a 229-foot marble banquet table that, according to the Los Angeles Times, had to be lifted over the fort's walls. The couple exchanged vows before a backdrop of white gardenias, peonies and roses, and reportedly generated as much as $21 million from sponsorships and exclusive photo rights.