The Business of Celebrity Weddings

It’s wedding season, and we all appreciate a beautiful wedding because it represents the start of a beautiful life of love. However, there is something we enjoy even more than a good wedding, and that is to judge it and compare it to our own fantasy.

Olivia Culpo in a Dolce and Gabbana wedding gown, Vogue

Everything from the dress choice to the photography, the gifts for the guests, destination versus local weddings, or even civil ceremonies - to analyse the aesthetic choices made by the bride (and groom) is to gossip without any moral consequences. 

When you add fame and business to weddings, the stakes are higher. Who cares about the ethics of wedding judgement when there are other exciting business consequences? It’s not just confined to fashion (although that is what the focus will be on in this article) but also the hotel, the caterers, the florists, the decorators, the photographers, are all put on a global platform as being the ones chosen by the celebrity bride, even if said bride is actually paying in full. Kourtney Kardashian’s wedding for example garnered $47 million in MIV across 11,000 placements, with Dolce and Gabbana enjoying 54.5% of that figure. Being able to tap into that much attention is no light matter. The Business of Weddings is lucrative to say the least. 

Olivia Culpo in Dolce and Gabbana at her afterparty, Vogue

Most recently, Olivia Culpo (model and Miss Universe 2012) wed NFL player Christian McCaffrey in a high-neck, full coverage Dolce and Gabbana gown. In an interview with Vogue, she explained that she “did not want it to exude sex in any way, shape or form”, and made a point of wearing minimal makeup too. She was heavily criticised for her choices by the internet for insinuating brides should dress a certain way in order to take marriage seriously and promoting the idea of purity but failing to mention the many other more permanent procedures like she undertook to ultimately feel confident portraying “simplicity”. The irony is she didn't want to view herself as a sexual object, but by mentioning sex at all, she had made a sexual statement with her choice of dress. Of course, modest fashion exists for a reason and there are multiple examples of bridal dressing that take into consideration modesty beautifully, but this choice for Culpo doesn’t seem to align with her usual lifestyle outside of her wedding. Her afterparty ensemble tells a bizarre and contradictory story. We also can’t gloss over the fact that she chose Dolce and Gabbana as her wedding partner for her dresses. If you want your wedding dress to reflect the values you consider marriage comprise of, how does choosing a brand with a history of homophobic and racist scandals started by the designers and founders fit with that idea? It just ends up looking like one political-agenda pushing wedding and interview. These points went viral when explained by a wedding-based creator Gown Eyed Girl, who subsequently was called evil by Culpo's husband. You may now be thinking, why would celebrities care so much about what strangers on the internet think of their wedding?

Celebrities care because they depend on brand partnerships going well too. Brands want to capitalise on a long-term partnership, yes, but for the celebrity, it’s their work and a reflection of their values rolled into one. The affiliation between the two continues for as long as the marriage does and sometimes even their nepotism baby beauties become brand ambassadors too. On a runway we imagine wearing those clothes in our everyday life. But for the biggest party of your lifetime? This fashion brand commitment is as important a decision as your other half, especially if you are a celebrity. Fashion, drama, business. 

Sofia Richie in Chanel, Vogue

Let’s consider the most loved wedding of recent times - Sofia Richie’s. I think of Chanel before I remember who she actually married, and this is how I know the collaboration was successful. Chanel both dressed her and provided wedding-day makeup. When considering Richie's interviews with Vogue, conversation did not stray to her own personal views on marriage. Instead, she spoke about how she found working with Chanel intimidating at first, her Claudia Schiffer inspiration, the beading and how it would influence her hair choices, how she was worried about pizza and fries ruining the after-party dress, etcetera. These are the things that brides or just women hoping to get married someday actually care about, because it should be the only things they have to plan for their own big day. Not about appearing too sexual on your wedding day. By focusing on the craftsmanship, fashion choices and the personal, relatable aspects of preparing for a wedding, like having her mother-in-law and best friend by her side at fittings, Sofia Richie was able to cement a lifelong relationship with Chanel. She aligned herself as someone who reflects Chanel’s own brand identity - timeless, delicate and beautiful. This appeals more to the fashion masses online than pushing right-wing politics can ever be.

Imagine the kind of fashion whirlwind that would ensue if Zendaya got married. Bulgari jewels, a Lancôme face and potentially a Louis Vuitton gown all together on the same bride. To see her in a Pierpaolo era Valentino gown could have been beautiful but I don’t know if her brand partnership was ever strong enough to wear a gown from Michele. What would Dua Lipa’s wedding be like? Versace or Jacquemus? Rihanna has just signed on as the new face of Dior’s J’Adore perfume line, taking over from Cate Blanchett. Perfume is one thing, but I can’t imagine her in a Grazia Chiuri wedding ensemble. She would probably keep it in the LVMH family, considering they produce Fenty Beauty and helped her launch a premium fashion brand a few years back, they already have a strong affiliation. I hope by asking these questions and getting you, the reader, to imagine various weddings that haven’t happened yet, you are beginning to understand the importance of weddings as opportunities for well-positioned brand partnerships. Yes, we have red carpets, awards shows and fashion week attendance and this is evident collaboration. When a brand gets invited into the celebrity inner circle, i.e. weddings, music tours or anything else that is highly linked with personal style and values that represent the celebrity identity, they begin to appeal the most to the public. This is for two reasons - the most obvious being that weddings and tours are not a unique event in time, but often spans multiple days with multiple outfit changes, so on a practical level, there is more chance for the brand to show itself off because of the amount of content created surrounding the event(s). The second reason is because affinity for people always beats affinity for entire brands, no matter how relatable or aspirational the brand’s owned media content becomes. 

Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh in Sabyasachi at their wedding, Instagram.com/deepikapadukone

I also notice this with Bollywood celebrities, but the marketing link here differs. Luxury designers of traditional Indian clothing such as Manish Malhotra or Sabyasachi have already acted as costume designer on multiple films, which is where links with celebrities start . Costume in Indian cinema is very considered and adds a lot to the romance or historical and geographical context portrayed by each scene. To look good on a red carpet or in still photography is one thing, but in movement the trust in the designer is paramount as editing out flaws becomes more difficult. So the partnership between a costume designer and the actress is a trust-built relationship, more personal than business. Those greatly timed and placed sponsorships often result in the actress walking down the runway themselves and modelling in real time during fashion week. They ultimately make for the most decadent and beautiful weddings. As we know, Indian couture and craftwork is like no other.

The next time you see a celebrity wedding and want to gush over the way the bride looks, I hope the idea of capitalism crosses your mind and reminds you that this is no ordinary declaration of love. No, it’s a wedding where the prenup silently includes a business agreement between darling bride and couturier. It will change the way you view the designer and the celebrity, or affirm what you already thought about them. Brands must master the subtlety of making the partnership feel natural to online scrollers in order to truly succeed in generating the right sentiment within the total buzz.