When it comes to high-profile celebrity weddings, oftentimes the designer garment the bride chooses to wear is the most anticipated moment of the evening. Typically it’s expected that celebrities will opt for the most opulent gown they can get their hands on when it comes to their big day, but for some celebrities, this notion has been proven wrong! Follow along for 13 celebrity brides who wore surprisingly simple dresses on their wedding day:
13. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn is one of the most influential style icons of all time, yet her wedding dress was surprisingly simple! Hepburn was married twice in her life, but her first wedding dress she wore to wed Mel Ferrer is particularly noteworthy. The gown featured a classic shape that showed off her tiny figure and an oversized bow along the back. The dress in itself was quite simple considering how prominent of a figure she is within the fashion community. Many actually recognize her on-screen wedding dress in Funny Face as more memorable than her actual wedding gown!
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12. Cindy Crawford
Supermodel Cindy Crawford was the Hollywood golden girl for many years, which is why fans had quite big expectations for an extravagant wedding gown. Crawford, however, opted for a look that was super low key and wasn’t even a gown at all! She wed Rande Gerber in the Bahamas in 1998 wearing a short slip gown designed by John Galliano. “I actually told a stylist friend of mine that I had to go to a black-and-white party, so to bring me some black dresses and some white dresses, because we didn’t tell anyone we were getting married,” she explained to Harper’s Bazaar of her decision to wear the dress. “That was just one of the white dresses and it was perfect. It was off the rack Galliano, and I love it.”
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11. Megan Fox
Megan Fox surprised everyone when she married Brian Austin Green in an intimate private ceremony on the beach in 2010. Megan is quite notorious for being rather simplistic and low maintenance when it comes to fashion and her wedding dress was no exception. Fox opted for an Armani Prive designer gown that featured a classic sweetheart neckline and simple chiffon material. The entire look was surprisingly timeless and basic for such a high-profile celebrity!
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10. Keira Knightley
Keira Knightley’s wedding gown caused quite the stir at the time, mostly because it wasn’t a wedding gown at all! Rather than taking the traditional bridal route with a floor-sweeping designer garment, Knightley seemingly opted for a short pale pink tulle Chanel dress instead. Surprisingly, she actually wore the gown on multiple occasions for red carpet appearances and events, which shocked many that she’d re-wear her once in a lifetime bridal attire. Supposedly, Knightley later shared that the simple Chanel number was only one outfit that she wore for her wedding and also had a custom-made Valentino gown that she wore for the civil ceremony.
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9. Julianne Hough
Dancing with the Stars pro Julianne Hough recently wed NHL star Brooks Laich wearing a strapless Marchesa gown that was surprisingly simple! Her stylist shared the inside scoop on Hough’s decision. “It was really quite hard and I think the one thing we both talked about and felt we really wanted to find was to find something that felt really classic, really elegant and really clean,” she shared. “We wanted something very fresh, and something she would not look back on in 10 years time and say, ‘Oh God what was I thinking?’” Hough did get her bridal glamour though and later changed into a sheer, sparkling gown for her reception.
(Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
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8. Kristen Bell
Kristen Bell may have had one of the most low key celebrity weddings to date, with an outfit to match! The event was far from the elaborate weddings of other A-listers and the couple tied the knot with a simple Courthouse ceremony. Bell completely skipped on a white wedding look all together and instead opted for all-black attire with a chunky, oversized necklace.
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7. Olivia Palermo
New York socialite Olivia Palermo is one of the today’s leading fashionistas, which is why fans had huge sartorial expectations for her wedding day. She lived up to her fashion-forward expectations, but in a surprisingly simple way! Instead of a classic gown, Palermo opted for a cashmere knit which she paired with a full embroidered skirt. The look was far from the opulent designer gown we envisioned, but we were surprisingly satisfied with Palermo’s unique fashion risk.
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6. Kelly Ripa
In 2016, Kelly Ripa shared a photo of herself and her husband Mark Consuelos where she was wearing her wedding dress from 20 years earlier! Shockingly, the dress still fit her like a glove. She shared that at the time the dress cost her $199 because she was working a low-paying gig during that period of her life. ‘I was working the soap [All My Children]. I didn’t make a lot of money. It was $199 on final clearance sale. ‘Do I eat this week, or do I get this dress?’ Literally, this was the thought process,” she shared of her simplistic, low-budget wedding gown.
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5. Marilyn Monroe
Marilyn Monroe is another star who wore a surprisingly simple look for her wedding nuptials. For her second and most infamous wedding to baseball player Joe DiMaggio, Marilyn opted for a demure dark suit with a white fur collar. The look was surprisingly simple and was a far cry from the traditional white wedding we’d expect for an A-list celebrity. The two wed at San Fransisco’s city hall and were mobbed by paparazzi once the wedding location was leaked to the press.
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4. Kate Middleton
Kate Middleton’s royal wedding gown was arguably one of the most memorable of all time, but it was actually quite simple. The late Princess Diana opted for extravagance with her bridal look when she married Prince Charles, but Middleton took a completely different route with her own wedding attire. The lace look was elegant and glamorous, yet the cut and shape were quite simple in comparison to Princess Diana’s dramatic wedding garment.
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3. Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate put tradition aside when she stepped out to marry Roman Polanski in a micro mini gown that featured long, puffed sleeves. Although the photos are black and white, records have recorded that the dress was actually yellow. The gown itself was surprisingly simple for an acclaimed actress, especially due to the fact that it featured a short hemline rather than the typical bridal floor-sweeping look.
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2. Carolyn Bessette Kennedy
Carolyn Bessette Kennedy is fondly remembered for her minimalist and timeless style, and her wedding dress perfectly fits that mold. Bessette wore one of the most simplistic wedding gowns to date which was designed by Narciso Rodriguez. The silk sheath dress was completely unadorned, which was quite the surprise for such a high-profile wedding. Nevertheless, the silk number remains a fan favorite and even Meghan Markle has admitted her love for the number, which proves that simple is often best when it comes to bridal attire!
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1. Meghan Markle
On May 19, 2018, Meghan Markle became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Prince Harry, and she absolutely surprised everyone with her simple yet elegant wedding gown. Royal gowns have been known for being big and intricate, but Markle’s was no fuss as she walked down the aisle in her gown designed by Clare Waight Keller, the Artistic Director of Givenchy. Markle has been known for her sexy and edgy styles, but she decided to pay homage to her simple yet chic fashion with her dress which was modern and classy. “The dress epitomizes a timeless minimal elegance referencing the codes of the iconic House of Givenchy and showcasing the expert craftsmanship of its world-renowned Parisian couture atelier,” a statement from the palace about the dress said. The statement also revealed that Markle picked the pure white doubled bonded silk cady material rather than embellishments or lace because she was going for “fresh modernity.”
EPA