Former President Donald Trump’s Wedding to Former First Lady Melania Trump Came With a Hefty Price Tag

It should come as no surprise that the family of former president Donald Trump throws the most extravagant weddings—they are among the wealthiest in the nation; if not the entire globe.

On January 25, 2005, almost twenty years ago, he and his third wife Melania (née Knauss) celebrated their star-studded, opulent wedding. The invoice? A reported $2.5 million, of which Melania casually spent $100,000 on just her Dior bridal gown, Cosmopolitan reported. 

The couple exchanged vows in The Church of Bethesda-By-The Sea in Palm Beach, Florida. After the ceremonies, the newlyweds and their guests returned to Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, only a short drive away from the church, for dinner, dancing in the recently remodeled ballroom, and a $250k wedding cake piece. 

The ceremony was beautiful. As Melania entered the chapel to the sounds of Ave Maria, she was breathtaking. She held a little diamond crucifix and rosary with flowers at either end, and her head was fully covered in a 16-foot train of white veil. Her older sister Ines and Cameron Burnett, the son of Mark Burnett, a collaborator of Trump's on The Apprentice, came before her.

Celebrities including Billy Joel, Simon Cowell, and supermodel Heidi Klum were among those present to see Donald and Melania say "I do!" in front of 350 of their closest friends and family. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's attorney and former mayor of New York, was also in attendance. "It's a royal wedding," boxing promoter Don King told The New York Times. "It's something out of the monarchy. It's something like, you know, King Henry or King Edward — they've got so many kings it doesn't matter — would have."

Melania chose a 60-pound custom-made Dior gown—the weight of which is comparable to carrying eight average-sized newborns. The garment took more than 500 hours to make and included 1500 diamonds and pearls, according to Vogue, which featured her wearing it on the cover. The dress, which cost $100,000 in all, was accessorized with some extravagant headwear, jewelry (such as a white rose-studded wrist bracelet), and an extremely striking hair updo.

The New York Times released further information shortly after the ceremony, stating that it "included 90 meters of white satin, [a] skirt so wide and voluminous that [Melania] was to be seated on a bench for the wedding supper."

Other members of the Trump family have had equally opulent weddings. For example, Tiffany Trump and Michael Boulos' wedding, held at Donald Trump's renowned Mar-A-Lago estate, reportedly came with a hefty $1.5 million price tag. Ivanka Trump's handmade Vera Wang gown and jewels, which cost more than $250,000, added a significant financial burden on her wedding to Jared Kushner. The New York Post reports that Donald Trump Jr. even proposed to his ex-wife Vanessa Haydon with a $100,000 engagement ring.