How celebrity weddings have changed since the Beckhams – 25 years on

In today’s fickle world it’s unsurprising that one in two marriages end in divorce. For celebrities, break-up rates are even higher. So praise be for David and Victoria Beckham, who have resisted the dreaded “seven-year itch” not once but three and a bit times, overlooking each other’s failings in favour of seeing the good.

On July 4 the Beckhams are celebrating 25 years of married life, an achievement that few people would have predicted when the couple wed in a £750,000 (£1.2m in today’s money) ceremony in an Irish castle. Who can forget the matching purple looks they wore to cut their wedding cake (with a sword, naturally) before taking their seats on gold thrones? Clearly not the Beckhams, much as they would like to.

“Look what we found…” David Beckham posted on Instagram, sharing an anniversary Instagram photoshoot of the pair dusting off their Antonio Berardi-designed Cadbury purple finery. “Can’t believe it’s been 25 years and they still fit!” added Victoria.

“I even had a top hat in purple,” David previously told Desert Island Discs. “What was I thinking?”

What he was thinking was very much in keeping with 1999. The end of the millennium was a hedonistic time. Clothes and celebrations were OTT, and “taste” – who’s got it, who hasn’t – was yet to become assiduously judged by the jury that sits on social media. It was a carefree time, and the Beckhams’s wedding pictures are proof of it.

There are many ways to chart societal changes, and the celebrity wedding is but one of them. Here, we compare the way they wore, wed, and celebrated.

Wedding day vs wedding week

Bless us for being shocked when the Beckhams changed from their church attire into their matching purple his ‘n’ hers Antonio Berardi ‘fits. What simple times the Nineties were. In 2024, a wedding ceremony followed by an after-party would be deemed rather parsimonious. Only mere mortals would throw such a desultory celebration. Darling, you may as well elope.

Instead, today’s savvy celebrities know that the longer the party, the more prolific the content – and everything is content, particularly when an unspecified number of components (it could be the cake, it could be the venue) have been #gifted. Unlike a workout session, a wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully) opportunity to showcase your perfect life. Take the influencer Chiara Ferragni, who in 2018 jetted guests (on private flights branded with the hashtag #TheFerragnez) to Sicily, where they were greeted by giant cartoon renderings of the bride and groom. Details of the weekend-long celebrations were all dutifully hashtagged, with credits of every caterer, florist and cocktail shared with Ferragni’s 28 million followers.

Vera Wang vs Valentino Couture

In the 90s, there was only one designer to choose: Vera Wang, whose chic and simple wedding gowns were namechecked on Sex And The City, and have been worn by Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani and Chelsea Clinton. With its corset-style bodice, full skirt and 20ft train, Victoria’s ivory silk Wang gown was pure fairy princess, although the detail that it was “flown across the Atlantic four times” would not be released so boastfully in these carbon emission-obsessed times.

While Wang is still a go-to among celebrities hankering after a slice of class (Ariana Grande got married in Wang in 2021), she may not be deemed “exclusive” enough for every modern celebrity bride. For true bragging rights, your gown simply has to be couture. A dress hand-crafted in a French or Italian atelier is the dream: witness Nicola Peltz Beckham’s gown, by Valentino Couture, which was “the culmination of a year’s worth of conversations”, according to Vogue (boasting about the number of fittings is mandatory). Her groom, Brooklyn Beckham, was merely a toddler when his parents said “I do”.

The Hello / OK! Magazine deal vs the Vogue.com exclusive

In the Nineties, no visit to the hairdresser was complete without a flick through OK! or Hello to marvel at the tacky weddings of the latest A, B or C-lister. Pre-social media, there was no greater publicity coup than a six or seven figure exclusive with OK! or Hello, and while there was no need, then, for guests to have their phones confiscated, great lengths were still taken to ensure privacy and exclusivity, usually involving vast swathes of blackout fabric and, in the Beckhams’s case, 125 security guards. They were the first British couple to be paid £1 million for exclusive picture rights, but the move paid off, as OK! quadrupled sales.

Fast forward 25 years, and the gossip mags have lost their cachet, as well as their budgets, since we can enjoy as much gossip as we like, 24/7, for free. Today, a Vogue.com exclusive is viewed as the ultimate prestige: no fee required, since Vogue’s endorsement is seen as its own reward.

Personality vs tastefulness

Mock the Beckhams’ Damien Hirst wedding cake if you will, but it was perfectly in keeping with the maximalism of the times. In an era of quiet luxury, it’s hard not to feel a little nostalgic for the themed wedding, in all its glorious unselfconsciousness. Now, so fearful are celebrities of being judged and found vulgar that they tend to throw their money at the most tasteful expressions of wealth. Case in point: Sofia Richie’s 2023 wedding to Elliot Grainge, a three-day event held at Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes, in which the bride wore three dresses by Chanel Couture, the groom wore a Ralph Lauren suit and the jewellery was by Fred Leighton. Beautiful, yes, but it rather makes you yearn for a tacky gold throne or two.

Wedding album vs social media reveal

In the Nineties, you bought a disposable camera and that was that: 24 badly lit photos (the flash always failed) that made you glad the official wedding photographer had made you stand in the rain for 40 minutes while he took the group shot. Oh innocent days! In 2022, Made in Chelsea alumni Jamie Laing and Sophie Habboo announced their engagement just before Christmas, then spent the following months availing followers of each and every detail of their nuptials by – what else? – launching a podcast. When the big days (one in London, one in Marbella) came, TikTok and Instagram were awash with coverage. Journalists, meanwhile, were emailed details of the event (when I received mine, I had to google who they were). Given the sheer effort of it all, let’s hope they have a long and happy union.