Vintage Photos from Famous Celebrity Weddings main image
Scroll Down To Continue

Vintage Photos from Famous Celebrity Weddings

Let's face it: celebrity weddings are a dime a dozen. It seems like someone rich and famous is always getting hitched in Hollywood—which is, more often than not, followed by an equally publicized divorce a few months down the road! However, there are some classic celebrity weddings that will remain famous forever, even if the marriages themselves didn't last all that long. 

Love and marriage can be fickle things, even if you're not a celebrity hotshot, but these stars managed to make things work, if only for a little while, which is more than some people can say. And if you're a star, you better believe that you're going to celebrate your happiness with the most lavish wedding that money can buy!

Thankfully, these stars did not disappoint. 

Today, we're taking a look at classic photos from some of the most memorable and iconic celebrity weddings of all time. While not every star on this list opted to have a huge blowout, all of them said, "I do," with classic Hollywood glitz and glamor. Do you remember when any of these famous unions happened? Some were viewed by hundreds of millions of fans and well-wishers worldwide! 

Let's get started!

Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton

Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton

Elizabeth Taylor has been married so many times that she could probably have an entire slideshow to herself, but her most high-profile (and tumultuous) marriage was to fellow actor Richard Burton, who she met on the set of Cleopatra. The two had such a wildly polar relationship that they actually married, divorced, and then remarried once again! 

This photo comes from their first marriage, which took place at the Ritz-Carlton Montreal in 1964. What makes this wedding particularly sordid is that, not ten days before it, Taylor was married to another man! Once her divorce was granted, she wasted no time in saying, "I do," to Burton. 

Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Elvis & Priscilla Presley

Elvis & Priscilla Presley

The King of Rock 'n Roll found his queen when he met Priscilla Beaulieu. The couple wasn't particularly interested in getting hitched as soon as possible, but their age difference was causing problems with Beaulieu's family and Elvis' record company. So, the two married in May of 1967 at a Las Vegas hotel. 

However, the marriage wouldn't last for very long, and the two ultimately divorced in February of 1972. Despite the separation, the two remained close after the separation—on the day of their divorce, Elvis and Priscilla left the courthouse holding hands, and he would later help support her Los Angeles boutique. 

Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Grace Kelly & Prince Rainier III

Grace Kelly & Prince Rainier III

Before her marriage in 1956, people called Grace Kelly a Hollywood starlet. However, after getting hitched, most people just called her your majesty. After meeting Prince Rainier III of Monaco at the Cannes Film Festival, the two fell in love and were married in a traditional and highly televised wedding at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco. 

Despite giving up her acting career, Kelly loved her new life as a princess and a mother, and she remained married to Prince Rainier until her death due to a car crash in 1982. Prince Rainier clearly had a lot of love for her, as he did not ever remarry. He was buried next to Kelly after his death in 2005. 

Fox Photos/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images

Celine Dion & Rene Angelil

Celine Dion & Rene Angelil

Celine Dion's marriage to Rene Angelil raised a few eyebrows because of the age difference between them, but even more polarizing was the wedding dress she wore when she married him in 1994 at the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal. Despite the opinions of the public, it was clear that the two had a deep love for one another. 

Dion and Angelil remained married until his death in 2016 due to throat cancer. Before his death, the couple had three children together. As of 2022, Dion hasn't remarried and has given no indication that she's looking for a new spouse. 

PONOPRESSE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images

John F. & Jacqueline Kennedy

John F. & Jacqueline Kennedy

Considering the social circles that they ran in, the marriage of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier was a huge deal. The two were married at St. Mary's Church in Rhode Island in 1953 shortly after Kennedy was elected a U.S. Senator for Massachusets. It's estimated that more than 1200 people attended the massive and elegant affair. 

The two remained married until Kennedy's assassination in 1963. After his death, Jacqueline remarried in 1968 to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, and the couple stayed together until his death in 1975. When she died in 1994, she was buried next to her first husband in the Arlington National Cemetary. 

Bettmann/Bettmann/Getty Images

Mick & Bianca Jagger

Mick & Bianca Jagger

Mick and Bianca Jagger didn't have a very traditional wedding, but it was still one of the biggest events of the year when they wed in 1971. The two had only met months before when they decided to tie the knot in Saint Tropez, France. The guest list included some of the biggest names of the era, including Paul McCartney, Keith Richards, and Brigitte Bardot.

Additionally, a mob of fans found out about the event, making it quite difficult for the couple to even make it to the town hall for the ceremony. Unfortunately, the marriage between the two didn't even make it a decade—they divorced in 1978 after it was revealed that Mick Jagger had an affair during their marriage. 

Rolls Press/Popperfoto/Getty Images

Frank Sinatra & Mia Farrow

Frank Sinatra & Mia Farrow

Frank Sinatra & Mia Farrow did not have a happy marriage, to say the least, but their wedding in 1966 was a big moment in Hollywood history. The two quickly fell in love after meeting one another and married in Las Vegas at the home of Hollywood executive Jack Entratter. 

Unfortunately, the marriage didn't last long. Sinatra wanted Farrow to give up her acting career, but that never happened after she was picked for the lead role in a little movie called Rosemary's Baby. Sinatra actually served her with divorce papers while she was on set filming the movie! They were officially done as a couple by 1968. 

Avalon/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Diana Ross & Arne Naess

Diana Ross & Arne Naess

Both Diana Ross and Norwegian entrepreneur Arne Naess already had one marriage under their belts when they met. However, it was love at first sight, even though Naess didn't know much about Ross' wildly successful career or the world of music in general! They married in Switzerland in 1986 in a ceremony that included Naess' stepchildren. 

The marriage lasted for thirteen years before the couple finally divorced in 2000 after it was revealed that Naess had a love child with a Norwegian woman. Despite the sad end to their marriage (and Naess' death four years later), Ross still refers to him as the love of her life. 

Jörg Schmitt/picture alliance/Getty Images

Mariah Carey & Tommy Mottola

Mariah Carey & Tommy Mottola

Mariah Carey met music executive Tommy Mottola while she was recording her debut album in 1990. By 1993, the couple was married, with a lavish ceremony at Saint Thomas Church in New York City. In true Mariah Carey fashion, many of her wedding photos are more a celebration of Mariah herself than the happy couple as a whole. 

Although the couple remained married for a few years, Carey often alluded to feeling emotionally and physically trapped in the relationship. She announced that she would be divorcing Mottola in 1997, and the divorce was legally finalized by 2000. Since then, Carey married (and eventually divorced) fellow entertainer Nick Cannon. 

Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection/Getty Images

Prince Charles & Princess Diana

Prince Charles & Princess Diana

Prince Charles and Princess Diana definitely did not have a perfect marriage, but their troubled relationship began with a near-perfect (and very lavish) wedding at St. Paul's Catherdal in 1981. It's estimated that there were more than 600,000 live spectators and more than 750 million who watched the wedding on television. 

While their marriage technically lasted more than a decade, both Charles and Diana began affairs pretty quickly in the relationship, and the two were subject to all sorts of gossip and rumors due to this. Their divorce was finalized in 1996, and Diana died in a car crash a little more than a year later. 

Princess Diana Archive/Hulton Royals Collection/Getty Images

John Lennon & Yoko Ono

John Lennon & Yoko Ono

John Lennon and Yoko Ono married at the Rock of Gibraltar in 1969—just a year after Lennon's first wife came home to find the two drinking tea in bathrobes. They had an unusual honeymoon, staging a Bed-In for Peace against the Vietnam war by spending a week in bed at the Hilton Amsterdam. 

The two definitely didn't have a very normal relationship by conventional standards, with Ono asking their personal assistant May Pang to sleep with Lennon after she confided in her that they were becoming estranged. However, the odd couple remained married until Lennon was murdered by Mark David Chapman in 1980. 

Bettmann/Bettmann/Getty Images

Raquel Welch & Patrick Curtis

Raquel Welch & Patrick Curtis

Raquel Welch didn't have the most conventional wedding dress when she walked down the aisle with film producer Patrick Curtis, but it remains one of the most beautiful celebrity wedding dresses of all time. The wedding itself was an understated affair, with the two exchanging vows at a Paris city hall. 

Unfortunately, the two filed for divorce after six years of marriage. Curtis has never remarried, but Welch remarried in 1980, although that marriage also ended in divorce. These days, Welch says she has no plans on ever getting married again, saying, "I'm too set in my ways. I like what I do, I actually enjoy being me and I make a very good living at it and I'm happy. I don't have to have a man."

KEYSTONE-FRANCE/Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images

Paul & Linda McCartney

Paul & Linda McCartney

When the Beatles stepped on stage, fans lost their minds. But this mania also extended into their personal lives—when Paul McCartney married his wife, Linda, in London in 1969, they were mobbed by crowds of people looking for a glimpse at the new couple. Some super fans even wept at the thought of McCartney being a married man! 

During their marriage, Paul and Linda collaborated on various musical projects, and the two remained married until she died of breast cancer in 1998. After her death, McCartney was heartbroken but eventually remarried. Although his second marriage ended in divorce, he is still currently married to his third wife. 

Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Sylvester Stallone & Brigitte Nielsen

Sylvester Stallone & Brigitte Nielsen

Actor Sylvester Stallone and model Brigitte Nielsen seem like they would be an unusual pair, but the two were actually married in the '80s. Their highly publicized marriage took place in Beverly Hills in 1985, and, judging by the pictures, it was a very 1980s-style affair. You probably wouldn't see a headpiece like that these days!

However, this wasn't a marriage that was destined to last, and the couple ended up getting divorced a few years later in 1987. Like their marriage, their divorce was highly publicized, and the tabloids couldn't get enough of the breakdown of their marriage. Both went on to remarry after their separation. 

Bettmann/Bettmann/Getty Images

Judy Garland & Mickey Deans

Judy Garland & Mickey Deans

By the time Judy Garland met Mickey Deans, she had already been married four times. In fact, the two got married at the Chelsea Register Office in 1969 a little more than a month after her divorce to Mark Herron was finalized. Many of Garland's friends and family disapproved of the marriage, and her oldest daughter, Liza Minelli, didn't even attend the wedding. 

The marriage between Garland and Deans would, unfortunately be a short one. Only a few months after her marriage, in June of 1969, Garland was found dead in her home due to an overdose. Garland was in the throes of addiction at the time of her marriage, and many believe she would not have gone through with it if she had been more clear-headed. 

Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images