Forget toasters and oodles of cutlery, last week’s private Californian wedding between reality TV starlet Kim Kardashian and her basketball-playing beau Kris Humphries is said to have scored the couple a whopping US$17.9 million.
Exclusive photo and video deals are believed to have been worth nearly $18 million, including a $2.5 million shoot for People magazine.
However, most of that moolah will come from allowing E! to film a four-hour wedding special, Kim’s Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event, which airs in October.
The eye-popping figure doesn’t even include all the free “stuff” wedding suppliers were clamouring to give to the couple.
According to LA celebrity event planner Tony Schubert, who is quoted in the New York Post, most of the vendors would have supplied items such as wedding cakes and even her Vera Wang wedding dress for free in exchange for the huge publicity the event has generated.
“It benefits the vendors, their goods and services [to be] shown to millions of people,” he told the Post.
Among Mr and Mrs Humphries’ complimentary wedding gifts were three $20,000 Vera Wang gowns (one for the ceremony and two for the reception) about $400,000 worth of Perrier Joeuet Champaign, a $15,000, 10-tiered wedding cake and $10,000 worth of invitations.
We’re not sure if the $2 million for floral arrangements, tents, lighting and favors were comped, nor about whether the Caviar, Kobe burgers and truffles were free, but just the food bill for the 500 or so guests is rumoured to have been around the $750,000 mark.
Among the celebrity guests were Ryan Seacrest, Lindsay Lohan, Avril Lavigne, Demi Lavato and Serena Williams. All were required to wear either black or white, no exceptions!
