Special Guest Post: Celebrity Weddings Year In Review

So, before we started putting all this energy into our own blog, our blogging experience was this: Erin spent a solid 10 hours a day reading blogs (...and still does), and me, well I tried my hand at writing guest bits for my sister Jen's blog. Yup, I was the brilliant author of recaps of The Hills episodes on Celebrity Skewer. The name kind of says it all, right? Jen knows more about the Hollywood scene than those who traipse up and down Robertson Boulevard, and while she's been slacking a bit on her virtual skewering of celebs (much to Erin's Google reader's dimsay), she jumped at the chance to give us a post that brought two of our mutual interests together. So read on for her celebrity weddings year in review!

I would like to thank Erin and Jessica for the opportunity to guest blog on their fabulous site. Reading it daily almost makes me want to run out and get married. Almost. If only my celebrity boyfriends weren’t already married. Sigh.

Is there something in the water in Hollywood? Before you answer “Whatever Lindsay flushed before heading to Betty Ford!” consider the amount of celebrity weddings we’ve seen so far this year. Is 2010 the Year of Celebrity Weddings? Looks that way to me. From John Krasinski and Emily Blunt to Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz, a myriad of the rich and famous are saying “I Do” these days and not all are doing it for their own reality show. Some are exchanging vows for true love (What?), some are doing it for the presents (Cupcake of the Month Club, anyone?), and some are doing it because they saw a + sign on a stick (I call shotgun!). Whatever the reason, the rich and famous are keeping us all on our toes with their nuptials (and occasionally scoring themselves a pretty penny).

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Vince Vaughn kicked off the year by giving hope to those of us who aren’t famous when he married a real estate agent from Canada. If only more celebrities would give us civilians a chance. Best wishes, Vince! More often than not, though, the famous love to mingle with the famous. And when that casual flirtation on the patio of the Chateau Marmont leads to marriage, every Perez Hilton, Harvey Levin, and random occasional blogger (ahem) shows interest (or a mixture of interest and bitterness as you remember standing in line for over an hour to have your copy of The Office Season 2 signed by someone only to have them turn around and marry Emily Blunt!). Our fascination with all things celebrity makes us salivate for every detail and picture we can find, and some celebrities use this interest to their advantage. How industrious!

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Carrie Underwood married hockey player Mike Fisher this past July at a reported cost of over $500,000 for their luxurious wedding at the Ritz-Carlton in Greensboro, GA. Did your heart just skip a beat? Mine did. I may have even blacked out. To a celebrity, however, half a million dollars is nothing; especially when you are given the opportunity to earn that money back (and then some!) by giving a magazine exclusive access to your big day. Rumors swirled that People magazine paid Carrie and Mike $2M for first photos and details about their ceremony and reception. (I hope my sister doesn’t mind if I sell her and her fiancé out when their wedding takes place next year. Call me, TMZ!) OK! magazine reportedly paid Hilary Duff (that’s Lizzie McGuire to you!) and her hockey player husband Mike Comrie $1M for access to their August wedding at the Mediterranean Villa La Quinta in Santa Barbara. I hope no one skimped on cocktail hour (and pass me a carmelized onion tart while you’re at it).

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Other celebrities chose to exchange vows in locales they hoped would keep the prying eyes of the outside world away (rude!). There was no guarantee this strategy would work, but for some, it was definitely worth a try. Russell Brand and Katy Perry married in India this past Saturday and went to great lengths to keep photogs away (apparently a scuffle took place between some of Russell’s security team and the paparazzi. Violence is never the answer, boys, but if someone wanted to hold Russell down and cut his hair, I wouldn’t have protested). Other notable couples that packed their passport before walking down the aisle include John and Emily, who were married in Lake Como, Italy (home to their good friend George Clooney), Javier and Penelope, who exchanged vows at a friend’s home in the Bahamas, Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher, who said “I Do” in Paris, and Orlando Bloom and Miranda Kerr, who tied the knot in the Caribbean. Anyone else feeling jetlagged?

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And just when you think a celebrity wedding couldn’t get any more opulent, take a moment to think of the designers. And the words “custom made.” Some of the most famous fashion designers in the world have created wedding gowns for the A-List (or at least a solid B) in Hollywood this year. Names like Marchesa, Armani Prive, Monique Lhuillier, Elie Saab, and John Galliano, once reserved for a walk down a red carpet, are the masterminds behind the gowns that the stars crave. Whether for an intimate wedding on the beach (Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green in Hawaii) or a gathering of friends and family officiated by Jeff Probst (Jenna Fisher and Lee Kirk in Malibu), you know you have made it in Hollywood when a top fashion designer asks for your measurements (and doesn’t deny your credit card).

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So with roughly two months left in 2010 I think we can safely call this the Year of Celebrity Weddings. I think we can also safely say that US Weekly lies when it says the stars are just like us! All lies! They are nothing like us, especially when it comes to getting married. But take heart, dear friends! Instead of cashing out that 401K and renting out a penthouse suite for you and your beloved, sit back, relax, and wait to see if 2011 is the Year of Celebrity Divorce.