Summer marks the start of wedding season and with it all things white and perhaps poofy dresses. The designs for wedding dress options are endless and at times a bit overwhelming, but that also means finding the dress that fits your style exactly. Luckily, there is no shortage of inspiring wedding dresses throughout history, each telling the story of the bride and her special day.
If you’re in need of some inspiration, or like me, you enjoy looking at beautiful wedding dresses, below are some of the most iconic celebrity wedding dresses from throughout the years. Whether you’re looking for something non-tradtiional or a gown that conjures images of Grace Kelly, these fashionable women knew a thing or two about iconic bridal style.
Ahead are thirteen wedding gowns that have stood the test of time and are sure to live on well into the future.
Bianca Jagger
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Bianca Jagger in her wedding suit.
Synonymous with cool 70s style, Bianca Jagger stunned in her wedding attire, opting for a Yves Saint Laurent Le Smoking Jacket and bias cut skirt. Her choice of a wide-brimmed hat with veil cemented this look in the fashion history books as one of the most memorable bridal looks. The wedding took place in St. Tropez in 1971 and, luckily for us, was open to the public due to French law, giving us a glimpse into the culturally historic ceremony. Jagger’s chic choice in a wedding suit also hid a tiny secret: she was four months pregnant with daughter Jade.
Grace Kelly
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Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco during their wedding ceremony in Monaco on April 19, 1956.
The dress that launched a thousand imitations – Grace Kelly’s wedding dress is the most cited as inspiration for the modern celebrity bride’s dress. It’s not hard to see why Kelly’s handmade gown is such a covetable design. From the high neck lace bodice with long sleeves to the taffeta bell-shaped skirt complete with hand-sewn seed pearls,the look is both timeless and elegant. The dress was designed and made in-house at the MGM Studios ateliers by Kelly’s costume designer, Helen Rose. The wedding was such a huge occasion that it was even broadcast live by MGM Studios to 30 million viewers.
Sophia Richie Grainge
The queen of the clean girl aesthetic, Sophie Richie chose to work with Chanel for not one but three custom dresses for her wedding to Elliot Grainge in the south of France. The dress she wore for the ceremony was a gorgeous high neck halter gown with scalloped edges. It included thousands of hand sewn iridescent beading and sequins with a subtle heart motif. Embroidered inside the bodice were the couple’s initials and wedding date in light blue thread to serve as Richie Grainge’s ‘something blue.’
Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Subtle custom nods to family and new love were important in the design of Priyanka Chopra’s Ralph Lauren designed wedding dress. Throughout the dress were delicate embroidered messages referring to the couples parents, the wedding date, a Hindi mantra “Om Namah Shivay”, and words of love and compassion. Sewn inside groom Nick Jonas’s tux was even a small piece of lace from Chopra’s wedding dress signifying the couples strong bond. The most impressive was the bride’s 75-foot-long tulle veil requiring several wedding party members to hold as the bride walked down the aisle.
Meghan Markle
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In one of the most anticipated events of the year, not only because it was a royal wedding, but the bride was American making it a true fairy tale wedding. For her high profile wedding to Prince Harry, Meghan Markle chose to work with Clare Waight Keller the then-creative director at Givenchy to create her classic off the shoulder wedding gown. Markle drew inspiration from style icon Audrey Hepburn’s wedding dress in the movie Funny Face, which also featured a simple bateau neckline. To pay homage to her new home, her 5 meter long silk tulle veil featured delicately hand embroidered flowers each representing the countries making up the United Kingdom.
Solange Knowles
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Ever the cool girl style icon, Solange Knowles arrived to her wedding accompanied by fiancé Alan Ferguson riding matching white vintage bicycles. What made her entrance even more iconic was the ivory Stéphane Roland jumpsuit she wore for the couple’s first wedding photos. Opting for a jumpsuit as her first look that featured an equally chic cape cemented her wedding look as one to remember for any bride looking to eschew tradition.
Kate Middleton
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The royal family is in no short supply of memorable dresses, and Kate Middleton’s wedding gown is at the top of the list. Middleton chose to work with Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen who had only been the artistic director of the brand for about a year. Middleton wanted to work with the fashion house because of it’s commitment to traditional workmanship and beautiful craftsmanship. The train of the dress was designed to look like the opening of a flower as the panels spread out behind the bride in a nine foot long train. The V-neck lace bodice became the most sought after design and placed the dress in the history of one of the most iconic wedding dresses.
Priscilla Presley
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Marrying the King of Rock and Roll brings with it a mass fervor of paparazzi, so when shopping for her wedding dress Priscilla Pressly went in disguise and a short amount of time to decide. After trying on dresses with friend Charlie Hodge posing as her fiance, Priscilla found a dress off the rack at a small bridal boutique. The floor length chiffon dress featured an empire waist and long sleeves made of lace and only did one fitting. The bride completed the very 60s look with her signature bouffant hairdo and sexy winged cateye makeup. The couple was able to keep the ceremony under wraps and tied the knot in very Elvis-style at the Aladdin hotel in Las Vegas.
Victoria Beckham
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When you’re Posh Spice, the fashion icon of the Spice Girls, you tap another fashion icon to design your wedding dress. Victoria Adams (now Beckham) knew she wanted Vera Wang to design her voluptuous champagne silk dress for her wedding to soccer star David Beckham. The dress featured a sculpted bodice that was designed by exclusive corsetry designer Mister Pearl. Wang noted the dress traveled on the Concorde four times between New York and London to complete the fitted bodice, but it turns out the miles were well worth it as it fit Victoria like a glove.
Hailey Bieber
When planning her wedding dress, Hailey Bieber knew from the beginning she wanted to work with Off-White designer Virgil Abloh to design something truly unique and special. The off-the-shoulder low back dress made entirely of lace included touches of Bieber and Abloh’s designer artistry. The words ‘Wedding Dress’ in pearls were sewn into the back of the dress and her veil featured ‘Until Death Do Us Part’ in Off-White’s signature block letters completing a truly collaborative and beautiful wedding dress design.
Paris Hilton
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Fit for an heiress, Paris Hilton’s custom Oscar de la Renta combined elegance and classic bridal style into the long sleeved lace dress. The bodice was covered in embroidered pressed flowers that flowed into a tulle ball gown. The veil featured matching floral embroidery on the hem. Hilton changed into three more dresses throughout the night, lest we forget her style icon status.
Mandy Moore
Choosing to eschew the traditional virginal white for her wedding, Mandy Moore chose soft pink tulle for her big day. Moore collaborated with designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte to design the soft blush colored gown for her backyard California wedding. The retro style of the tiered dress encapsulated Moore’s vintage feminine style with a twist that stands out from the traditional white wedding gown.
Ciara
As a face of the brand and friend of Peter Dundas, Ciara chose Dundas at Roberto Cavalli to design her wedding dress. The catch was he only had four months to complete the dress. Since Ciara and NFL quarterback Russel Wilson would be marrying in an English castle, she wanted the dress to reflect her dreams of a fairytale wedding. Embroidered with beaded appliques in traditional French and Italian patterns and sweeping bell sleeves, Ciara looked every bit the bridal princess. For the reception, the base dress was removed to reveal a half skirt so the bride and groom could dance the night away.
Princess Diana
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When it comes to iconic wedding dresses, it’s impossible not to mention Princess Diana’s massive tulle confection she wore to commit to holy matrimony with Prince Charles. The People’s Princess personally called upon designers David and Elizabeth Emanuel to craft a breathtaking ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown, which featured a 25-foot-long train and a veil that trailed behind her for over 153 yards. The over-the-top design became a hallmark of 80s design decadence and ushered in an era of copycats, although there’s never been anything close to the grandeur of Diana’s dress.
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