Which celebrities spent the most on wedding dresses — from Ariana Grande to Kim Kardashian

For anyone curious to know what the rich and famous spend on their wedding dresses, a new study reveals all.

From Serena Williams’s bejewelled cape, to hand-sewn lace worn by British royals, researchers at financial firm Merchant Cash Advance looked at the most expensive celebrity designs worn.

Here we reveal the biggest spenders, ranked lowest to highest, with prices running into the millions.

Ariana Grande

For her wedding in 2021, singer Ariana Grande spent $150,000 on her custom gown by Vera Wang. When the singer married Dalton Gomez, she wore a white, empire-waisted, silk charmeuse strapless dress with a sculpted neckline. The back, was deeply scooped, and she paired it with a shoulder length veil, topped with a satin bow.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

The gown Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wore to marry Prince Harry was made by Clare Waight Keller at Givenchy, and cost $265,000.

For the wedding in 2018, the Duchess of Sussex’s dress, which was crafted in only five months and in absolute secrecy, was made with silk, with three-quarter sleeves and a boat neck. It had a triple layered underskirt yet was made in only six pieces.

Left completely plain, the decoration was instead kept to the five-metre-long veil, which was hand embroidered with flowers representing countries around the Commonwealth, Wintersweet, which is a flower in the garden at Kensington Palace, and the California poppy, representing the duchess’s home state.

At three metres wide, the veil also featured wheat sheafs, a symbol of prosperity, and took more than 500 hours to stitch, far longer than the dress itself. The veil also reportedly contained a piece of fabric from the blue dress she was wearing when she first met Prince Harry.

Amal Clooney

For her 2014 fairy tale marriage to George Clooney, the human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin wore a custom $380,000 gown by the designer Oscar de la Renta himself. Made of ivory tulle, the off-the-shoulder gown was appliqued with 12.8 metres of Chantilly lace, and the bodice was covered with hand-embroidered beading and crystals. It was cut with a waterfall back and is historic not only for the woman who wore it, but as the last gown de la Renta worked on before his death.

Kate, Duchess of Cambridge

In what is arguably one of the world’s most famous wedding dresses, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, married Prince William in 2011 wearing a gown, hand-embroidered by Sarah Burton, from Alexander McQueen.

Costing an estimated $434,000, it was entirely covered in handmade lace and scattered with embroidered thistles, daffodils, shamrocks and roses, to echo the four nations of the UK. It also had a 2.7 metre train.

The seamstresses working on the gown had to wash their hands every 30 minutes to ensure the cloth was kept clean and the needles were replaced every three hours, to make sure they were sharp and precise.

A statement released on behalf of the duchess said she chose the British design house “for the beauty of its craftsmanship and its respect for traditional workmanship and the technical construction of clothing”.

Kim Kardashian

To marry Kanye West in 2014 Kim Kardashian wore a custom haute couture dress by her friend Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy, which cost a reported $500,000.

The fitted kick-flare gown was covered in lace and had a sheer back and sleeves. A pearl-studded belt cinched the bride’s waist and the entire look was covered by a floor-length veil.

Victoria Swarovski

Victoria Swarovski, of the famous crystal company, choose Dubai designer Michael Cinco to create her couture gown, which cost a cool $1 million.

The dress, with sheer, beaded bodice and sleeves, and a full skirt was encrusted with 500,000 crystals — each one hand applied — and came with an eight-metre train. The sheer number of crystals used meant the entire looked weighed more than 45 kilos.

Serena Williams

Tennis star Serena Williams spent the most on her wedding look, shelling out $3.5 million on a princess dress, with a handed-beaded sheer cape and jewellery.

For the 2017 wedding to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, Williams wore a dramatic white strapless ballgown, with a huge skirt, which was covered with a hand-beaded, sheer cape. Custom made by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, Williams has credited Vogue‘s Anna Wintour with helping her find her perfect gown.

On social media Williams wrote: “When Anna Wintour asked me what I wanted to wear I said: ‘A cape. I just want to wear a cape.’ She said: ‘Well Sarah Burton with Alexander McQueen is the one for you.’ Thanks Anna. Thanks Sarah. I felt like a princess and superwoman all at once.”

Updated: June 24, 2022, 12:51 PM