The Biggest Weddings of 2013 / Planning Your Wedding

The Biggest Weddings of 2013

Weddings can be wonderful, happy occasions that bring together family and friends. Many couples want to make the occasion as memorable as possible. Couples will plan everything to the last detail. The rings. The flowers. The venue. The dresses. With the internet at our disposal, it is a pretty cut and dry process. Couples are able to check things off a list and in the end they are left with a fantastic wedding. However, for some brides and grooms that translates to the bigger and more extravagant the wedding the better.

Nisansala and Nalin

A Sri Lankan couple now holds the Guinness World Record for the most bridesmaids in a wedding party. Their November 8^th nuptials featured 126 bridesmaids; the previous record was held by a Thai couple whose wedding had 96 bridesmaids. In addition to the 126 bridesmaids, there were 25 best men, 20 page boys, and 23 flower girls all dressed in lavishly embroidered traditional outfits of purple and gold. The bride’s sister, Champi Siriwardana, is one of Sri Lanka’s top dress designers and wedding planners, and was integral to organizing the celebration. The guests included hundreds of family and friends, and Sri Lankan First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, who was the guest of honor. Siriwardana received an award from a Guinness World Records official during the event acknowledging her accomplishment.

Michael Jordan and Yvette Prieto

Another one of the largest weddings of 2013 was the marriage of NBA great Michael Jordan and Cuban-American model Yvette Prieto. The couple met in 2008 and got engaged in 2011. The event took place on April 27th in Palm Beach, Florida. The ceremony was held at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, which was also the location of Donald Trump’s extravagant 2005 wedding to Melania Knauss. Jordan and Prieto hosted a reception for 2,000 at the Bears Club, where His Airness recently constructed a 38,000 square foot mansion, after they officially tied the knot. It featured a 40,000 square foot tent decorated with crystal candelabras, thousands of candles, white roses, peonies and tulips. The white rum wedding cake was adorned with crystal brooches. Guests included fellow basketball players Scottie Pippen and Patrick Ewing, famed golfer Tiger Woods, and movie director Spike Lee. Robin Thick, Usher, and K’Jon provided musical entertainment. The entire event was believed to cost $10 million.

Sean Parker and Alexandra Lenas

Another wedding of 2013 with a very large budget was the June 1st nuptials of billionaire and Facebook Founding President Sean Parker and singer-songwriter Alexandra Lenas. The couple is passionate about old growth forests and their outdoor wedding and reception took place beneath the colossal 500 year old redwoods of Big Sur in northern California. A Tolkien-esque outfit was created for each of the 364 guests by Ngila Dickson, the New Zealand costume designer who won a 2004 Academy Award for Lord of the Rings. Parker personally oversaw preparation of the site for the celebration, which supposedly cost $4.5 million alone. He organized a stunning and mystical array of planted flowers complete with vibrant garlands that adorned the base of the trees. Set designers were hired to create a ravaged stone castle, an immense Celtic cross, and pair of ruined Roman columns that were placed on either side of the altar under the biggest tree. At the reception, the newlyweds enjoyed the wedding feast from their 10 foot high throne.

It would be hard to top any of these over-the-top weddings, but there is probably a couple out there who will do their best to try.