Wedding photographs do something no other image can — they freeze a single day that changes everything. For celebrities, those days were often as dramatic, glamorous, or surprising as the careers that made them famous. Some married in grand ceremonies with hundreds of guests. Others slipped away quietly to small chapels or courthouses. A few made headlines the moment the news broke. This collection brings together over 50 wedding day photos of Hollywood stars, musicians, athletes, and public figures spanning more than seven decades. Each image captures a real moment — the dress, the smile, the hand-holding — from couples whose names are still recognized today.
The earliest photos in this collection date back to the golden age of Hollywood. Buster Keaton, one of silent film’s greatest comedic talents, married actress Natalie Talmage in 1921. Their union connected two of early Hollywood’s most prominent families.
Young stardom brought complicated personal lives for many in Hollywood. Linda Darnell was already a well-known actress when, at just 20 years old, she eloped in Las Vegas with cinematographer Pev Marley, who was 42 at the time. The age gap drew attention, but the elopement was swift and private.
Shirley Temple had been one of the most famous child actresses in the world. By the time she was a teenager, she was navigating adult life in the public eye. She met Army Air Corps Sergeant John Agar when she was 15, and the two married in 1945 in a grand ceremony when she was 17.
The mid-1940s saw several notable celebrity weddings. Swimmer and actress Esther Williams, who became a major MGM star through her aquatic film roles, married singer Ben Gage in 1945.
Nat King Cole, one of the most celebrated vocalists in American music history, married Maria Hawkins Ellington in 1948. The couple remained together until his death in 1965.
Elizabeth Taylor’s wedding history is one of the most documented in Hollywood. Her first marriage, to Conrad Hilton Jr., took place in 1950 when she was just 18. It was the first of eight marriages for Taylor — to seven different men.
Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh were one of Hollywood’s most glamorous couples of the early 1950s. Curtis carried his new bride over the threshold on June 4, 1951, in a moment that became one of the era’s most iconic wedding images.
Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner were both at the peak of their fame when they married in 1951. Their relationship was famously turbulent, marked by intense passion and equally fierce arguments. The wedding photo captures a brief moment of calm in one of Hollywood’s stormiest romances.
Elizabeth Taylor’s second marriage, to British actor Michael Wilding, came just two years after her first. The 1952 ceremony was a quieter affair than her splashy first wedding, though it still drew significant public attention.
French actress Brigitte Bardot married filmmaker Roger Vadim in 1952. Vadim had a significant role in shaping her early screen image, directing her in the 1956 film that made her an international sensation.
One of the most photographed weddings of the 20th century was that of Jacqueline Bouvier and Senator John F. Kennedy in 1953. The Newport, Rhode Island ceremony drew enormous press coverage and set a standard for political celebrity weddings that few have matched since.
Audrey Hepburn married actor and director Mel Ferrer in 1954, the same year she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Roman Holiday. She wore a simple white dress at the Swiss ceremony, a sharp contrast to the elaborate gowns of many of her peers.
Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds were considered one of Hollywood’s sweetest couples when they married in 1955. Their union produced two children, including actress and writer Carrie Fisher. The marriage ended in 1959 when Fisher left Reynolds for Elizabeth Taylor.
Grace Kelly’s transformation from Hollywood actress to European royalty became official in 1956 when she married Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Her wedding dress, designed by MGM costume designer Helen Rose, remains one of the most influential bridal gowns in fashion history.
Also in 1956, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher appeared together in a second wedding photo, a reminder of just how thoroughly documented their public life was. That same year, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood married for the first time — they would later divorce and remarry in 1972.
Elizabeth Taylor’s third trip down the aisle brought her to Las Vegas in May 1959, this time to marry singer Eddie Fisher — the same man who had just left her close friend Debbie Reynolds. Taylor chose a distinctive green silk hooded dress for the ceremony, a bold departure from traditional bridal white.
Sammy Davis Jr. and Swedish actress May Britt married in 1960 at a time when interracial marriage was still illegal in 31 U.S. states. The wedding drew intense public scrutiny and even threats, but the couple proceeded without backing down.
The Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII story stands as one of the most dramatic in royal history. Edward abdicated the British throne in 1936 to marry the twice-divorced American socialite. Their 1937 wedding in France was a small, private ceremony — far removed from the pomp of a royal wedding.
Elizabeth Taylor married actor Richard Burton in 1964, their first of two marriages to each other. The couple had met on the set of Cleopatra in 1963 while both were married to other people. Their on-set affair became one of the most talked-about scandals in Hollywood history.
That same year, actors Suzanne Pleshette and Troy Donahue — both familiar faces from Warner Bros. productions — married and divorced within 1964, making theirs one of the shortest celebrity marriages of the decade.
Actress Sue Lyon, best known for her title role in Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita, married Hampton Fancher in 1964. Fancher would later go on to co-write the screenplay for Blade Runner.
Jane Fonda married French film director Roger Vadim in 1965, a pairing that mirrored Vadim’s earlier marriage to Brigitte Bardot. He directed Fonda in the 1968 sci-fi film Barbarella during their marriage.
Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra married in 1966 despite a 30-year age difference — she was 21, he was 50. The marriage lasted just two years, ending after Sinatra demanded she leave the set of Rosemary’s Baby to join his film The Detective. She declined.
Beatle George Harrison married model Patti Boyd in 1966. Boyd later became the inspiration for two of rock’s most celebrated love songs — Harrison’s Something and, after their divorce, Eric Clapton’s Layla and Wonderful Tonight.
1967 was a busy year for celebrity weddings. Elvis Presley married Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The ceremony lasted just eight minutes. The two had been together since 1959, when Priscilla was 14 and Elvis was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army.
Also in 1967, actress Kathy Kersh married Burt Ward, known to millions as Robin from the hit TV series Batman and Robin. Ann-Margret and Roger Smith held their own Las Vegas nuptials the same year, and actress and former Playboy Playmate Corinne Cole wed Jack Entratter, president of the Sands Hotel, in Las Vegas.
Liza Minnelli, daughter of Judy Garland and director Vincente Minnelli, married Peter Allen in 1967. Allen, an Australian entertainer, later came out as gay after their 1974 divorce. Angela King married rock musician Eric Burdon of The Animals the same year.
British pop star Cilla Black married her manager Bobby Willis in a London civil ceremony in 1968. Their partnership was both personal and professional — Willis managed her career until his death in 1999. That same year, Johnny Cash married June Carter in a moment that became country music legend.
John Lennon and Yoko Ono married on March 20, 1969, at the British Consulate in Gibraltar. The couple famously turned their honeymoon into a political protest, holding their “Bed-In for Peace” at the Amsterdam Hilton to speak out against the Vietnam War. Audrey Hepburn also married in 1969, this time to Italian psychiatrist Andrea Dotti.
German-Swiss playboy and industrialist Gunter Sachs, previously married to Brigitte Bardot, wed former Swedish model Mirja Larsson in 1969. Singer Lulu married Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees that same year.
Olympic gold medalist figure skater Peggy Fleming, who had captivated audiences at the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble, married Greg Jenkins in 1970. Stevie Wonder also married in 1970, tying the knot with Motown singer and songwriter Syreeta Wright. The marriage lasted only two years, though the two continued to collaborate musically.
Mick Jagger married Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías in Saint-Tropez, France in 1971. The wedding was chaotic — hundreds of fans and photographers crowded outside the church, and Bianca later said she didn’t enjoy the day at all.
Tito Jackson, the eldest of the performing Jackson brothers, married Delores Martes in June 1972. Their wedding came just as the Jackson 5 were riding the height of their pop success.
Farrah Fawcett, who would become one of the defining icons of the 1970s through her Charlie’s Angels role, married actor Lee Majors in 1973. Paloma Picasso, daughter of Pablo Picasso and a celebrated jewelry designer in her own right, married Rafael Lopez-Cambil in 1978. Kris Houghton, who would later be known as Kris Jenner, also married in 1978 — to attorney Robert Kardashian.
Al Gore and Mary Elizabeth “Tipper” Aitcheson married in May 1975, more than two decades before Gore would become Vice President of the United States. Diana Darvey, the British actress and entertainer, married Terry Gittings the same year.
Muhammad Ali, three-time heavyweight champion and one of the most recognizable athletes in history, married Veronica Porsche in Los Angeles in the summer of 1977. It was Ali’s third marriage.
Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, married actor Glynn Turman in 1978 in a large Detroit ceremony. Paloma Picasso also married that same year, as did Kris and Robert Kardashian.
Actor Kurt Russell married actress Season Hubley in 1979, the same year Rod Stewart wed model Alana Hamilton. Russell and Hubley had co-starred in the TV film Elvis, where Russell played Presley. Their marriage ended in 1983.
Princess Diana and Prince Charles married on July 29, 1981, in a ceremony watched by an estimated 750 million people worldwide. Diana’s ivory silk taffeta gown, with its 25-foot train, became one of the most replicated wedding dress designs of the 20th century.
Bono of U2 married his longtime girlfriend Ali Hewson in Dublin, Ireland in 1982. The two had been together since their school days in Dublin and have remained married ever since.
Elton John married German music engineer Renate Blauel in London on Valentine’s Day, 1984. The marriage lasted four years. John later came out as gay and has spoken openly about the relationship in interviews.
Julie Anne married Nick Rhodes, keyboardist of Duran Duran, in 1984 during the band’s peak of international fame. Music icon Diana Ross married Norwegian shipping magnate Arne Næss Jr. in 1985, a union that lasted until 2000.
Gospel and R&B singer Shirley Murdock married Dale DeGroat in Dayton, Ohio in 1988. Fashion icon and socialite Isabella Blow also married in 1988, tying the knot with Detmar Blow in a ceremony that matched her reputation for unconventional style.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson also married in 1988. Hanks had met Wilson on the set of the TV series Bosom Buddies in the early 1980s. Their marriage has remained one of Hollywood’s longest-lasting.
Magic Johnson married Earlitha “Cookie” Kelly in Lansing, Michigan in 1991. The ceremony was relatively small by celebrity standards. Johnson had publicly announced his HIV-positive status just weeks before the wedding, making the event carry enormous emotional weight for the couple and their guests.
Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain married on a beach in Hawaii in February 1992, days after discovering she was pregnant with their daughter Frances Bean. Love wore a vintage silk dress that had belonged to actress Frances Farmer. David Bowie and Somali-American model Iman also married in April 1992, in a private ceremony in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Julia Roberts surprised the public when she married country singer Lyle Lovett in a small service in Marion, Indiana in 1993. The two had known each other for only three weeks before the ceremony. Roberts was one of the biggest movie stars in the world at the time, making the low-key wedding all the more unexpected.
