NEED TO KNOW
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z transformed their penthouse into a winter wonderland with 70,000 orchids for their intimate wedding
- Olivia Wilde eloped with an Italian prince at Burning Man in a school bus when she was 19
- Elizabeth Taylor married Larry Fortensky at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, featuring a gazebo decorated with flowers
Celebrity weddings tend to be extravagant affairs — but some have been set in surprising locations.
While A-list couples, like Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez and Dua Lipa and Callum Turner, have opted for gorgeous Italian locales (or, in Bezos and Sánchez’s case, an entire island in Venice), others have chosen unique venues outside the wedding norm.
This preference could become a trend, given that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are reportedly getting married at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City. But the pop star and professional athlete would be far from the first ones to pick an unconventional place to say “I do.”
Here are the six most unique celebrity wedding venues, from a surprise penthouse ceremony to an elopement at Burning Man.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z held a surprise wedding at their penthouse
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On April 4, 2008, Beyoncé and Jay-Z hosted their intimate, 40-guest wedding at the rapper’s 13,500-square-foot penthouse in N.Y.C.’s TriBeCa neighborhood.
Florist Amy Vongpitaka revealed to PEOPLE at the time that the couple created a winter wonderland under a tent in their living room, filled with candles, branches, crystal icicles and over 70,000 white orchids.
Though they’ve continued to keep the details of their nuptials private, they shared clips of their ceremony during their joint On The Run tour in 2014.
John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette tied the knot in a remote church
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John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette also had a private wedding, thanks to their remote venue. The late couple escaped the paparazzi by flying to Georgia, where they exchanged vows at the First African Baptist Church on Cumberland Island on Sept. 21, 1996.
The church was small, with only eight pews and no air conditioning, but it helped keep prying eyes away for their ceremony. As Chris McLean, a builder living in nearby Fernandina Beach, Fla., told PEOPLE at the time, “They couldn’t have chosen a more obscure place.”
Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker got hitched in a Las Vegas chapel
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Technically, Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker tied the knot three different times.
Though their second two locations were more typical of celebs — a private courthouse and a lavish Italian villa — their first “practice wedding” was more unique, held at One Love Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas.
The couple were married by an Elvis impersonator in the early morning hours of April 4, following the 2022 Grammys. Kardashian later confirmed they didn’t have a marriage license for the event.
David and Victoria Beckham wed in a 15th-century castle
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On July 4, 1999, Victoria and David Beckham took the idea of a grand celebrity wedding to another level by hosting their nuptials inside a 15th-century castle.
Luttrellstown Castle, located near Dublin, reportedly cost $800,000 and featured 20 bedrooms, a ballroom and matching gold thrones that the new husband and wife sat on.
Elizabeth Taylor and Larry Fortensky married at Neverland Ranch
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Elizabeth Taylor married her seventh and final husband, Larry Fortensky, in a grand wedding held at Michael Jackson‘s Neverland Ranch.
The ceremony, held on Oct. 6, 1991, took place on his 2,700-acre Santa Ynez Valley, Calif., estate under a gazebo decorated with flowers.
Though Taylor and Fortensky divorced five years later, they remained close friends until her death in 2011.
Olivia Wilde and Tao Ruspoli eloped at Burning Man
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Before making her mark on Hollywood, Olivia Wilde eloped with Italian prince and guitarist Tao Ruspoli at Burning Man when she was 19.
She described the spontaneous nuptials — which took place on a school bus in 2003, per HuffPost — as “so romantic and insane” in a June 2026 interview on Call Her Daddy.
Though they divorced in 2011, Wilde maintained that their split was amicable and that they’re still friends.
