Wedding Date: May 24th, 2014
Where: Florence, Italy
After dating for two years beginning in April 2012, longtime friends, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West married on May 24th, 2014. The couple exchanged vows and celebrated at Forte di Belvedere in Florence, Italy. This historic fortress was built at the end of the 16th century to protect Palazzo Pitti as it has the vantage point of overlooking all of Florence. The venue is considered to have the best scenery in Florence that takes your breath away. The fort is now a museum that hosts various exhibits and concerts.
To keep the paparazzi at bay, guests had to sign a non-disclosure agreement to keep the details of the wedding hush-hush. Guests were also told that cell phone use was not allowed. Kim tweeted “We are not filming our wedding for Keeping Up With the Kardashians. You will see everything leading up til and after”.
Privacy was the upmost importance, which only makes sense since their lives are on screen. No expense was spared on ensuring that as security cost over $30 million.
To start the ceremony, the bride was surprised to hear Andrea Bocelli’s voice while starting her aisle walk. As Andrea belted out Con te Partiro (English version, Time to Say Goodbye) there must not have been a dry eye in the crowd. It was a surprise from Kanye to have the star tenor serenade her in person as he is one of her all-time favorite singers (second to Kanye, of course).
The couple exchanged traditional vows in front of 200 guests. After pronounced husband and wife, they kissed in front of this gorgeous, romantic wall of white flowers built specifically for the ceremony. This towering flower wall also served as a privacy barrier. All the flowers for the event were handled by one of the oldest flower shops in Florence, Fiori Della Signoria.
Can you imagine how much that cost?? Just a simple centerpiece with roses is like $50 around here! The floral work reportedly cost over $77,000.00. No, I didn’t add an extra zero by mistake.
Speeches were made by Kris Jenner and Caitlin (Bruce) Jenner and the toast given by John Legend, who also performed At Last during the couple’s first dance.
Guests dined all sitting at one table – yes, all 200 of them around a 224-foot imperial marble table. This ended up being a disaster. Guests names were engraved in the marble table, of which numerous were misspelled. Also, many guests didn’t have seats.
Dinner was a four-course meal consisting of steak, salmon, and tortellini served with Armand de Brignac Champagne. Dessert followed which was an impressive fruit filled seven-foot, seven-layer cake.
Kim wore a Givenchy Haute Couture wedding gown designed by her close friend, Riccardo Tisci. The stunning gown was a white lace with sheer paneling cut outs and long lace sleeves. Kanye and their 13 month old daughter, North, also wore Givenchy designed by Ricardo.
Alhough the couple was turned down to marry at Versailles (celebrities are not considered distinguished enough for an official ceremony and celebration there), they hosted an extravagant rehearsal dinner in the Hall of Mirrors. They surprised their guests with a private tour of the palace – just a mere 600 of them. The next day, 200 of the couple’s closest friends and family were flown on chartered planes to Florence to partake in the more “intimate” festivities.
What was perhaps one of the more memorable moments of the evening was a surprise performance by Lana Del Ray. She performed three songs including Young and Beautiful – the same song that Kanye casted a 50-piece orchestra to play while he proposed to Kim on her 33rd birthday. Below, Kim is posed with Lana wearing her jaw dropping dress for the occasion designed by Maison Margiela.
Last but not least- the engagement ring. Oh my gosh. This ring was designed by Lorraine Schwartz who described the 15-karat rock as a “perfect cushion-cut diamond”. This flawless diamond looks like it if floating on air the way it is set in a pave band at a whopping $8 million dollars.
What girl only has one engagement ring? Three years later in 2016, Kanye upgraded his wife’s ring to a 20-karat emerald cut one, reportedly worth $5 million from the same designer. Sadly, the 2nd ring was stolen later the same year from their Paris hotel room.
Read the full story on both of these rings in this post, COMPLETE HISTORY OF KIM KARDASHIAN’S ENGAGEMENT RING.
