Salma Hayek has denied reports that she’s planning a multi-million follow-up wedding to her Valentine’s Day civil ceremony with billionaire French businessman François-Henri Pinault. Hayek told People that lavish weddings aren’t her style and called it “ridiculous” to spend millions on a wedding celebration:
“I think a wedding is about love, friends, family and fun,” Hayek, 42, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I think spending millions of dollars on a wedding is ridiculous and it has never been my dream. I would never do that.”
The actress-producer and Pinault, 46, the CEO of luxury-goods company PPR welcomed daughter Valentina Paloma in September 2007.
[From People]
Earlier this month, Hayek’s husband was trapped in his car for about an hour by employees protesting 1,2000 job cuts at his firm. He was saved by police who dispersed the protesters, allowing him to leave. Pinault is the CEO of the firm that owns Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. The recession could be part of the reason why Hayek is so adamant about not having a showy wedding despite her husband’s massive wealth along with her no doubt considerable fortune.
I had a small wedding in order to save money. The lavish weddings on the scale I’ve witnessed, which would have run in the tens of thousands as opposed to millions, weren’t for me or my husband. It’s up to the bride and groom, though, and I’ve really enjoyed myself at some big weddings of friends and family. I wonder whose weddings Hayek was indirectly calling ridiculous. The first bride who comes to mind is Eva Longoria Parker with her Paris wedding and all the trappings in 2007, which People estimated ran about $1.5 million.
According to AOL, the average cost of a wedding in the US is $26,800. They also have a feature on the most expensive celebrity weddings, which includes Liza Minnelli and David Gest’s $3.5 million wedding, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills’ $3 million nuptials, TomKat’s $2 million Italian affair, Christina Aguilera’s $2 million wedding, and Donald Trump and Melania Knauss $1 million NY wedding. Interesting that only a third of these couples are still together, which makes you wonder how long the rest of them will last. I’ve heard some people claim that there’s an inverse relationship between the cost of the wedding and the length of the relationship, but it seems like the people who splurge on their weddings have a 50/50 chance like everyone else.
Salma and François-Henri Pinault are shown outside Stella McCartney’s fashion show in Paris on 3/9/09. Credit: ANG/Fame Pictures
It is pretty sad and ironic that someone would spend $3 million on one day of their life, only to split up four years later.
^^^… and spend the rest of his money on divorce.
I hate to generalize, but it seems like the people that are so concerned with having the biggest and most expensive wedding are getting married for the wrong reasons.
I can’t say if that I had Salma’s $$$ I wouldn’t splurge, because obviously she can afford it, but a civil ceremony for the marriage and a kick-ass party with my friends would be more my style. I’ve never understood the excess associated with weddings or why people are willing to bankrupt themselves for it.
my cousin had a huge, glamorous wedding, costing prob over a mil or so. and while it was fun and all to attend, i think if i ever get married, i’m going for a simple ceremony on the beach or a small intimate family affair. it’s always fun to attend huge weddings, but i don’t think it’s as fun if it’s your own – that’s my opinion though. oh and btw, my cousin and her husband split up in less than a year…
She doesn’t really seem the ostentatious type, current financial crisis aside, doubt it has anything to do with that. More to do with her having a proper perspective on the things that really matter.
The thing about the wedding is, it’s just a day. Every day after that is more important because that’s when you live the promise, not just make it. My husband and I opted for a cheap wedding, saying that our 25th anniversary will be the big party. THAT’s something to celebrate.
I never bought into the “it’s the best day of your life” mentality. I freaking hope not. I hope there’s lots of days that are better. In fact the VERY best day of my life was the day I found out my mother’s cancer was gone. It reared it’s ugly head again 5 years later and took her, but that one day was amazing. My wedding was fun, but no comparison.
So off topic: I heart her coat.
And Wif: sorry to hear about your mother. It certainly does put the “my dream day” thinking into perspective
Easy for her to say when her husband is a billionaire.
She’s allright but I think she’s a lousy actress.
My husband and I eloped. We spent $50 for a pastor to meet us up in the foothills of the Rockies to marry us. That was 25 years ago and we are still going…
You don’t need an expensive wedding to have a good marriage. No, I didn’t have the chance to wear an awesome wedding dress, but I am still married.
Salma keeps it real! The both seem down to earth, despite the wealth. Wif, I agree with the whole “my day” and fairy tale crap.
Gistine
Rent Frida and tell me she’s a lousy actress. She’s a good commedic actress too, just not the best role for her on 30 Rock. As a black woman, I enjoy seeing people of color on the small and big screen, accents and all!
Just my opinion.
Gistine, that makes no sense. She does have a zillion bucks. She’s STILL not going to spend it all on a flipping wedding.
And I am just as appalled at the people who are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, who allow their parents to go into debt for a $50k wedding, when, if they really thought about it wisely, that money really should not be a debt, and if they had that much sitting around, should have been a downpayment on a home, and not a staggering debt to pound-foolish parents. I don’t buy the ‘most important day of my life so let’s just waste lots of cash’ thing. It’s only a day, and it’s material excess to blow that much money on a wedding.
I had an extremely lowcost wedding and it was still the best wedding I’ve ever been to. My nieces and nephews sang Elvis’ “I Can’t Stop Falling in Love With You”. We all cried.
Anyway, I love her and the reason why is her incredible work in Frida. Onscreen and behind the whole project. She is amazing and I love her accent.
My husband and I got married in a very quiet part of Maui at a beautiful home. No family, no friends, no frills, no stress. We spent less than $5K.
Best day of my life!
Good for her! She know’s what’s important in life.
BTW…Not a good actress? Did anyone see “Frida”? She was incredible!
If you’ve got the money why not spend it on bringing your girlish fantasies of a monster wedding to life? If it’s not for her that’s OK too, but she probably should remember that her husband’s wealth (as a luxury goods manufacturer) is entirely down to people wanting to “live the dream” and spend vast quantities of cash on things that, in reality, are worth very little!
Hello people? Relax! Its just an opinion! I got a movie for you to watch; Lonely Hearts, if you haven’t seen it. Dumb movie, awful performance.
And its easy for someone to talk heaps of crap about money when they have a surplus of it. Marrying a billionaire is not exactly a poor business move-prenup or not she will fare well if it doesn’t work out. So what if other people want to spend a boatload of money on their weddings. Its their choice. To me, its a flippant thing to say and quite hypocritical when you consider she is married to a LUXURY GOODS purveyor. If people want to spend millions of dollars on their weddings its their business. Why even bring it up?
I think its a waste of money to carry a $4,000 Balenciaga bag.
Simma down.
and yeah! @ cedar falls!
Yes, a celeb that makes sense occasionally!
I don’t believe in weddings, I think that they in no way change how strong a relationship is. But I get sick of all my friends doing this hideously expensive over the top crap all the time. Bridezillas should be shot.
But with celebs…the marriages don’t last long (usually) and it’s almost obscene to spend millions on a wedding in this economy and then get divorced anyway.
It’s very easy to criticise spending when you can speak from the high ground of having a lot of money yourself and a multi billionaire husband.
That said, it’s nice to see that not all these celebrities have got their priorities arse about face.
She’s not in love w/ the man.. but his wealth.. he’ll make a good baby daddy once she divorces him and her daughter is set for life. This is a very smart woman.. she’s setting the stage for her off-spring.. thus doesn’t care about a lavish wedding bc she knows in time it will be over soon.
The clues are there through her actions.. she’s broken up w/ him before.. was quick to have a baby w/ the man.. she conveniently picked a man who lives on another continent making it easy to use the excuse that distance/ seperate lives will be the eventual undoing of this relationship.
If you argue that she has her own money.. do you think its coincidence that she picked one of the richest chaps to have her baby.. its hardwired..
Cut out all the fluff to see the real bottom-line.. watch her actions guys.. ok had too much green tea this morning.. carry on. ^_^
Zoe, Garcon, speaking of lavish weddings, will you marry me?!
Hehehe.
Y’all are a trip!
A Balenciaga bag is forever baby!!!!!
Do your thing Salma!
I love Salma! I think she is a very level headed celebrity/producer. She let it be known that she didn’t necessarily need her billionaire boyfriend (at the time) when she called off or postponed her wedding and then opted to have a very quaint ceremony.
I also think she is one of the sexiest women out there……even sexier than Angelina Jolie…herself and i”m a huge fan of Angie’s too.
This woman is slowly melting my heart…first breastfeeding that baby and now about the wedding.
I don’t understand it either. Perhaps becuase I’m not a millionaire but that after that one day it’s gone!
My husband and I were planning a small wedding. It was going to cos 1,200 for the location which included a bunch of extra stuff for the wedding like waiters etc….
Even that was too much for us. We eloped and spent $75. It’s only been two years but I don’t buy into all that fairytale princess stuff. Marriage is hard sometimes but at the end of the day I love him.
I do agree about the Balenciaga bag thing. I find the markups on “luxury goods” hilarious.
Where the heck does AOL get their data? 26K for the “average” wedding??!! Who are these “average” people?
Always seems like the crazier the couple gets about planning the wedding, the less happy they end up.
She seems down to earth. She grew up wealthy and has her own money.
Miserable people will always find something to bitch about.
@trashaddict:
I heard a similar figure 2 years ago-the average cost of a wedding in rural TN (where I live) is $25,600. I was completely shocked-I worked in the wedding industry for 4 years and I thought I could get my wedding done for 1/2 the cost. My groom and I have bargain shopped EVERYTHING, and cut our guest list to bare bones, and we will still skim close to 25k. We are not doing a church wedding, which is the biggest cost for us (our venue is the Biltmore Estate-which was surprisingly affordable when compared to comparable venues), but we have price checked left and right-and I am making almost everything myself! We made our own menu cards, did most of the work on our invites, designed and made our programs, made our centerpieces, all our decorations…It’s getting impossible to have a wedding without being charged a fortune. If you were to just say “party,” quotes drop about 20%; for some reason, people believe that you will pay more on a wedding than any other event. Fortunately no one is going into debt for this affair, but still-It’s extremely easy to get into the 20k range without even realizing it until you sit down with the calculator. The photographer quotes START at $2500, and most are double that. Florists are another 4K-5K if you use them for centerpieces. And the list goes on and on…