The Beatles chanted, "Can't Buy Me Love," and Marilyn Monroe sang "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend."
You can't buy love with money, but you can buy a wedding. And at a very high price⋯.
Lately, American top pop star Taylor Swift's wedding has been a huge topic. The husband is football star Travis Kelce. On Jul. 3 (local time hereafter), they rented out Madison Square Garden, a New York landmark, in its entirety. Before getting to the point, note first that the trash collected around the venue right after the event sold for $1,250 (about 1.92 million won). It included cigarette butts, water bottle caps, and candy wrappers, and of course it was sold as souvenirs.
If the trash went for that much, how much was the main event. The budget spent on the wedding was reportedly $50 million (about 7.68 billion won). The interior was decorated with a garden theme. As the home court of the New York Knicks and a concert hall, this place literally became a wedding "garden" for a day.
Concrete barriers set up around the venue in case of terror attacks
The guest list of about 1,000 people was dazzling. Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Ed Sheeran, Sabrina Carpenter, Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, and more.
It is a list that would make any film casting director drool. Oh, and Paul McCartney of the Beatles handled the celebratory song. At the reception, he personally sang the Beatles hit "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The officiant was actor Adam Sandler. As guest gifts, handkerchiefs embroidered with the lyrics of Swift's hit "Blank Space" were given out. At the moment the vows were made, the exterior LED board of the Garden displayed the message "JUST & T MARRIED (Taylor & Travis) just married." Hundreds of fans waiting outside cheered. It was reminiscent enough of the Vatican's conclave.
The day before the wedding, they also held a rehearsal dinner. The daily rental fee alone was $1 million (about 1.53 billion won), and they rented it for a total of three days. Given that Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Billy Joel held historic concerts there, one nods at the venue expense.
Swift's OOTD (outfit of the day) also drew attention. The wedding dress was Dior, and she wore jewelry and shoes from Cartier and Christian Louboutin, respectively. The guest giveaways were lottery-level. From a 1970 vintage Chevrolet the couple rode on their first date to pricey Chanel bags⋯.
New York City police also went on high alert. To prepare for a vehicle-ramming attack, concrete barriers were installed around Madison Square Garden and hundreds of officers surrounded the area. It was security on par with the NBA Finals. It is natural that some criticized the excessive security and traffic control as privatizing New York.
Elvis Presley, an "ultrafast wedding" in 8 minutes at a hotel
There have been several "weddings of the century" in pop music. Going back half a century brings us to the 1967 wedding of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu. Held at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, the ceremony is also famous for being an ultrafast event completed in just eight minutes. It appears in the 2022 film "Elvis" and the 2023 film "Priscilla." Providing a six-tier wedding cake and dishes like suckling pig and oysters to some 100 guests was estimated at about $10,000 (about 15.3 million won) in the money of the time, and it is known that almost all the expense was covered by the hotel in a bid for publicity. Yet the impact of this mini wedding, shorter than the full track length of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," was immense.
This wedding changed Las Vegas's image. It emerged as the most romantic holy ground for weddings. The annual economic effect of the Las Vegas wedding industry is estimated to reach $2 billion (about 3 trillion won). A few years ago, I visited the "Elvis Honeymoon House" in Palm Springs, California. A significant number of music fans heading to the Coachella Festival in nearby Coachella Valley make a "pilgrimage" here. The house where they stayed for a very short honeymoon became a music landmark even though it is not in Las Vegas. Palm Springs' street of lavish villas has likewise become a hot travel destination.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z's wedding rings alone cost 7.7 billion won
Something big also happened in Canada in 1994. It was the wedding of pop star Celine Dion and her manager René Angélil. The wedding expense was estimated at $500,000 (about 767.6 million won) in the money of the time. It was held at Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. It was broadcast live on TV. The congratulatory money is not the point. For pop stars, buzz and events turn into long-term revenue. Riding the buzz of this mega event, Dion's album the following year, "D'eux (About Them)," became the best-selling French-language record in history.
In 2008, there was the wedding of singer Beyoncé and rapper Jay-Z. The price of the wedding rings alone, set with an 18-carat diamond, was $5 million (about 7.676 billion won). This couple of the century, akin to Barack Obama and Michelle Obama in the music world, held two joint stadium-scale tours, "On the Run," in 2014 and 2018, grossing $363.7 million (about 558.4 billion won) in ticket sales. The couple's combined asset value is estimated to exceed 5 trillion won.
A pop star's wedding does not end with a sweet lifelong vow. It can generate synergy or market effects comparable to corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A). It can transform a city's brand and even create new industrial structures. The tendency to imitate stars can change wedding culture itself. This is why the world's music industry, and the broader popular culture field, are watching Taylor Swift's wedding as closely as the NBA Finals and the World Cup group stage and knockout rounds.