23 Vintage Celebrity Wedding Photos That Are Seriously Iconic

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    Tom Vellner
    by Tom Vellner

    BuzzFeed Staff

    1. Mary Pickford, 1920

    General Photographic Agency / Getty Images

    Considered the first true movie star and known as "America's Sweetheart," Mary Pickford married fellow actor Douglas Fairbanks, whose wedding gift to her was an 18-acre estate with a cool 22 rooms and Beverly Hills’ first swimming pool.

    *adds to registry*

    2. Mickey Rooney and Ava Gardner, 1942

    Hulton Archive / Getty Images

    A 19-year-old actress-on-the-rise at the time, Gardner was the first of Rooney's eight marriages. Wearing a suit instead of a wedding gown was popular in the '40s, and TBH, Gardner's face does say, "I'm a trendsetter and I know it."

    3. Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli, 1945

    Keystone / Getty Images

    Garland and Minnelli's wedding took place in her mother's house in LA, and the head of MGM — the studio where she was signed — gave the couple a three-month honeymoon in New York as a present. Probably still cheaper than a KitchenAid mixer, amirite?

    4. Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, 1945

    Hulton Archive / Getty Images

    There were A Lot of famous weddings in Old Hollywood (was everyone just bored back then or?), but somehow these two lovebirds managed to stand out — their relationship is considered one of Hollywood's greatest love stories.

    5. John Wayne and Esperanza Baur, 1945

    Keystone / Getty Images

    Wayne and Baur may look happy here, ready to drive off into the sunset after their ceremony in Long Beach, California...but just a couple of years later, Baur drunkenly attempted to shoot him as he walked through the front door because she suspected him of cheating.

    6. Nat King Cole and Maria Hawkins Ellington, 1948

    Hulton Archives / Getty Images

    Ellington was the opening act for the Nat King Cole Trio one night at a club in Harlem, and once Cole glimpsed her singing from backstage, he was smitten. They got married just six days after his divorce to his first wife was finalized.

    7. Angela Lansbury and Peter Shaw, 1949

    Walter Bellamy / Getty Images

    Their smiles in this photo aren't fake, y'all — Lansbury and Shaw had what feels like a rare relationship in Hollywood, considering they stayed together for 54 years, until his death in 2003. She even said: "We had the perfect relationship. Not many people can say that."

    8. Elizabeth Taylor and Conrad Hilton, 1950

    Keystone / Getty Images

    Here's Taylor looking glam as hell on her wedding day with Paris Hilton's grandfather and hotel heir, Conrad, the first of her seven husbands. It's really a shame they couldn't have had "Stars Are Blind" for their first dance.

    9. Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra, 1951

    Hulton Archive / Getty Images

    They may have looked angelic on their wedding day, but this pair loved to make trouble, like when Sinatra's publicist had to bail them out of jail after a “drunken joyride” at 3 a.m., during which they blew out several storefront windows with their pistols. Young love, man.

    10. Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim, 1952

    RDA / Getty Images

    Digging the young actress' dress? She designed and selected the material for this hand-sewn piece herself.

    11. Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Wilding, 1952

    Fred Mott / Evening Standard / Getty Images

    For wedding number two, Taylor married Wilding, an actor 20 years her senior, at a low-key ceremony in a register office in London. Honestly, who needs a wedding dress when you could wear a flared suit??

    12. Jacqueline Bouvier and John F. Kennedy, 1953

    Lisa Larsen / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty Images

    Anne Lowe designed Jackie O's gorgeous ivory tissue silk wedding gown on her path to becoming the first internationally recognized African American fashion designer. Through pure talent and determination, Lowe made a name for herself and her pioneering designs in the Jim Crow-era United States.

    13. Audrey Hepburn and Mel Ferrer, 1954

    Ernst Haas / Getty Images

    This pair of actors got married in Switzerland while preparing to star alongside each other in War and Peace.

    14. Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco, 1956

    STF / AFP / Getty Images

    Grace Kelly called on MGM costume designer Helen Rose to create her iconic wedding gown, which has become one of the most influential in history — even inspiring Kate Middleton's dress.

    15. Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, 1956

    International Center of Photography / Getty Images

    Reynolds and Fisher were married for four years before he had an affair with Elizabeth Taylor, and became Taylor's fourth husband. But! Reynolds and Taylor later reconciled, and starred alongside each other in These Old Broads, a television movie written by Reynolds' daughter, Carrie Fisher.

    16. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, 1964

    William Lovelace / Evening Standard / Getty Images

    Even though their relationship, which began as an affair, was condemned by the Vatican, these two still got married in 1964, and then divorced in 1974. Then, they got remarried in 1975, and re-divorced in 1976. Did they do all of this just to annoy the Vatican? Who can say??

    17. Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra, 1966

    Keystone / Getty Images

    This pair's ceremony in Vegas apparently only lasted four minutes, and then they flew to Palm Springs for a swanky party with celebs like Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy and Dean Martin. If you're thinking Farrow looks a bit younger than Sinatra, you're right there with Martin, who famously commented, "Marry Mia Farrow? I've scotch older than her."

    18. George Harrison and Patti Boyd, 1966

    Jim Gray / Keystone / Getty Images

    Harrison was so taken with Boyd that he not only married her (for 11 years anyway), but also wrote the Beatles' songs "Something," "For You Blue," and "If I Needed Someone" for her.

    19. Priscilla Beaulieu and Elvis Presley, 1967

    Keystone / Getty Images

    This pair got married at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas during a ceremony that lasted only eight minutes — but don't worry, there was a breakfast reception after that cost $10,000, which, today, is the equivalent of around $75,000.

    20. John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1969

    Simpson / Express / Getty Images

    A little under three years after they met at a London gallery where Ono was preparing for an exhibition of her work, the pair got married in Gibraltar and, because their brand was strong as hell, immediately flew to Amsterdam to participate in an anti-war "bed-in" for peace instead of a honeymoon.

    21. Paul McCartney and Linda Eastman, 1969

    C. Maher / Getty Images

    Eastman married McCartney at a register office in London and, as most newlyweds do, formed a new band, Wings, with him after the Beatles broke up a couple of years later.

    22. Mick Jagger and Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, 1971

    Reg Lancaster / Daily Express / Hulton Archive / Getty Images

    Less than a year after this pair met at a Rolling Stones afterparty, they wed at city hall in St. Tropez, where they had totally normal wedding guests like screaming fans, hundreds of press photographers, and Paul and Ringo.

    23. Aretha Franklin and Glynn Turman, 1978

    Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images

    The Queen of Soul married Turman, an actor, at her father's church in Detroit, where she would ~say a little prayer for you~ (get it?).