Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel’s wedding: $8.7 million. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West’s lavish nuptials: $16 million. Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s special day: $142.
Yes, one hundred and forty-two bucks. For an entire wedding – celebrity wedding, mind you.
This week, Kristen Bell became every past and present bride’s hero when she shared the details of her October 2013 wedding to Dax Shepard in a TV interview with CBS Sunday Morning.
No, the couple didn’t hire out some village in Lake Como, they did things simply.
Image: CBS Sunday Morning screenshot.
"We got married in a tiny room in the Beverly Hills courthouse and it was still one of the best days of my life,” the mother to Lincoln, three, and Delta, one explained.
Of course it was, because Bell married the person she loved, and she didn’t have to remortgage the house while she was at it.
"We wanted the lowest-key day possible," Bell told Jay Leno in a 2013 interview.
If you’re getting married in the near future and would prefer to spend your money on a European holiday, a Shetland pony or a house deposit over providing food and beverages for 250 of your closest family, friends and acquaintances you don’t remember the names of, let Bell be your spirit animal. (Post continues after gallery.)
As someone who got married last year and managed to get total costs under the national average of $36,200, I thought I was savvy. Cute.
The exact moment the 36 year old proved conclusively that she’s Chief Executive Officer of Anti-Brides ‘R’ Us?
When she shared a ‘just married’ photo of she and Shepard and she’s… drum roll, please… wearing all black everything.
Image: Screenshot CBS Sunday Morning.
In fact, she’s wearing black slacks, a black T-shirt and a gorgeous silver statement necklace.
Not a half-a-million-dollar Givenchy dress a la Kim Kardashian. No 20-metre train. No jewel-encrusted tiara. She wore something you’d wear to a nice lunch out with friends.
Image: CBS Sunday Morning screenshot.
There was no bouquet either - just a single pink rose. That sound you can hear right now is me fist pumping.
“We get more than enough attention in our everyday lives. I also wear more than enough party dresses,” she told Jay Leno of her choice to shun a white gown.
The whole two-person affair was capped off with a simple meal.
"We got sandwiches and called it a day. We called that our wedding brunch," Bell explained.
Sandwiches, is there anything more low-key or delicious? Speaking to Jimmy Fallon in 2013, Shepard said friends of his called their nuptials “the world’s worst wedding”.
Watch: Kristen Bell opened up about Shepard's battle with addiction. Post continues after video.
"Friends of ours came to the courthouse, and it was just Kristen and I… so they brought us this cake afterwards," he said.
Pffft, Shepard’s friends need to see the light.
Brides and brides to be, it’s worth noting that the cost of your wedding - whether you spend $142,000 or $142 - has absolutely no bearing on how magical your day is.
And if doing it cheaply means you get to wear pants, I’m all for it.
Did you have an expensive wedding?