Now that gay marriage has been legalized in California, Ellen Degeneres and longtime girlfriend Portia de Rossi are planning to wed -- and likely in a major, major way.
An insider tells Page Six they plan to hold the nuptials at the Riviera Resort and Spa in Palm Springs. "They didn't sign the contract yet, but they're working out final details and security," said the source.
"The hotel is doing $70 million in renovations that will be done in October. They said they wanted to have the ceremony in the tropical gardens by the pool and the reception in the grand ballroom. They will also close a significant portion of the hotel, so it looks big."
And they mean big: the function space in the hotel, upon its Fall 2008 reopening, is second only in size to the Palm Springs convention center and can accommodate events with guest lists up to 1,000.
We love us some Ellen, so we're happy to hear this thing will be huge and we certainly hope our invitations don't get lost in the mail.
There are some unusual ways to get married, and the Hilton Petaling Jaya in Malaysia is definitely offering to help you out with one of them: the ol' underwater wedding. Yep, they have a special Underwater Wedding Package for the apparently big enough market of people who want to get married, underwater, in Malaysia.
The first catch is that you have to invite at least 60 guests, but only 8 of them can be underwater including the bride and groom.
Giants quarterback Eli Manning finally got hitched to his longtime girlfriend Abby McGrew over the weekend at the celebrity fave resort, the One & Only Palmilla resort in Mexico. The Daily News reports:
Manning, 27, and McGrew, 24, exchanged vows while standing on a platform in the sand as waves crashed over rocks behind them....
Guests were ferried to the beach in golf carts and were served white wine, Veuve Cliquot champagne and sparkling water by white tuxedoed waiters as they filed into white folding chairs decorated with gold ribbons.
Although it sounds expensive, some guests estimated the whole shebang only cost around $500,000 which is a lot of money in normal-people-land but not for celebs. See? Even celebrities save money in Mexico.
The newlyweds made good use of their stay at the resort aside from getting married there. Eli hit the gym the morning of the wedding and partied in the pool up until two hours before the ceremony. The couple held their rehearsal dinner in the resort's old Spanish Mission Chapel and plan on honeymooning there for the rest of the week.
Send all fan mail to Eli courtesy of the One&Only Palmilla!
This Flickr shot from en.en of the wedding chapel at the Conrad Bali has us wishing we could go to the chapel all over again. En.en writes:
Weddings are usually held here, small party, 60 guests top, but you can have reception outside in the open. this is an amazing chapel. i would love to get married here one day...
Well technically we can't get married again (right now, heh) but we can check into the place which has rooms for only $170 a night in April. Now, we gotta work on getting over there.
In other news: · Marriott gets geeky video-conferencing tools [Baltimore Sun] · Travelodge UK will open 44 new hotels in Britain this year. Expect more wacky promotions and amenities from the eccentric brand. [Reuters] · Similarly, Best Western wants to dominate Japan [Hotel News Resource] · Even Mickey Mouse gets in on the eco-trend as DoubleTree Suites in Orlando goes green [Orlando Sentinel]
We're getting the hang of green travel, and even green honeymoons, so where does our attention turn now: of course, it's green weddings. And just as we started to think about it, the Seaport Hotel in Boston has put out a Green Wedding package to make sure that tying the knot can be done in an environmentally sensitive way.
The Seaport boasts that you can show your commitment to your partner as well as your commitment to the environment if you take up their package. The menu will focus on local and organic ingredients, and your wedding cake will be organic too. Oh, and the menu itself will be edible, written on chocolate! Decorations will take the form of soy-based votive candles, potted plants, orchids and silk trees.
Very importantly, all leftovers will be recycled using the Seaport's "BioX Decomposing System", which certainly sounds impressive (it uses micro-organisms to crunch things up nicely). And finally, the package will include a contribution to offset your carbon emissions from electricity used during your wedding, paid to the New England Wind Fund.
Of course, the Seaport would also expect you to stay the night, and since their interest in being green extends to their main accommodation too, it keeps your green wedding theme going. Plus they have complimentary WiFi if you feel the need to hop online after the stress of the wedding is over.
Sometimes billionaire nerds are the worst hotel wedding crashers. This Saturday, Google co-founder Larry Page will tie the know with his fiancee on Necker Island, the private Caribbean island owned by Virgin's Richard Branson.
Necker Island is pretty extravagant place that can house 26 of your closest friends. But Page obviously has more than 26 "friends" so he has rented the nearby island of Virgin Gorda for his wedding guests, including the entire Little Dix Bay Resort:
No one except Page's guests is staying at Little Dix Bay resort on Virgin Gorda "so that Page's wedding could be completely private," said an insider. "They rented all of Virgin Gorda. They took over the island."
The source also said "boats and ferries for hundreds of guests were ordered to ship them from Little Dix Bay to the ceremony."
Page is also flying guests in from all over the world on private planes. Expected to be in attendance are Bono, and other millionaires and billionaires.
Yes, the Hotel Nikko in San Francisco is looking for still-married couples from the 80s but there is a catch. As a way to celebrate its 20th anniversary, the hotel is looking for couples that either got married, held their reception or honeymooned at the hotel 20 years ago (Oct. 1987-1988) during its first year open. Essentially, it's a way to celebrate the hotel's anniversary as well as the couple's.
The couple wins airfare for two, six nights in the honeymoon suite, breakfast everyday at the hotel, dinner at ANZU (the hotel's fantastic Japanese fusion restaurant) and champagne.
Couples who celebrated the newlywed bliss at the hotel from October 1, 1987 to September 30, 1988 must enter the contest no later than 5pm on September 25th. (All the rules can be found here.)
Today is the anniversary of the death of Elvis. If you had in mind a quickie Elvis-themed wedding we suggest avoiding the deadly heat wave now going on in Memphis and heading to the air-conditioned Graceland Wedding Chapel instead, at what used to be the Aladdin Hotel.
The original Aladdin Hotel where Elvis married Priscilla only lives on in old photos and it has been replaced by a typical brash behemoth based on Planet Hollywood. (Fat Elvis would have loved it.) Even the name of the hotel has changed from Aladdin to "Planet Hollywood." The hotel that supposedly gives you the best buffet in town has an Elvis wedding package that also goes for a big spread. For $875, an Elvis minister performs the ceremony, (another?) Elvis performs six songs during the ceremony, you get a photo package with prints, and flowers for the bride and groom are sure to be extra-tacky. You're on your own for the consummation room though.
This isn't the only place offering Elvis wedding packages though. At any number of chapels, an Elvis impersonator will walk you down the aisle, then afterward you can go go next door and gamble away your honeymoon money. Isn't Vegas grand?
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by Jenna
