As an outdoor wedding reception planner for the rich and famous, I have pretty much seen it all. I have planned outdoor weddings in almost any location you could think of. I have planned garden weddings, of course, and done them in great numbers. When a lot of people think of the stars, they picture the extravagant headlines of tabloids, but the reality is often much more banal. Usually, the rich want private outdoor weddings, free from the scrutiny of the press and the paparazzi. A garden wedding is just the thing.
Of course, these outdoor weddings aren't your typical garden parties. When most people think of a garden party, the picture a humble event, held in the backyard around the old picnic table. Maybe if you have a little bit of money, you will buy new tables and have some landscaping done, but nothing extravagant.
The weddings I have plans, however, have gone beyond anything that most people can imagine. People with the most extravagant, elaborate gardens will tear them down completely and have them completely redone in order to have the wedding of their dreams. They will not hire normal landscapers, but rather famous architects, people who specialize in harmonizing an environment with the surrounding buildings. Rather than hiring a single wedding photographer, they will often hire entire film crews, occasionally calling in favors from producers, directors, or cinematographers that they know. Although most of these stars are divorced within the next year or so, the sky is still the limit when it comes to wedding planning.
Of course, when people ask me about the outdoor weddings I have planned for famous people, they don't want to hear about garden parties. They want to hear about the truly bizarre. I have seen them as bizarre as they come. One celebrity who will remain nameless had a certain fascination with the desert. He had me design one of the most ambitious and difficult weddings parties I have ever had to pull off. It was in the middle of the Sahara Desert, completely surrounded by miles and miles of nothing. I basically had to design and build a virtual oasis, symbolic – at least in his mind – of the oasis of his love. Needless to say, like many of the more extravagant outdoor weddings, this one did not mark a lifelong commitment. They were divorced six or eight months, later if my memory serves me correctly.
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