The most expensive wedding dresses ever made are two $15 million diamond gowns by Egyptian couturier Hany El-Behairy, shown in Cairo in 2019 and at the Louvre in Paris in 2026. Before the first of them, the record belonged to a $12 million diamond gown from 2006. Below are 13 of the costliest wedding dresses on record, ranked by reported cost in US dollars.
Most of the price comes from three things: precious stones, hand embroidery and the hours a couture atelier spends on one gown. The royal and celebrity dresses further down cost far less than the record holders, but their designs are far better known. If a dress like these is the starting point for your day, Wedded Concierge plans the celebration around it.
Designer: Hany El-Behairy
Shown: Paris, 2026, and Cairo, December 2019
Reported value: $15 million
El-Behairy unveiled his latest diamond gown at the Oriental Fashion Show at the Louvre during Paris Fashion Week in 2026. He says it took 800 hours to make, and that he is the first Egyptian designer to show there.
It is his second gown at that price. In December 2019 he closed his annual Cairo show with a $15 million gown covered in hundreds of small diamonds and gemstones, worn on the runway by Egyptian actress Mai Omar. That gown took the title from the $12 million gown below. Both were showpieces rather than dresses made for a bride.
Designers: Renee Strauss with jeweller Martin Katz
Made: 2006
Reported value: $12 million
A bridal couturier and a jeweller worked together on this gown, which carries 150 carats of diamonds. For 13 years it was the most expensive wedding dress in the world. Like the gown above, it was created as a display piece, not for a particular wedding.
Designer: Yumi Katsura
Reported value: one billion yen, about $8.5 million
Japanese designer Yumi Katsura made this gown from silk satin embellished with zari embroidery. It is decorated with 1,000 pearls, a green 8.8-carat diamond emblem and a 5-carat white gold diamond. Her bridal designs draw on Japanese culture.
Katsura's own account shows her heritage collection, gowns woven from Saga-nishiki brocade made with pure gold leaf.
Designer: Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen
Year: 2017
Reported cost: $3.5 million for the whole outfit and her jewellery
Serena Williams married Alexis Ohanian in a full ball gown with a strapless sweetheart neckline and a cape that billowed behind her. The $3.5 million figure covers the complete look, including her jewellery, so the dress alone cost less. Even so, it tops Flowercard's ranking of celebrity wedding dresses.
Designer: Michael Cinco
Year: 2017
Reported cost: $1 million
The Swarovski heiress married in Trieste, Italy, in a gown covered in crystals, paillettes and laser-cut flowers. Cinco gave it a 6-metre train, and the crystals were supplied by Swarovski.
Designer: Riccardo Tisci for Givenchy
Year: 2014
Reported cost: $500,000
Kim Kardashian married in Italy in a custom Givenchy haute couture gown in fitted lace with long sleeves and a long veil. She later wrote that the veil was nearly left behind because she was rushed down the aisle once Andrea Bocelli started singing.
Designer: Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen
Year: 2011
Reported cost: $434,000
Catherine, now Princess of Wales, married Prince William in a V-neck gown with a fitted waist, made from hand-cut English and Chantilly lace. Fifty-eight buttons covered in gazar silk ran down the back.
Photo: Magnus D, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Designer: Dior
Year: 2018
Reported cost: $420,000
Chiara Ferragni married Fedez in Italy in custom Dior haute couture. For the evening she changed into a second Dior dress embroidered with the song Fedez wrote for his proposal and the couple's own symbols. We covered her Prada and Dior looks from the weekend in our story on her Italian wedding.
Designer: Oscar de la Renta
Year: 2014
Reported cost: $380,000
Amal Clooney chose Oscar de la Renta for her 2014 wedding to George Clooney. Adjusted for inflation, Flowercard puts the gown at more than $417,000 in today's money.
Designer: Valentino
Year: 1995
Reported cost: $225,000
Marie-Chantal Miller wore Valentino to marry Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece in 1995. Adjusted for inflation, Flowercard puts the gown at more than $380,000 in today's money.
Designers: David and Elizabeth Emanuel
Year: 1981
Reported cost: $115,000
Diana married Prince Charles at St Paul's Cathedral in an ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown with a 25-foot train and a 153-yard tulle veil. It was decorated with hand embroidery, sequins and 10,000 pearls. Figures for its cost vary: other records put its value at £9,000 in 1981.
Photo: United Press International, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Designer: Helen Rose
Year: 1956
Reported cost: $60,000, about $573,000 adjusted for inflation
Hollywood costume designer Helen Rose made the high-neck, long-sleeve gown Grace Kelly wore to marry Prince Rainier III of Monaco. It featured thousands of hand-sewn pearls and 125-year-old lace from Brussels. Adjusted for inflation, it is worth more than Kim Kardashian's, Catherine's or Chiara Ferragni's gowns on the same measure.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Year: 1954
Reported cost: $23,000
Audrey Hepburn married actor Mel Ferrer in September 1954 in a small chapel at Bürgenstock, Switzerland. She wore a tea-length dress with a high neck and puffed sleeves, with a crown of flowers instead of a veil. It is the lowest price on this list.
Photo: Comet Photo AG (Zürich), ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Three of the weddings on this list, Kim Kardashian's, Chiara Ferragni's and Victoria Swarovski's, took place in Italy. If you are planning a wedding there, see our guide to weddings in Italy, or let Wedded Concierge plan the venue, the stylists and every supplier around your gown.
Written by
Senior SEO Specialist, Wedded Wonderland
Mark Tuason is the Senior SEO Specialist at Wedded Wonderland, where he writes and refreshes the brand's guides to destination weddings and cultural wedding traditions. He starts with the questions couples search for, checks the answers against trusted sources, and shapes each guide to help them plan, compare and book with confidence. Based in the Philippines, he specialises in content strategy and on-page SEO.
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