There’s something irresistible about a celebrity wedding. The dress. The guest list. The venue. The rumours about the cost. And, of course, those first official photos.
But our latest Question of the Day polls reveal a funny contradiction: we love watching celebrity couples go big, but when it’s our turn, most of us would rather keep things simple. So, what does that say about modern romance?
First things first: show us the dress
When we asked which part of a celebrity wedding they secretly care about most; 4,856 respondents choose the wedding dress first (23.5%).
And it’s easy to see why. A celebrity wedding dress can become almost as talked about as the wedding itself. Who designed it? What does it look like? And inevitably: Was it worth the hype?
Taylor Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce and Dua Lipa’s celebrations with Callum Turner are perfect examples of how much attention celebrity bridal fashion can attract. Swift’s Christian Dior Haute Couture gown and Lipa’s succession of custom designer looks, including Chanel and Schiaparelli, turned what they wore into part of the excitement.
That’s the celebrity-wedding effect: we’re not just curious about who they married. We want to see what they wore while doing it.
We want the celebrity wedding, just not the celebrity bill
If you were planning your own wedding tomorrow, where would your money go? 8,375 Ipsos iSay members and visitors answered, and the overwhelming winner was: nowhere extravagant. A huge 53.1% said they would keep their wedding as simple as possible.
Food and drinks came in a distant second at 20.7%, followed by the venue at 12.8%. Wedding outfits? Just 4.2%.
So while we might happily zoom in on a celebrity bride’s couture gown, most of us aren’t necessarily dreaming of spending our own wedding budget on one.
And that’s where celebrity weddings really are in a league of their own. Dua Lipa’s celebrations with Callum Turner featured multiple custom designer looks, while Taylor Swift’s wedding to Travis Kelce had the kind of scale and star power most couples could only dream of.
We want to look. We just don’t necessarily want to pay.
The wedding trend everyone is tired of
If there’s one thing our respondents would happily leave at the altar, it’s overspending.
Of over 7,500 respondents who told us which wedding trend they hope disappears first, 34.1% chose “spending too much money”.
Other answers point in a similar direction: 19% are tired of sharing every detail on social media, 17.9% want people to stop following trends instead of their own taste, and 15.4% are done with the pressure to make everything perfect.
It’s also worth looking at this in the wider financial picture. People are already thinking carefully about what they have left to spend.
Ipsos’ latest Cost of Living Monitor found that 31% of people across 30 countries expect their disposable income (what remains after paying living expenses) to fall over the next year, up from 29% in the previous wave. The outlook is particularly cautious in North America, with 36% of Americans and 37% of Canadians expecting their disposable income to fall, while several European markets are even higher, including 44% in France and 40% in Great Britain.
Maybe the dream isn’t a Pinterest-perfect day that costs a fortune. Maybe it’s simply a really good day.
More “just us”, less “look at us”
There’s another interesting idea hiding in the results. Weddings can feel like performances as much as celebrations these days. Hashtags, content creators, elaborate entrances, drone footage, statement venues, and plenty of ways can turn a private moment into public content.
But our respondents seem to be questioning some of that pressure to make everything perfect and shareable. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s decision to keep phones out of their wedding is an interesting example. For one of the world’s most photographed couples, choosing to make the celebration less photographable sends a pretty powerful message: sometimes being present is more valuable than having proof you were there.
So, what do we actually want?
The answer seems to be something that feels like us.
We’re fascinated by celebrity guest lists too: 20.8% of respondents ranked the guest list as the second most interesting part of a celebrity wedding, just behind the top choice. But that doesn’t mean we’re looking to recreate the spectacle ourselves.
Maybe that’s the real shift in modern romance: we still want magic, but we want to choose what that magic looks like.
We’ll keep watching celebrity weddings for the dresses, the famous guests and the fantasy. But when it comes to our own happily ever after, maybe the best wedding isn’t the one everyone talks about. It’s the one that feels like you.
What’s your take? Share your opinion in our Question of the Day and take part in surveys on Ipsos iSay to make your voice heard on the topics that matter to you.
*These results represent Ipsos iSay web visitors across North America and Europe, conducted August 13–28, 2026, and may not reflect the views of the general population.
*Source: Ipsos Cost of Living Monitor 2025. Survey conducted between 22 August and 5 September 2025 in 30 countries, with a total sample of 23,772 adults under the age of 75.
