Tying the Knot Where the Rich and Famous Do

When my husband proposed to me back in October 1993, we agreed on a winter wedding. If we had chosen February 1995, it would have given us ample time to plan. Instead we decided on Feb. 18, 1994. In a panic, I realized I had little more than three months to orchestrate the biggest day of my life. But the one detail that needed little discussion was the location. Because we had enjoyed many weekend jaunts to Santa Barbara during our courtship, it was simply understood that this would be the backdrop for our wedding.

The very next day, we sped up the coast, found a bed-and-breakfast to rest at for the next couple of days and set out to find the perfect wedding location. Our search led us to some of the most breathtaking spots we had ever seen, as well as to some of the most famous wedding and honeymoon sites imaginable.

During our brief quest, we discovered that the San Ysidro Ranch, a charming hideaway once owned by actor Ronald Colman, had not only been the location of Vivien Leigh’s marriage to Laurence Olivier, but also the site of John and Jackie Kennedy’s 1953 honeymoon.

Down the road, at the Four Seasons Biltmore, we found out that was where Heather Locklear had exchanged vows with first husband Tommy Lee. And just a few miles away, at the Alisal Guest Ranch, we stood at the site where Clark Gable had vowed to love, honor and cherish his fourth wife, Lady Sylvia Ashley.

While I didn’t want to seem caught up in the moment, I must confess that these famous newlyweds and honeymooners seemed to lend credibility to the establishments and, although I hate to admit it, perhaps even swayed our decision. After all, if the Four Seasons Biltmore was good enough for a screen vixen and her tattooed husband, wasn’t it good enough for us?

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The name-dropping didn’t end when we said our “I do’s.” In fact, it continued throughout our honeymoon. We slumbered at the Highlands Inn in Carmel, where Madonna and Sean Penn spent their first days as Mr. and Mrs. back in 1985. We then went on to rendezvous at the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa near Napa, where newlyweds Geena Davis and Renny Harlin had been just a few months earlier. After returning home from our honeymoon, in what can only be described as an ironic twist of fate, I began work as the public relations manager for the Queen Mary Hotel and attraction in Long Beach. Yes, the very same Queen Mary where Elizabeth Taylor and first-husband Nicky Hilton had honeymooned in 1950, when the ship sailed the North Atlantic.

Surely I wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the haunts of celebrity romantics. I began to scour bookstores in search of such reading material and, finding none, decided to write my own book on famous weddings and honeymoons.

It was an idea I had conceived spontaneously, but it took another 2 1/2 years for me finally to deliver the 245-page “Celebrity Weddings and Honeymoon Getaways” (Open Road Publishing, 1998).

To make it into my collection, an establishment had to qualify in three ways. It had to have been the site of at least one celebrity wedding or honeymoon; the owner must be able to provide a guest register of famous names; and the place must have overnight accommodations available to noncelebs. (Christie Brinkley’s New York estate was a magnificent location for her wedding, but it’s unlikely she’d be willing to open up her home to the rest of us.)

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My research took me to some extraordinary hotels, bed-and-breakfasts, ranches and inns. Along the way, I discovered that the rich and famous really aren’t so different from you and me. Whether the bride is Bonnie Raitt, Brooke Shields, Celine Dion or your second cousin from Idaho, they all dream of the fairy-tale wedding complete with steepled church and white gown. And, while the cost of some of these high-profile nuptials could rival the national debt, I discovered firsthand that the location of choice can be surprisingly affordable.

For example, the Ramada Valley Ho Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz., where a young Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner celebrated their first wedding in 1957 (the two divorced and eventually remarried), provides couples hosting a reception there a complimentary deluxe suite for both their wedding night and first anniversary.

I found that honeymooning Hollywood-style can also be remarkably affordable. The Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa in Phoenix, whose guest register reads like a Hollywood Who’s Who with such blockbuster names as Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, offers rooms starting at $130 a night. It’s even less expensive during the hot summer months. The Rosarito Beach Hotel in Baja, Calif., once a favorite escape for Marilyn Monroe and now a popular getaway for contemporary stars such as Leonardo DiCaprio, has nightly rates as low as $69.

There are other ways to save money at celebrity hot spots. When possible, avoid peak season and holiday weekends such as Memorial Day and Labor Day, when rates tend to be at their highest. If visiting a city that caters to a business clientele, reserve a room on the weekend when occupancy--and rates--tend to be lower. And don’t keep the good news to yourself. Let everyone know you’re honeymooning! You’d be surprised at the number of complimentary bottles of champagne and amenities that come your way.

But the most important thing to remember when planning a wedding or honeymoon is this: It shouldn’t matter whether you’re a Kennedy from Brookline, Mass., or working folks from Burbank; every newlywed, famous or not, deserves the star treatment.