Chrissy Teigen Reveals She Bought Five Wedding Dresses Before Marrying John Legend
Chrissy Teigen's wedding to John Legend was the stuff dreams are made of—on the surface, at least. The couple, who will soon be celebrating seven years of marriage, dealt with a lot of unplanned surprises (including a ceremony that was four hours delayed). But in typical Teigen and Legend fashion, they rolled with the punches and turned the negatives into positives, enjoying their destination wedding in Lake Como, Italy, to the fullest.
The pair, who initially met in 2007 on the set of Legend's music video for "Stereo," got married in September 2013 at the luxurious Villa d'Este overlooking Lake Como, a sentimental spot for the two of them given that they had vacationed there many times throughout their courtship. Together with 125 of their closest family and friends, the couple celebrated a love seven years in the making. "12 years ago today, I met the man of my dreams. And 5 years ago today, we got married," Teigen captioned a throwback photo of the couple on their fifth wedding anniversary. "We have two babies and some pups and a life I am grateful to have. My everything, I love you and am so proud of the story we've created."
View this post on Instagram12 years ago today, I met the man of my dreams. And 5 years ago today, we got married. We have two babies and some pups and a life I am grateful to have. My everything, I love you and am so proud of the story we've created. But you are an asshole for releasing your @nbcthevoice news on my target launch day for real
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Here, we take a look back at the couple's wedding day, and all the perfect imperfections that made theirs one to remember.
Chrissy Teigen Bought Five Wedding Dresses
Teigen, who is the first to admit that she is an "anxious" person, admitted in a tweet in early May that she actually bought five wedding dresses in the lead-up to her wedding. The unexpected admission came after a fan tweeted that she once saw Teigen at a Barneys store buying a Celine bag so she "wouldn't feel guilty about asking to use the bathroom." Added the fan: "I knew I loved you before but that solidified it." Teigen responded in the affirmative. "Wowowowow anyone that knows me knows this is very true all too often," to which her friend pointed out on Instagram another point.
"Sort of like that time you bought 5 wedding dresses you knew you would never actually wear because you felt guilty about 'just trying on dresses' which is precisely the point of TRYING ON wedding dresses I love you," Teigen's friend chimed in. The Sports Illustrated model responded, "THOSE WENT TO GREAT HOMES."
In fact, at their wedding, Teigen ended up wearing a total of three different Vera Wang gowns: a full-skirted ballgown for the ceremony, a figure-hugging mermaid silhouette for the dinner, and a red trumpet dress for dancing at the reception.
The Ceremony Was Delayed Four Hours
Throwing a destination wedding was a challenge for a number of reasons, but one that Teigen did not expect was that some of her and Legend's family members were hours delayed due to travel issues. Consequently, the couple decided to hold the ceremony until their loved ones could make it—which, naturally, had a domino effect on the rest of the wedding day.
"[The guests] had a lot of cocktails, because the ceremony was running about four hours behind," Teigen previously told The Knot in 2017. "Yeah… [some of our] family missed their flight. The flight was canceled, and I wasn't even aware of it because everyone wanted to keep it a secret from me. They didn't want to stress me out. So whatever it was, it was a lot."
Chrissy Teigen on What She'd Change From Her Wedding
When asked, Teigen told The Knot that the one thing she would want to do differently if she could turn back time is to have more time to pen more meaningful vows. "I swear to God. I really want to get married again, because I really want to do my vows the right way," she said. "I was very anxious. I know I'm a good writer. That's what I take pride in, and I feel like I was so nervous and so rushed, that I didn't really write them the way I would normally write."
"When I do it the next time," she joked, "I'm ging to make sure that they're very heartfelt and not generic, and really from the heart." Judging by how clearly in love the pair still are with each other, it's not likely that
The Couple Had a Lot of Help From Local Wedding Vendors
Teigen and Legend tried to incorporate as much local fare as possible to make their wedding even more meaningful for their guests, many of whom flew from out of town to attend. "Make sure to dine at small, little, local restaurants," the model advised. "Not only do your guests appreciate it a lot, but it makes it seem very cozy, relatable, cool and fun—as opposed to going to some ballroom where you have this huge catered affair. I think people really prefer going to some local little Italian spot and being amongst the people in the area. I think people really appreciate that."
The couple also worked with local vendors and a planner on the ground in Italy, which Teigen told The Knot was crucial to the overall execution of their big day. "Make sure to get a planner that is versed in a destination wedding, because obviously, there are so many language barriers," she said. "It's really tough to get vendors, and you can get so many more discounts if you know somebody within the area who's able to get those discounts for you. If someone is coming into a new city, there's no way that they're going to have that kind of relationship that's able to get you the discounts on the florals and the tables. I think when you know somebody, you'll end up saving a lot of money."
Floral and event designer Mindy Rice outfitted the Villa d'Este (where John Krasinski and Emily Blunt also married) with lush floral arrangements and hints of copper that created the ideal backdrop for the supermodel's three different wedding dresses. Photographer Aaron Delesie documented the day. The couple also hired planner Lisa Vorce to help them with more local vendors and details.
The Cookbook Author Loved Their Wedding Cake
The Cravings cookbook author had a random hankering for the couple's wedding cake in April 2018, and shared a stunning image of the massive creation. "Someone tagged me in a photo of my wedding cake and my fatass wants cake so bad now so here is a pic of my wedding cake," she captioned the photo. "It was carrot with cream cheese frosting and it was awesome. I miss you, giant cake."
The impressive cake appears to be largely naked, standing four tiers tall, with fresh flowers and greenery eucalyptus leaves acting as sweet decor between layers. Teigen previously told People magazine that she worked with her pastry chef and design team to come up with the show-stopping design. "I'm not a big sweets person, which is why I'm really specific about the cake, which is going to be a really multi-layer cake," she told the magazine a few months before the wedding.
Teigen Advises Brides to 'Laugh at Everything'
One of the biggest takeaways that Teigen took from her experience was that brides and grooms will ultimately have to live and let live with some of the finer details of the day. "I'm a very anxious person by nature," she told The Knot. "I'm very shaky and I really hate planning. … I think wedding planning is having a good core group of friends who love you and are willing to take it on. But also, to be okay with the surprises that come along with everything. Let your planner do it. S--t's gonna happen, laugh about it. You're not going to care after that day. It'll be funny to you. So you really have to be able to shrug things off and just enjoy it. Laugh at everything!"