8 Millionaires Like Chris Pratt Whose Weddings Were Under $30,000

Thrift is not something regularly associates with celebrities, and even less so when it comes to their weddings. From couture wedding gowns to hundreds of bottles of high-end champagne, lavish celebrations can rack up bills to rival the GDP of a small nation (we’re looking at you, Kim and Kanye) are all par for the course when you’re one of Hollywood’s richest and most famous. So it’s nice to see that some celebs have opted to keep their celebrations a bit more in line with us everyday folk. Here’s a list of 10 celebrity couples who spent less than $30,000 on their weddings, from Keira Knightley to Chris Pratt.

But some celebs have opted to keep their celebrations a bit smaller and more in line with the costs of a typical wedding, which can range up to $30,000 in costs. They show that getting married can be a special and glamorous affair even if it’s kept low-key and low cost. Here’s a list of eight celebrity couples who spent less than $30,000 on their weddings, from Keira Knightley to Chris Pratt.

Keira Knightley’s Wedding to James Righton

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Keira Knightley wedding

Keira Knightley has a net worth of $50 million, reports CelebrityNetWorth, but the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star’s wedding to musician James Righton on May 4, 2013 was a decidedly thrifty affair.

The couple was married at an intimate ceremony in a town hall in the south of France, reports Daily Mail. Knightley wore a strapless Chanel tulle cocktail dress that she already owned. “I’d worn the dress lots,” Knightley told The Telegraph. “It was my something old. And I liked not making a big deal about it. I just wanted to be in something I had had a great time in, something I would have a great time in again.”

The newlyweds skipped a limousine in favor of a Renault Clio driven by Kinghtley’s mother and did away with other expensive costs like flowers, a photographer and a bridal party for the civil wedding. The ceremony, which lasted only 30 minutes, was attended by around a dozen guests. Even with the other additions to Knightley’s outfit (like a designer jacket and flats), Righton’s suit and other various costs, the pair’s civil ceremony was likely well under $10,000.

Photo: Jaguar PS / Shutterstock.com

Anna Faris and Chris Pratt’s Wedding

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Chris Pratt and Anna Faris

When a couple’s wedding day starts with both of them fighting a stomach bug, you don’t really expect it to end well. But it was a bout of food poisoning that led to actress Anna Faris’ marriage to “Guardians of the Galaxy” star Chris Pratt during a July 2009 vacation.

“We were in Bali suffering from food poisoning — the really rough kind, you know, sharing the toilet,” Faris told Stylist magazine. “I was looking for chicken broth on the room service menu and saw the hotel also did weddings. While still feverish, Chris said, ‘Let’s do it.’ So the staff found us some traditional Balinese clothes and a local priest. We had no idea what was going on but we came back married.”

Wedding ceremonies in Bali can range in price, depending on how many guests you have and what elements you want to be included, but we found that a basic legal ceremony like Anna Faris and Chris Pratt’s ceremony would start around $800.

Read: The Biggest Myth About What Your Wedding Should Cost

Photo: DFree / Shutterstock.com

Sacha Baron Cohen’s Wedding to Isla Fisher

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Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher

Isla Fisher’s “Wedding Crashers” character gets hitched in a large wedding at the end of the movie, but the actress’s real-life wedding to comedian and “Borat” creator Sacha Baron Cohen was much more intimate.

Isla Fisher and Sacha Baron Cohen married in March 2010 in Paris in a traditional Jewish ceremony, reports Woman’s Day. The ceremony was attended by just a six guests and the couple stayed at the Hotel Ritz for a week with then-2-year-old daughter Olive, reports People magazine.

How much did their wedding cost? It’s hard to say exactly. It is often customary for a couple to be asked to make a generous donation to the rabbi or synagogue when married. To celebrate after, the couple might have treated their guests to a celebratory dinner, which in Paris could run between $100 to $300 per person, according to restaurant prices quoted in The Telegraph. But even with those costs and the weeklong stay at the Hotel Ritz, where rates start at $1,000 a night according to Fodor’s Travel, Sacha Baron Cohen and Isla Fisher’s wedding probably cost well under $30,000.

Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Jessica Alba’s Wedding to Cash Warren

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Jessica Alba and Husband

Jessica Alba wed Cash Warren in May 2008 at a Beverley Hills courthouse. The couple, who met on the set of “Fantastic Four” in 2004, were pregnant with their oldest daughter Honor at the time

They opted to keep their nuptials very low-key and had no guests present for the ceremony. Alba reportedly wore a simple long blue dress and tied her hair back into a ponytail, reports People. In all it appears the only cost of their wedding would’ve been gas to get to the courthouse and fees for the marriage license, civil ceremony and witness, which together would cost $134.

Photo: Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s Wedding

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Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell

Jessica Alba and Cash Warren aren’t the only celeb couple in our list to get hitched at the Beverley Hills courthouse. Kristen Bell and Dax Shephard were also married in a civil ceremony there on October 17, 2013.

Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel live just two weeks after the nuptials, Shepard confessed that the couple had popped down to the courthouse to apply for a marriage license and decided on a whim to just get married that day. Their wedding would’ve carried the same low costs as Alba’s.

Related: Ditch Traditional Wedding Costs and Save Money by Eloping Like Kelly Clarkson

Photo: Rena Schild / Shutterstock.com

Mandy Moore’s Wedding to Ryan Adams

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Mandy Moore’s Marriage

Their marriage may have broken down earlier this year, but Mandy Moore and Ryan Adams certainly won’t have excessive wedding costs to blame for their split The couple married on March 10, 2009 at the Whitefield Chapel on the outskirts of Savannah, GA.

The lovebirds reportedly dressed down for the 8-minute ceremony, with Moore wearing a tea-length cream dress and Adams donning jeans and sneakers.

Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz’ Wedding

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Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig

“Skyfall” actor Daniel Craig and “The Mummy” actress Rachel Weisz began dating in 2010, and married on June 22, 2011 in a small ceremony in New York state. There were reportedly only four guests: Daniel’s daughter Ella, then 18, and Rachel’s son Henry, then 4, plus two family friends who acted as witnesses. This small size of the ceremony would have made it easy for this pair to keep the costs of getting hitched low.

Photo: Shelly Wall / Shutterstock.com

Julia Roberts’s Wedding to Danny Moder

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Julia Roberts wedding

Julia Roberts and Danny Moder wed in a surprise ceremony in July 2002 at her 82-acre ranch in Taos, N.M. Guests thought they were being invited to a Fourth of July celebration and the party seemed normal, until Roberts and Moder surprised everyone with a wedding ceremony, reports People.

The 20-minute ceremony was officiated by Robert’s lawyer and friend Barry Hirsch and did not have many of the usual wedding trappings. Even the bride opted out of a white wedding gown in favour of a pink cotton dress embroidered with beads. Roberts herself did much of the preparation for the wedding, including shopping and cooking for the accompanying barbecue, and getting on her hands-and-knees to do some last-minute weeding the day before the wedding.

Related: You Can Be Rich and Frugal at the Same Time

Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 8 Millionaires Like Chris Pratt Whose Weddings Were Under $30,000

This article by Nell Casey first appeared on GoBankingRates.com and was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.

In Settlement with FTC, Debt Collectors Agree to Stop Deceiving Consumers and Pay Nearly $800,000

Consumers Allegedly Were Tricked into Paying Unnecessary Fees and Falsely Threatened with Legal Action

After allegedly misleading consumers into paying unnecessary fees and falsely threatening consumers with lawsuits, defendants in a debt collection operation have agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges.

The FTC alleged in its complaint that the defendants – a debt buyer and a debt collection law firm, both based in Mississippi – violated the FTC Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by deceptively charging consumers a fee for payments authorized by telephone.  According to the FTC, the defendants led consumers to believe that the fee was unavoidable when, in fact, those who paid by mail or online did not incur the fee.  The FTC also alleged that the companies violated the laws by falsely threatening to sue consumers as a means of getting them to pay.  A debt collector is prohibited by law from using false, deceptive, or misleading representations or tactics when collecting a debt.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the defendants will pay $799,958 in restitution for consumers.  The defendants also are barred from making any misrepresentations  when collecting a debt, including false claims that consumers must pay an extra fee when making payments on a debt or that they will be sued for not paying a debt.

According to the complaint, debt buyer Security Credit Services, LLC, and Jacob Law Group, PLLC have worked together since 2006 to collect debts nationwide.  Security Credit buys consumer debt accounts, and contracts with Jacob Law to collect on them.  The complaint alleges that Jacob Law called and pressured consumers to immediately make payments on their debts by authorizing electronic checks or credit or debit card payments over the phone.  Jacob Law allegedly told consumers they were required to pay an additional fee of $18.95 for this service, but routinely failed to mention that they could avoid the fee by mailing the payment or paying online.  Since 2008, the defendants have collected at least $799,958 in fees from consumers.

The FTC also alleged that Jacob Law Group implied that it would file lawsuits to collect the debts even when it did not intend to do so.

For consumer information about dealing with debt collectors, see Debt Collection.

The Commission vote authorizing the staff to file the complaint and approving the proposed consent decree was 4-0.  The FTC filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, on March 13, 2013, and has submitted the proposed consent decree to the court for approval.

NOTE:  The Commission files a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.  The complaint is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have actually violated the law.  The consent decree is for settlement purposes only and does not constitute an admission by the defendants that the law has been violated.  Consent decrees have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

This article by the Federal Trade Commission was distributed by the Personal Finance Syndication Network.