From intimate $150,000 affairs for 60 close friends and relatives to $15 million extravaganzas for 2,000 guests flown in from around the world, posh weddings are still being held by the rich and famous across the U.S. despite the turbulent economy.

The royal wedding or Chelsea Clinton's marriage vows may have received most of the headlines recently, but there is no shortage of other well known and wealthy couples tying the knot. For high-net-worth families, it is possible for a bride-to-be to have 12 wedding day dresses-one for each wedding day event-ranging in price from $8,000 for the most casual, to $35,000 for the vow-taking ceremony dress. Each dress requires separate shoes, accessories and jewelry.

"Weddings help drive the economy," notes Haley Hughes of En Vogue (www.envogueevents.com) in Houston, where the oil and gas industry keeps the high-end wedding market alive and well.

En Vogue has staged some unusual affairs and no two are alike, notes Hughes. For one, a theater company provided actors who dressed up in table costumes, from which they served appetizers as they mingled in the crowd. They also had actors suspended from the ceiling serving champagne.

"We also have to keep up with the latest in technology," Hughes says. One wedding had glass tabletops that made waves and ripples appear whenever a plate or glass was placed on the surface.

Each detail is designed to reflect the wedding couple's likes and lifestyle, wedding planners say. Robbin Montero, owner of Dream Wedding (www.a-dreamwedding.com) in Sonoma, Calif., staged a ceremony where actors, buglers and bagpipe players dressed up as Renaissance characters and mingled with the guests.

"That was a first for me," says Montero, who stages weddings in California's wine country. Other weddings reflect golf, fishing or other themes, but whatever the theme, the planner wants just enough to make a subtle statement rather than being overwhelming, the planners say.

Carol Marino of A Perfect Wedding (www.aperfectwed.com) in Fairfax, Va., plans affairs that range from six figures to $1 million for Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 company executives, among other wealthy clients.

Tables are sometimes done in themes or 'tablescapes,' she says, and can have layers of colors.

"One client wanted Riedel glasses, an expensive glassware that enhances the depth and flavor of the wine. When you have multiple wines and champagne, the glassware itself can add up in cost," she notes. Some couples place expensive champagne in each guest's room to welcome them, she says.

One of Marino's clients wanted fresh venison and bison for the reception dinner and had it flown in from his own Montana ranch. Fireworks can add a festive touch with five minutes of rockets costing $5,000, or up to $25,000 for a more elaborate display.  

"We created one wedding in an open field, where we brought in tents, built an entire kitchen, imported electricity, lighting and refrigeration," she says. "Another client was fascinated by red English telephone booths and had one flown in to add to the décor. Spending thousands of dollars for a wedding cake is also not unusual."

For events where guests are coming from far off places, a few days or weeks of activities and sightseeing is often planned.

Other Marino touches have included handmade linens from India at $500 per tablecloth, Bentleys for transporting guests from one venue to another and private-chartered jets and yachts-if the families don't own their own-to fly or sail guests in. Security services are also sometimes included, particularly for weddings in Washington, D.C.

When En Vogue planned a wedding that required flying in many of its 2,000, mostly from India, it ran into a logistical problem: where to hold a wedding ceremony for that many people. The solution was a convention center.
"We had to transform the convention center into something that did not look like a convention center, so that added drastically to the cost," Hughes explains.

In California's wine country, a wedding is often planned around the venue. Wine country tours are common for guests who arrive days in advance, with all costs often paid for by the wedding couple. The event itself can be held in a wine cave-a manmade cavern that is used, among other things, to store wine.

Wine country is often used as a destination for weddings even when the couple does not live in the area, says Montero of A Dream Wedding.

"Of the top 100 wines in the world, we have 40% of them," notes Montero who plans weddings around the wines themselves. "Number one in priority for our couples is usually the food and wine, then the intimacy we can provide and then the settings."

A wedding ceremony and reception in wine country can often include six or eight different wines, she says. In addition, for one affair, Grace Ormonde wedding invitations alone cost $30,000.

Most events in wine country are held between April and October. Montero says she has seldom had to put up a tent because of the region's favorable weather, although a backup venue might be planned just in case. A tent can add nearly $30,000 to the cost.

Entertainment is always a big expense item for exclusive weddings. Jennifer Lopez was reportedly paid $1 million to sing a few songs at one affair. Other top tier entertainers and bands also hire themselves out to wedding ceremonies.
Some families, however, do not want big-name entertainers because they do not want to distract from the bride and groom, planners say.

Many couples will have different types of entertainment for different stages of the wedding, from a jazz band for the cocktail party, a string quartet for the dinner and a rock-and-roll band for the reception party, says Jennifer Lowrance, executive director of Briscoe Manor (www.briscoemanor.com) in Richmond, Tex., near Houston.

The wedding ring is often an heirloom. Jewelry and accessories for each ensemble, including different shoes for each dress, for the bride and for the mothers of the bride and groom, are among the other items that quickly drive up total costs.

A million-dollar wedding for a sports franchise owner was one of Montero's events. It was for only 84 people but included ten events over six days and involved transporting people from four different airports.

"For another exclusive affair we covered their pool with a dance floor and held the event overlooking a lake," Montero says.

Wedding ceremonies pump thousands of dollars into the economy, including vast amounts spent by guests who come early and spend money on accommodations, travel and touring, wedding planners say. 

"The high-end wedding market will always be there," Marino says. "It dropped a little in the height of the recession, but I think that was because it did not seem politically correct to spend so much on a wedding."