10 Stunning Celebrity Wedding Dresses That Were Outside-The-Box

Celebrities are used to being the center of attention, with photographers capturing their every move while they pose in elaborate, expensive designer gowns. That might explain why so many betrothed stars choose outside-the-box wedding outfits to make their big day feel extra special. Some ditch the traditional white gown for color, some incorporate risqué, sheer paneling, and others rock head to toe sparkles. Then there are the celeb brides who steer clear of wedding dresses altogether, instead wearing pants to say their vows.

Kourtney Kardashian is one star who opted for a quirkier dress, as she channelled her inner gothic rockstar at her 2023 wedding with Blink-182's Travis Barker. Though "The Kardashians" star still wore a white, structured, dress with lace detailing, it was anything but traditional. The custom Dolce & Gabbana garment was short and had sheer, lace panels at the hips and a fully boned corset over the torso.

The reality star's look, which ranked among the worst of the Kardashian wedding dresses, was inspired by Guns N Roses' "November Rain" music video and Portofino, Italy, the couple's wedding location. "I just wanted to feel like we ran off to Italy and got married," Kardashian wrote on Instagram, revealing she also had hidden details in her veil. 

"When [Dolce & Gabbana] suggested putting Travis's head tattoo of the Virgin Mary on the handmade lace veil with the words from his tattoo: family, loyalty, respect underneath, I got chills and knew how special that felt," she shared. Speaking to Vogue, Kardashian added, "Designing my dresses with Domenico [Dolce] and Stefano [Gabbana] has been a dream come true in every way." And she's in good company when it comes to bucking wedding attire traditions.

"The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star Porsha Williams had our jaws on the floor in 2022 when she tied the knot with Simon Guobadia. The reality star wore several outfits on her big day, including an over the top, bright red, strapless mermaid gown with one of the biggest, most bougie bottoms we've ever seen (complete with a matching fur trim). The dress, designed by Lakimmy, also featured gold embellishments down the right side of the bodice, with several dangling chains. Williams added a traditional orange headdress with matching beads as a nod to her husband Guobadia's Nigerian heritage.

Speaking to People pre-ceremony, Williams admitted her guests needed to brace themselves for some seriously dazzling outfits. "It's going to be a true fashion extravaganza. I just couldn't turn any dresses down! If a wedding dress came my way, and I loved it, I got it," she said. The strapless velvet ensemble was one of seven outfits the reality star wore on her big day, which also included a huge white lace gown. 

During Ricki Lake's second wedding to Christian Evans in 2012, she wore a traditional white dress designed by "Dancing with the Stars"' costume designer Daniela Gschwendtner. When she walked down the aisle with Ross Burningham a decade later, though, she went for something totally different. 

Lake celebrated finding love again in a loose, V-neck, oversized orange dress by Sun Child, with long, billowing sleeves that were embellished with a brown sequin pattern. And her followers loved her distinctive wardrobe choice. "Dress??? Where did you get it????" one fan commented on an Instagram post.

The former talk show host kept things casual by ditching her shoes as she hopped onto a step stool to say her vows. She later slipped into comfortable Ugg boots for photos. Lake told People she wanted her and Burningham's wedding to be a smaller, less formal affair, which is why they held it at their home. "[It] could not have been a more perfect day," she said. "It was truly one of the best days of my life."

When Mandy Moore tied the knot with Taylor Goldsmith in 2018, she forwent the traditional white dress in favor of a gorgeous, light pink number. The column gown had multiple tiers down the skirt (each larger than the last) and delicate frills across the neckline and shoulders. The uber-feminine Rodarte dress was custom made for the "This Is Us" and "A Walk To Remember" actor, inspired by '60s and '70s fashions to match the couple's stunning floral displays.

Moore knew she didn't want a traditional wedding dress, she explained to People before the big day. "I'm kind of confident that it's not going to be the stereotypical white wedding dress, because it just doesn't feel the most me," Moore said. "It's going to probably be a little bit more non-traditional. I think the whole day will sort of feel a little bit more non-traditional, so the dress will sort of follow suit."

The "Extraordinary" singer's unique dress received plenty of praise from fans. "Mandy Moore's wedding aesthetic has shaken me to my core," one person tweeted alongside several photos of the event. On a professional snap shared on Instagram, another fan commented, "Oh gosh the dress the [color] the flowers. Just absolutely beautiful."

Dita Von Teese's wardrobe when she married Marilyn Manson in 2005 was just as glamorous as she is. The burlesque star turned her back on an understated, classic dress and instead made a major statement in a huge ball gown. Artist Angie Rehe, who created a sketch of the dress, said on Instagram it took designer Vivienne Westwood 17 meters of Swiss silk faille to create the masterpiece. The garment was off the shoulder and cinched in at the waist to compliment Von Teese's hourglass figure, with a super long train for extra drama. 

But it also held a secret. During an appearance on "No Gorge" in 2024, Von Teese revealed the dress isn't actually purple, despite how it looks in photos. "Up close, it's red and blue silk woven together," she said. The star also revealed Westwood had other ideas for her wedding gown and originally sketched a red dress with flame detailing. "I had to tell her I didn't like the idea and I wanted something more classical," she said. The performer added that the eccentric ball gown she eventually wore was "one of the most beautiful things to come out of couture, for sure." Von Teese's glam dress was so unique and outside-the-box that it was put on display at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.

Jillian Michaels stayed true to her style during her 2023 wedding celebration, which followed a more intimate ceremony. The fitness fanatic tied the knot with DeShanna Marie Minuto in Italy and wore a sophisticated, sheer-sleeved, black dress. The plunging, sparkly number featured sequins all over and had a slight mermaid tail with frills over her legs and chest. Michaels' wife opted for the traditional white gown, though the two still had a sweet connection with their formal looks as they both opted for pieces from the same designer, Zuhair Murad.

Michaels' followers gushed about the stunning outfits in comments on an Instagram post. "Both of your gowns are [fire]! Congratulations and best wishes to a beautiful couple!" one person commented on the post by the former "The Biggest Loser" trainer. "Both of your dresses are simply stunning," another wrote.

Sophia Bush showed us how to wear a white wedding dress with a twist at her 2022 wedding. She wore a stunning off-the-shoulder gown with long sleeves that featured a delicate peach-colored rose and leaf print, cinched waist, and a long train. The former "One Tree Hill" star told British Vogue she pictured the ornate gown as soon as her partner, Grant Hughes, popped the question, and put a lot of thought into its design to make it sentimental. 

"I'd seen a photograph of a Monique Lhuillier dress taken on Lake Como, and I had a vision of creating a personalised version of it, in what I have always thought of as a heritage print: a print of flowers from California, Oklahoma, and Italy, to honour the heritage of our families — where we come from and how we are all coming together to map where we are going," she said.

The "Chicago P.D." actor also gushed over the gown on Instagram, describing it as her "dream dress." She added in the caption, "To create something so special and so personal with one of my dearest and oldest friends in fashion, [Monique Lhuillier], was a true joy and an expression of love."

Cynthia Nixon made a serious case for green wedding dresses (and that's not something we ever thought we'd say) after she wore a fitted gown with a relaxed tulle skirt for her big day. The former "Sex and the City" actor got married to Christine Marinoni in 2012, and although her sunny gown appeared to be summer 2025's most on-trend color, butter yellow, the star told Elle it was actually a very light green. The floaty, summer-y dress featured several pieces of sheer material on the skirt, with matching strips over her chest and torso.

The actor admitted she hadn't put a lot of thought into her ideal wedding dress before getting engaged, but knew she wanted whatever she wore to be designed by Carolina Herrera. She recalled telling Herrera and her team, "Don't think of me as a bride. Think of me as a grown-up woman who needs a dress to get married in." But Herrera's team hit back with bigger ideas. "'You need to get a dress with a capital D. So even if it's not poufy or white, there's a certain level of ceremony,'" Nixon recalled being told. And she was clearly happy with the result, even if it was a bit less understated than she was thinking. "I liked that this dress kind of looked like an art deco skyscraper," she said, which was perfect for her New York City nuptials.

Christine Quinn became famous for her over-the-top, often outrageous but always fashion-forward looks during her time on "Selling Sunset" — so expectations were high when she announced her engagement to Christian Richard. And she didn't disappoint. The reality star opted for a gothic-inspired gown which included a huge, sparkly skirt and matching train. 

"I never conformed to the status quo or societal expectations. I've always enjoyed being bold, different and trendsetting. I've always wanted to get married in a black wedding dress, and I'm so happy that my dream came true," Quinn told People of her bold and uber-dramatic, off-the-shoulder outfit, which was one of two she wore by Galia Lahav.

The main ceremony dress, which she wore with her blond hair down and a bold red lip, caused quite the stir online. And despite landing on our worst dressed celebs of 2024 list, comments concluded that Quinn knocked it out of the park for her wedding. "Christine Quinn's Galia Lahav black wedding dress is insanely good. The sparkle on that tulle skirt is so bomb,"  one X user wrote. "Natalya Valentine did a lot of the custom handwork on her bodice — the hand laid appliqués are [perfection]."

Long before we spotted the red flags in Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton's marriage, Stefani put her own spin on the traditional wedding dress when she tied the knot with Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale. Though Stefani's had a few outfits that hit the wrong notes, the gown for her 2002 nuptials undoubtedly hit all the right ones. She wore a flirty and unique ivory one-shoulder gown with a diagonal fastening across her torso and ruching across her decolletage. But the real statement was at the bottom. The ballgown was dip-dyed pink, with the color becoming more intense toward the hem.

The outside-the-box ensemble was custom designed by John Galliano. "Gwen is an old-fashioned romantic at heart. We share a deep respect for tradition, yet also a love of breaking with convention. We wanted the effect to be dreamy, with a contemporary twist," Galliano told Teen Vogue (via Geocities). The former No Doubt singer also admitted she had no interest in toning down her fashion for her big day. "I said I wanted it to be over the top, but not traditional — I wanted it to be everything. But how do you tell this genius over the phone? He was, like, OK, and sent me these drawings of this unbelievable, perfect dress," she told Elle U.K. (via The Cut).

The custom dress was so iconic it was put on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum alongside Dita Von Teese's. "I didn't wanna send it because I was scared it would get ruined. But it's a work of art, it needed to be seen," Stefani said.

Cynthia Bailey wowed reality TV fans, and everyone else, with her beaded, sheer, and super glitzy wedding dress. For her 2020 wedding to Mike Hill, "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" star turned up the glamor in a plunging gown with sheer mesh that matched her skin tone. While the dress was lined over her chest and throughout the skirt, it still showed skin and highlighted her waist, decolletage, and arms. It was also perfectly tailored to show off her enviable curves. Instead of leaning toward the traditional with white material, Bailey opted for mixed silver and rose gold embellishments for a classy yet unconventional aesthetic.

While sharing snaps from her big day on Instagram, the former model explained she gave luxury fashion designer Nneka C. Alexander full control of her stunning dress. "Thank you @bridesbynona for making me the PERFECT wedding gown. When we met & you asked me what I wanted, I honestly had no idea. I only knew that I didn't want to wear white," she wrote. "I gave you complete creative control, and you absolutely blew away. I am so grateful to you!" And so are we.