NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & TΕ«rangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • ManawatΕ« - Whanganui
    • All ManawatΕ« - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • ManawatΕ«
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Donald and Melania Trump's wedding and the revealing detail

By Hannah-Rose Yee
news.com.auΒ·
21 Jun, 2020 07:14 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber? Β Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access contentβ€”explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
β€Œ
Save

    Share this article

While Trump might now call the shots, it wasn't that way at their 2005 wedding. Photo / Getty Images

While Trump might now call the shots, it wasn't that way at their 2005 wedding. Photo / Getty Images

They called it a "magical merger".

That's the way People magazine described the blissful union of Melania Knauss, Slovenian model, to Donald Trump. It was January 22, 2005 and Trump's private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, where the reception took place, was the only place to be.

Some 450 of the biggest names in high society – Shaquille O'Neal, Elton John, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill and Hillary Clinton – descended upon the location to celebrate the wedding of Trump, the businessman behind The Apprentice, and his beautiful bride.

It was his third wedding; it was her first.

"I know this is the last time I'll ever have to stand up here," joked Donald Jr, best man to his father, at the swanky, chandelier-lit reception.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

❀ Happy Anniversary! πŸ’‹ @MELANIATRUMP @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/6MG3FJm50b

— MELANIA TRUMP (@MELANIATRUMP) January 22, 2014

It was Donald's wedding, but it was Melania who was running the show.

He wanted the ceremony and its reception broadcast live on NBC television networks across the country, but Melania demurred.

Cell phones were banned and privacy requests were relayed to the journalists and paparazzi camped outside Mar-a-Lago's gates, though they fell on deaf ears.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Many of the paparazzi tried to bribe their way into the wedding, blagging that they were part of the orchestra and band.

Melania oversaw every detail of the wedding, and absolutely no expense was spared. "A lot of it Melania took care of herself," New York event designer Preston Bailey – he would later collaborate with the family again on Ivanka Trump's 2013 wedding to Jared Kushner – told People. "She really was very clear with her vision."

Melania had her vision, and even on the day of her nuptials she was enacting it. On the morning of January 22, she checked on centrepieces and table settings and inspected candles. And while Melania was doing all this, her groom-to-be was indulging in one of his favourite activities. He was on the golf course.

Melania did not want the wedding to be televised or paparazzi present. Photo / Getty Images
Melania did not want the wedding to be televised or paparazzi present. Photo / Getty Images

"I arranged everything," Melania told People. "I made sure everything was exactly where it should be."

Discover more

Lifestyle

The real Melania Trump – as revealed in The Art of Her Deal

03 Jul 05:00 PM
World

Ivanka Trump slammed for 'tone deaf' Twitter campaign

15 Jul 07:56 AM

Melania had an idea that it would be "very classic, very white" when it came to decoration, Bailey recalled.

He was most proud of the 1.5m tall centrepiece that adorned every table, each of which was absolutely dripping in hydrangeas, roses, orchids and gardenias.

Overall, the wedding featured some 10,000 flowers, ferried in dozens of trucks from New York to Florida.

Melania picked the band, or should we say orchestra, with a full complement of string instruments, as well as a saxophone, piano, bass and drums.

At the reception, a who's who of pop stars, from Billy Joel to Elton John and Tony Bennett performed for the happy couple.

They danced to Nessun Dorma, as sung by soprano Camellia Johnson. (Melania chose her.) The guests dined on lobster salad with a champagne vinaigrette.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Melania wanted a blue and gold cake, but ended up with a seven-tiered white and gold wonder, 177cm in diameter and covered in 2000 handspun sugar flowers, as well as a tiny chocolate cake for guests to take home.

Donald Trump had previously been married twice before, including marrying Marla Maples in 1993. Photo / Getty Images
Donald Trump had previously been married twice before, including marrying Marla Maples in 1993. Photo / Getty Images

The wedding cake itself, soaked in Grand Marnier and held aloft by an elaborate wire rigging, was actually never fed to the guests.

The $50,000 confection was eaten by staff after the wedding was over.

Of course, Melania picked her dress, though she had a little help from Andre Leon Talley, the one-time contributing editor at Vogue.

It was he who, alongside Vogue's Sally Singer, accompanied the blushing bride to the Paris haute couture fashion shows in search of a trousseau.

She ended up with a US$100,000 ($148,000) gown from Christian Dior, fashioned from 91m of duchesse satin and covered in some 1500 rhinestones and pearls, hand-stitched over the course of 550 hours in Dior's atelier by 28 seamstresses.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The fitted bodice flared out into a billowing train, but the bustle was so bustly that Melania could barely walk in it, and she never did a trial run in the gown to see if she could walk in the 27kg satin confection.

For the after-party, which kicked off in the early hours of the following morning, Melania swapped out of the Dior and into a slinky ruched number from Vera Wang.

Anyone who knew anything about the wedding knew that Melania was in charge. She "micromanaged her fete with a zeal worthy of The Apprentice", People enthused.

Nothing escaped her attention, even on the morning of the wedding itself. While her husband-to-be golfed, Melania checked on a special candle, carried to Florida from her native Slovenia by her mother, to light as part of the happy day.

Looking back, it shouldn't surprise anyone to learn that Melania was doing all this while Trump golfed. The sport is his favourite hobby. He has played with everyone from Tiger Woods to Samuel L Jackson. He owns 17 golf courses around the world. Since taking office as the president in 2017, Trump has putted around the greens some 268 times.

Trump might have spent the morning of the wedding on the course, but there was no doubt of his affection for his new bride.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In his reception toast, he gushed that the six years he had spent with Melania were "the best six years of my life in every way".

The couple have since been married for 15 years, celebrating their crystal wedding anniversary in January 2020.

And just over a year after they were first married, they welcomed the birth of their son Baron, on March 20, 2006.

As wedding guest Pat O'Brien, the groom's friend and a television host, put it to People: "Donald has always said he used to make a bad husband and a great father … He says this time around he wants to make a great father and a great husband."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Lifestyle

Lifestyle

Foodstuff supermarkets face salad shortages as storm delivers 'logistical hit'

01 Jul 08:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

Why Prada's latest sandal sparked a debate on cultural credit

01 Jul 07:00 PM
Premium
Lifestyle

'Firefighting mode': Seven things that can make ADHD much worse

01 Jul 06:00 PM

From early mornings to easy living

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Foodstuff supermarkets face salad shortages as storm delivers 'logistical hit'

Foodstuff supermarkets face salad shortages as storm delivers 'logistical hit'

01 Jul 08:00 PM

Spinach, mesclun and other salad greens are currently in limited supply.

Premium
Why Prada's latest sandal sparked a debate on cultural credit

Why Prada's latest sandal sparked a debate on cultural credit

01 Jul 07:00 PM
Premium
'Firefighting mode': Seven things that can make ADHD much worse

'Firefighting mode': Seven things that can make ADHD much worse

01 Jul 06:00 PM
South Australia bans soy milk, rice cake ads in junk food crackdown

South Australia bans soy milk, rice cake ads in junk food crackdown

01 Jul 07:44 AM
Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno
sponsored

Sponsored: Get your kids involved in your reno

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • Β© Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP