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  6. 16 Vintage Celebrity Wedding Cakes You've Probably Never Seen
Martha Stewart Weddings

16 Vintage Celebrity Wedding Cakes You've Probably Never Seen

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By Lyndsey Matthews
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Credit: Popperfoto

Wedding cakes aren't what they used to be!

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celebrity-vintage-wedding-cakes-liz-taylor-79666956-1015.jpg
Credit: Popperfoto

While wedding cakes today seem to be getting smaller and smaller (and the frosting on some have even disappeared entirely!), midcentury wedding cakes were quite the spectacle—especially when they were served at the nuptials of famous actresses and royal princesses. Here, 16 of our favorite vintage wedding cakes (including one that would have cost $22,000 in today's dollars!).

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Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman

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Credit: Hulton Archive

Actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward tied the knot on January 29, 1958 with an intimate ceremony at the El Rancho hotel-casino in Las Vegas. Here, they're seen sharing a sweet kiss in front of their petite wedding cake (compared to other vintage cakes) with a classic bride and groom topper. The happy couple was married for 50 years, until Newman passed away in 2008.

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Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and John F. Kennedy

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Credit: New York Daily News Archive

The president and his new wife cut into an elaborately decorated wedding cake topped with a tiny vase of white flowers at their reception at Hammersmith Farm in Newport, Rhode Island September 12, 1953.

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Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco

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Credit: Getty Images

Now this is a wedding cake worthy of a princess! Grace Kelly and her new husband, Prince Rainier III of Monaco, served a massive six-tiered wedding cake at their reception on April 19, 1956 complete with a three-dimensional replica of Monaco's Pink Palace at the bottom, the Monegasque crest recreated in red and white spun sugar on the middle tiers, and two cherubs holding a replica of the crown of Monaco on top.

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Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and Elvis Presley

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Credit: Frank Edwards

If you calculated the cost in today's dollars of the Presley's cake from their 1967 wedding, it would be $22,000! "The cake itself was a yellow sponge cake," Denis Martig, the pastry chef at the time at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas at the time, told Memphis Magazine. "Each layer was filled twice with apricot marmalade and a kirsch flavored Bavarian cream. All the layers were glazed with kirsch flavored fondant icing and decorated with royal icing and marzipan roses." 

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Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan

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Credit: Hulton Archive

Here the future president is seen with his first wife admiring their elaborate wedding cake at their January 25, 1940 reception in California.

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Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli

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Credit: Keystone

When Judy Garland married the second of her five husbands, Vincente Minnelli, in 1945 she served a small(ish) white cake topped with a classic wedding bell topper.

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Maria Hawkins Ellington and Nat King Cole

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Credit: Lisa Larsen

Surrounded by family and friends, the two American jazz singers cut into five-tiered wedding cake following their ceremony at the Abyssinian Baptist Church, in New York's Harlem neighborhood on March 28, 1948.

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Edith Piaf and Jacques Pills

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Credit: ullstein bild

The French cabaret singer and her first husband celebrated their newlywed status with Champagne and a petite (for the time) cake at their September 20, 1952 wedding.

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Angela Lansbury and Peter Shaw

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Credit: Walter Bellamy

We don't know what we love more—the British actress's lace wedding dress, or the fresh-flower topped cake the newlyweds cut into on August 13, 1949.

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Rita Hayworth and Dick Haymes

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Credit: Popperfoto

The cake that the Sands Hotel presented the actress and her fourth husband at their 1953 wedding was nearly as tall as the bride and groom!

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Joan Bennett Kennedy and Ted Kennedy

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Credit: Bachrach

At their November 29, 1958 nuptials, Ted and Joan Kennedy cut into a classic white wedding cake surrounded by fresh blooms.

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Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra

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Credit: AFP

The singer and the actress also cut into a wedding cake courtesy of the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas when they wed there on July 19, 1966.

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Peggy Lee and Bradford Dexter

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Credit: Hulton Archive

Here the American singer and actress and her second husband cut into a wedding-bell decorated cake on January 4, 1955 at their backyard reception at her West Los Angeles home.

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Elizabeth Taylor and Conrad Hilton Jr.

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Credit: Popperfoto

For her lavish first wedding on May 6, 1950, the actress and her hotel heir husband cut into a five-tiered cake topped with wedding bells at the Bel-Air Country Club in California. There's even video footage of the couple cutting the cake and Taylor taking the first bite.

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Lana Turner and Steve Crane

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Credit: John Kobal Foundation

Elizabeth Taylor wasn't the only actress to wed the same man twice! Lana Turner wed her second husband, Steve Crane, twice. Here they're seen on their first wedding day in 1942 kissing behind their petite wedding cake.

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Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan

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Credit: Keystone

When the American actress married the son of a sultan on May 27, 1949, she used his sword to cut into their rose-covered wedding cake.

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    1 of 17
    2 of 17 Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman
    3 of 17 Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and John F. Kennedy
    4 of 17 Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco
    5 of 17 Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and Elvis Presley
    6 of 17 Jane Wyman and Ronald Reagan
    7 of 17 Judy Garland and Vincente Minnelli
    8 of 17 Maria Hawkins Ellington and Nat King Cole
    9 of 17 Edith Piaf and Jacques Pills
    10 of 17 Angela Lansbury and Peter Shaw
    11 of 17 Rita Hayworth and Dick Haymes
    12 of 17 Joan Bennett Kennedy and Ted Kennedy
    13 of 17 Mia Farrow and Frank Sinatra
    14 of 17 Peggy Lee and Bradford Dexter
    15 of 17 Elizabeth Taylor and Conrad Hilton Jr.
    16 of 17 Lana Turner and Steve Crane
    17 of 17 Rita Hayworth and Prince Aly Khan

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    16 Vintage Celebrity Wedding Cakes You've Probably Never Seen
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