Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos Urge Micro-Weddings After Their $179 Elopement
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 21
Kelly Ripa, Mark Consuelos Urge Micro-Weddings After Their $179 Elopement
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 21
Summary
Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos told couples to skip big weddings and embrace smaller, cheaper celebrations, calling 2026 “the year of the cost-effective wedding.”
Ripa said the trend favors tiny ceremonies, bigger parties, buffet meals, secondhand dresses and a single ceremony ring because lavish spending on flowers, dresses and venues “doesn’t make sense.”
Their advice draws on their own May 1996 Las Vegas elopement, which Ripa said cost $179 including airfare and remains a wedding they both loved.
Ripa has said her only regret was not paying extra for flowers, joking that one wedding photo looks awkward because she had nothing to hold.
The comments landed as Forbes projected Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s speculated wedding could drive a $2.2 billion rise in global wedding spending over two years.