Extreme Wedding Planning

How much is too much when it comes to wedding extravagances? The bar seems to rise every year—fueled in part by detailed coverage of lavish celebrity nuptials. Seventeen million people watched the 2004 wedding of Trista and Ryan, the couple from ABC's The Bachelorette. Trista wore $50,000 shoes encrusted with more than 200 diamonds. (No word on whether there were diamonds on the soles of her shoes.) This year, Mariah Carey out-jeweled Trista with a 17 carat diamond ring.

While not many people can afford double-digit carats on their hands, or their feet, some non-celebrity couples are giving the stars a run for their money. From having a dance choreographed to reflect the personality of the bride and groom, to spending $20,000 so that each guest can have their own tiny, tiered wedding cake, there doesn't seem to be a limit to what a creative Bridezilla (or Groomzilla) can order up. Here are nine of the wildest wedding extravagances of the season.

1. Dancing with the Wedding Stars. For anyone who's watched too much of the popular dance contest TV show, or thinks that a waltz just won't cut it for that first dance, there's an alternative. Hire a choreographer to create a dance designed to reflect your personality and that of your future spouse. And we're not talking about a slow dance with a few dips. The most requested choreographed dances are up-beat with high kicks, shimmies and shakes. "A lot of people take slow-dance classes, but that only creates an awkward first dance that's not about you," says Gabriella Barnstone, co-founder of MatriMony Mony, a New York City dance studio that has been creating wedding dances for the last five years. Barnstone says that in the last year, as word about the dances has spread, business has doubled. And while this is one of the few studios that specializes in wedding choreography, many dance studios will offer the service on request.

Barnstone and MatriMony Mony co-founder Emily Greenhill interview the bridal couple in a casual setting about their dislikes, how they met, and what their first song will be. They then use that information to create a dance. For example, Barnstone took note when Rachel Venokur and Christopher Clark, who were married June 1, told her that they loved the television show Will and Grace. The next thing the couple knew, they were channeling Karen's trademark hip and arm swings to the beat of their "first dance" song choice "You're My Best Friend," by Queen. (Good thing their favorite show wasn't ER.) The cost? For $1,500, the bride and groom get the choreography, one rehearsal, and a video of the session. Extra brush-up sessions are $200 an hour.

2. Bridesmaid Pre-Nuptial Agreement. Yes, you read that right. If having to squeeze into a puffy, unflattering horror of a dress wasn't bad enough, now bridesmaids have another indignity to contend with. Some brides are so worried about the way their wedding party will look, they have a lawyer draw up a pre-nup that can include things like requiring that a bridesmaid not gain more than 7 pounds before the wedding, not consume too much alcohol at the reception, vow to take extra care of her skin and hair, and not to make any inappropriate advances toward male guests at the reception. [For a peek at a sample agreement, go to the American Bar Association Website).

Although brides who've used pre-nups were reluctant to go on the record for this story, several of them explained that the agreements were necessary to ensure that their day was perfect.