The Most Extravagant Celebrity Proposals of All Time

Year: 2004
Total Est. Cost: $5,500 (not including ring)*

Seal proposed to Heidi Klum back in 2004, taking her on a ski trip to Whistler, a resort in Canada, to ask her to marry him. The British singer brought the supermodel to an igloo that was made just for the occasion, tucked inside an ice cave on a glacier. 

Heidi Klum and Seal @heidilum / Twitter.com | ©Vova Shevchuk / Shutterstock.com

After she said yes, the pair jetted off to Seal’s home in Mexico to soak up some sun. Just five months later, Seal and Klum married in Mexico. Tacking on the cost of airfare to an already expensive ski trip, the pair are looking at a minimum of $5,000 dollars, not including the 10 carat Lorraine Schwartz canary diamond engagement ring, which cost Seal $150,000. 

Year: 1962
Total Est. Cost: $6,578,500 (necklace sold in 2011)*

Liz Taylor and Richard Burton fell in love on the set of Cleopatra, ending up plastered on the tabloids as the two were both married to other people at the time. They managed to hide away from paparazzi long enough to go jewelry shopping, though. 

Elizabeth Tylor and Richard Burton ©William Lovelace / Gettyimages.com

Burton took Taylor to her favorite jeweler, Gianni Bulgari himself. There, the two picked out a sixteen-carat Colombian emerald pendant necklace with a detachable brooch to mark their engagement. The necklace also had sixteen emeralds around it, each decorated with its own diamonds. The extraordinary bling must’ve cost an exorbitant amount back then, and sold for over six-and-a-half million in 2011 at an auction.

Year: 2016
Total Est. Cost: $10.2 million*

When Australian billionaire James Packer proposed to Mariah Carey back in 2016, he did so by surprising her with a private dinner with her closest friends at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park in New York City. For one couple to eat in the dining room of the fine dining establishment, it costs around $700, so it certainly costs well into the thousands to rent out the place. 

Mariah Carey and James Packer ©Neilson Barnard / Gettyimages.com

Packer got down on one knee in front of her friends and proposed with a whopping diamond ring of 35 carats. The ring was reportedly worth a massive $10 million, though after the pair split Carey sold it to a jeweler in Los Angeles for considerably less, recouping only $2.1 million. 

Year: 2018
Total Est. Cost: $250,000 (including Tiffany & Co. ring)*

Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra had a rather unorthodox courtship period, so it only follows that they had a unique engagement. After a few dates with a year in between, one of which was the Met Gala, Nick Jonas rented out a Tiffany & Co. store so that Priyanka could pick out her ring. 

After that, he whisked her away to Crete for her birthday and then waited until after midnight to pop the question, ensuring that her birthday and their anniversary wouldn’t be the same day. Between the ring, the trip to Greece, and renting out the entire London Tiffany’s, it’s no wonder that the engagement cost roughly a quarter of a million dollars.  

Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra @HulchulTv / Twitter.com

Year: 1955
Total Est. Cost: $875,000 (excluding jewelry)*

While the engagement itself was low-key, everything that followed the iconic couple’s engagement was anything but. The Prince proposed to Kelly at her family home in Pennsylvania in 1955 over the Christmas holiday. In early January, after the couple made a formal announcement, there was a party held at the home of an heir of the DuPont fortune in Delaware.

Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco @haymills / Pinterest.com

Then, another, larger celebration was held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City, no doubt costing the family a pretty penny. Prince Rainier III had her initial ring made by repurposing family heirlooms, later giving her a Cartier ring to wear during the filming of her next movie. For the marriage to take place, Kelly’s family paid a $2 million dowry.

Year: 2009
Total Est. Cost: $145,600*

To propose to the Brazilian supermodel, Brady lied and told her there was a flood at her home. When she got home, the apartment was not flooded, but covered with rose petals and candles. He got down on one knee, and Bundchen immediately stopped him, as he was recovering from an ACL surgery that had gotten infected. 

Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady ©Stefanie Keenan / Gettyimages.com

The football star insisted on kneeling and asked her to marry him with an enormous diamond engagement ring. The four-carat diamond ring is estimated by Vogue to be worth around $145,000, and the apartment “flooded” with roses and candles must have tacked on an additional several hundred dollars.

Year: 2013
Total Est. Cost: $3 million*

Like most other aspects of the reality television queen’s life, her proposal to Kanye West was all caught on video. The rapper rented out AT&T Park, the baseball stadium in San Francisco, and hired a 50-piece orchestra to play Lana Del Rey songs.

Kim Kadarshian and Kayne West @TheFirmBizRecords / Facebook.com

He had the giant screen light up with the big question, and all of Kim’s family and closest friends hid in the dugout until she said yes. Kanye then presented her with a 15-carat ring that was one of three he had designed by legendary jeweler Lorraine Schwartz.

Year: 2007
Total Est. Cost: $5 million*

Beyonce and Jay-Z share a notoriously private relationship, with only the largest details getting leaked to the press, often months after the fact. While the details of the engagement were never released, it seems that he popped the question on her birthday in 2007. 
Luckily, however, we do have all the juicy details about the ring, which cost the iconic rapper a staggering $5 million. Designed by celebrity favorite Lorraine Schwartz, the ring features a flawless emerald-cut diamond weighing in at 18 carats. 

Beyoncé and Jay-Z @ellemagazine / Facebook.com

Year: 2019
Total Est. Cost: $3 million*

Alex Rodriguez proposed to Jennifer Lopez while on a lavish getaway to the Bahamas. About the engagement, he said he was more nervous than ever before, practicing how it would go down for the three days prior. Fortunately, Lopez said yes right after he asked her the question on the beach.

Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez @accesshollywood / Twitter.com

Rodriguez proposed with an enormous emerald-cut diamond ring, which is estimated to cost between $1 million and $3 million. The diamond is 15-carats, contributing quite a bit to what was no doubt already an expensive Caribbean vacation. 

Year: 2012
Total Est. Cost: $2 million*

While Ryan Reynolds may have starred in a movie called The Proposal that was a huge blockbuster hit, no one has seen how he actually popped the question to his now-wife, Blake Lively, who rose to fame from her appearance in the TV series Gossip Girl. 

Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds ©Denis Makarenko / Shutterstock.com

What we do know is that the ring he proposed with is another Lorraine Schwartz sparkler. The $2 million ring features a 12-carat diamond set in a rose gold band lined with diamonds. Rose gold continued to be a theme in the couple’s nuptials, as Lively wore a wedding gown embroidered with the color on her special day. 

Year: 2012
Total Est. Cost: $500,000*

Justin Theroux proposed to Jennifer Aniston on her 41st birthday with quite the ring. Fit for a sitcom queen, the jewelry features a classic gold band that houses an 8-carat solitaire diamond. Even years later though, Aniston admitted it wasn’t exactly what she wanted.

Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux ©Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com

The Friends star said that diamonds aren’t really her style, instead opting for funkier, alternative looks. Despite this, she opted to keep the ring even after things didn’t pan out with her and Theroux. Maybe if he knew her well enough to know her style of jewelry, it would have spelled better things for their relationship.

Year: 2010
Total Est. Cost: $20,000*

While the engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton might be the most historically valuable on the list, it certainly wasn’t the most expensive. On holiday in Kenya, Will popped the question using a ring given to him by his mother, Princess Diana. Diana gave him the ring that his father had used to propose to her.

Kate Middleton and Prince William ©Bart Lenoir / Shutterstock.com

The heirloom, a sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds, only cost Prince Charles $37,000 when he bought it out of a catalog for Diana. The stunning white gold ring with the 12-carat sapphire center is now worth $500,000 due to its significance, though Prince William didn’t have to pay a cent. 

Year: 2005
Total Est. Cost: $1.5 million (for the ring)*

The famous couple got engaged after only a few months of dating, with Cruise popping the question at the base of the Eiffel tower. He asked her to marry him with an impressive $1.5 million ring; an unusual Edwardian-cut diamond weighing in at 5-carats. 

Though he spent a million-and-a-half on the ring alone, Cruise probably spent nothing on the other elements of the Eiffel Tower engagement. The two were already in Paris, each to promote a film project of their own, and the Eiffel Tower is cheap to visit, costing less than 20 euros per person. 

Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise ©Everett Collection / Shutterstock.com

Year: 2019
Total Est. Cost: “Hundred of thousands”*

Ryan Serhant and Emilia Bechrakis might not be household names, but those in the know recognize them as stars on the show Million Dollar Listing New York on Bravo. As a New York couple through and through, where else would be a better location for a proposal than Times Square?

Emilia Bechrakis and Ryan Serhant @innerexpressionsny / @SuccessResourcesIR / Facebook.com

Serhant paid “hundreds of thousands [of dollars]” to shut down Times Square in its entirety, leading Bechrakis through the empty red chairs to an eight-piece orchestra to ask the question. Knowing full well what was happening, Bechrakis sobbed as he led her through empty Times Square, as his bank account, no doubt did too.