Photo: Paramount Pictures/Courtesy Neal Peters Collection
Audrey Hepburn, the ultimate iconic trendsetter (you can thank her for your go-to LBD hanging in your closet), apparently also paved the way when it comes to secret celebrity weddings! Yes, Hepburn did it before it was even cool, but does that really even surprise any of you? In a slew of never-before-seen handwritten letters Audrey Hepburn penned throughout the years, the screen star revealed the details of her top-secret wedding to Mel Ferrer, and they’re making us wish for a time machine!
It’s been over 60 years since Hepburn said her “I do’s,” and celebs everywhere are still sneakily tying the knot. (We’re looking at you Jen and Justin, Ashton and Mila, Angelina and Brad…) Audrey, you little trailblazer, you. The letters, written in Hepburn’s elegant cursive and turquoise ink, were penned between 1951 and 1960 and addressed to her friend and elocution coach Sir Felix Aylmer Aylmer, according to Vanity Fair. They’re expected to fetch $6,000 in an auction later this month, but no need to drop that serious cash. You can put it back in your wedding budget y’all, because we’ve got Hepburn’s secret big day deets right here!
“How dearly we would love you to be with us on our wedding day,” the legendary star wrote, referencing the 1954 low-key nuptials in Switzerland she was planning to actor Mel Ferrer, her eventual co-star in the Broadway play Ondine, Sabrina, and War and Peace. “We will have the car take you up to our mountain peak, Friday, for a gathering in our chalet of our nearest and dearest!… Saturday will be the wedding… We want to keep it a dark secret in order to have it without the ‘press.'” The ‘I do’s’ were to take place in “a tiny chapel with a wedding breakfast after,” the letters further revealed.
Photo: Getty Images
Reportedly Aylmer was unable to make it to the wedding (excuse us while we rage that someone actually said no to an Audrey Hepburn wedding invitation), but for the big day, Hepburn donned a tea-length flared dress with a satin sash, ballgown sleeves and a high neck, paired with elbow-length gloves — an ensemble designed by Pierre Balmain. She also sported a crown of white roses (again, before it was cool…) for that doe-eyed princess bride type look.
Sadly, this was one hush-hush wedding that didn’t last. Hepburn and Ferrer split 14 years later in 1968. But secret nuptials and flower crowns?! Such a trendsetter, that Audrey…
See More: These Iconic Celebrity Brides Are #WeddingDayGoals