Remember When Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere Got Married in Vegas?

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bernhard

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Long before Bella Hadid and The Weeknd coupled up and ages predating Gigi Hadid and Zayn’s Insta-worthy romance, the ultimate model love story was all about Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere.

It was, after all, a romance built for the tabloids. The two met in 1988; she was just 22 and had been featured on the cover of over 300 magazines, while he was 39 and had cemented his role as Hollywood heartthrob following his part in American Gigolo.

As the story goes, the pair met at the backyard BBQ of beloved fashion and portrait photographer, Herb Ritts. And then? “We talked, then we had a date, then we had another date,” Crawford said. It didn’t take long for the two to become Hollywood’s hottest couple, appearing together on red carpets, tabloid covers, and cropping up at the hottest restaurants in Los Angeles and Manhattan.

Gere was, at first, uncertain about marrying Crawford. He thought it was too suburban and he had reservations about making the wrong decision. But on a lark, he put those thoughts aside and the duo took the plunge on December 12, 1991. Gere was on a single night break from filming Mr. Jones, when he and Crawford, plus a few close friends, boarded a private jet to Las Vegas.

The two chose to exchange vows at an iconic Sin City chapel, The Church of the West, which is also where Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton tied the knot. Due to the last minute nature of their wedding, Gere and Crawford solidified their union not with a pair of matching Cartier bands or something sparkling for her from Harry Winston—but with rings fashioned out of aluminum foil. Plus, she wasn’t even wearing a white; Crawford walked down the aisle in a navy suit from Armani.

“It wasn’t the wedding I dreamed of. It was so last minute,” she once said about the nuptials. However, there was one detail that she was rather pleased about: that Ritts served as not only her bridesmaid, but also as the official wedding photographer. Sadly, their happy union only lasted for four more years, as Gere and Crawford announced their divorce in 1995.

There was plenty of speculation about their breakup, including rumors that both husband and wife were gay, that their marriage was simply a publicity stunt, or that they simply weren’t spending enough time at home together.

But as Crawford put it, the age gap was hard to get over. “I think I was more willing at 22 to be, like, ‘Okay, I’ll follow,’ but then you start going, ‘Well, I don’t want to just follow—I want to lead sometimes and I want to walk side by side sometimes,’” she admitted.

Regardless, Crawford finally had the wedding of her dreams when she married Rande Gerber in the Bahamas in 1998. And yes, she wore a white dress for the seaside nuptials.

“I wore John Galliano off the rack,” she explained. “I couldn’t shop for wedding dresses because we wanted to keep the wedding a secret. So I told a stylist friend we were going to a white party on the beach.” Now that’s a truly iconic model wedding.

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