Guest wrote:Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie wedding sure to fuel media frenzy
Media circus of Prince William and Kate Middleton may be nothing compared to Brangelina
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Saturday, April 14, 2012
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Will and Kate were just the warm-up for the true wedding of the century.
After years of cohabitation, six kids and countless tabloid headlines, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie made it official: They plan to make it official.
If you thought the media circus involving the world's most glamorous couple was on overdrive before, just wait. Now that Brangelina are officially engaged, expect endless speculation about where and when they'll wed, what they'll wear, what their kids' roles will be, and who might get to attend the celebration.
"This is really a state wedding," said Stephen Galloway, executive editor of features at The Hollywood Reporter. "This is America's equivalent to Prince William and Kate Middleton."
He called the Brangelina wedding "the media event of the new century."
Pitt's manager confirmed the couple's engagement Friday after Jolie was spotted wearing a diamond ring on her wedding finger. Jeweler Robert Procop said he spent a year working with Pitt to design the ring.
"The prominent engagement ring is giving the world a warning," Galloway said. "It says look out, get ready."
But Bradley Jacobs, a senior editor at Us Weekly, sees things differently. He anticipates the wedding will be a private, even low-key affair.
"I don't think you're going to see a bunch of fanfare," he said. "It's certainly not going to be a Kim Kardashian-style wedding... It's going to be very subdued."
Still, expect massive media coverage either way: "We will not rest until we know when and where and how and who's going to be there," Jacobs said.
Entire magazine issues could be devoted to each star's wedding-day outfits and hairdos.
"Every single designer on the planet will be pursuing Angelina for the dress," Galloway said. "It's literally worth millions of dollars in business."
Jolie's wedding dress is a career-making outfit for the winning designer.
Even Pitt's look leaves room for ample speculation: Long hair or short? Facial scruff or clean shaven? A classic tuxedo? And designed by whom?
Then there's the guest list. Who will be the best man and maid of honor? Will Jolie's father, Jon Voight, attend? Will George Clooney be in the house? Jolie has said she doesn't have many close friends.
"This is going to be a map of the inner state of their private life," Galloway said. "This is like Kremlinology. You'll be able to read all sorts of things into this wedding."
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Regardless of the size of the celebration or where it takes place, the Jolie-Pitt wedding has major economic implications. Journalists from all over the world will swarm to the wedding location; the designers of each nuptial element will see their businesses boom; the rights to the photos and footage will be haggled over by publishers and broadcasters with deep pockets.
Galloway predicts the bidding has already begun.
"A mini-industry in itself will be created as a result," he said. "The money generated by the wedding in direct fees to them and indirect income to other people will be more than the equivalent of everything the two of them have earned in their career. You're talking about two empires meeting."
Some of that revenue will, of course, be in magazine sales.
After the rash of celebrity divorces last year, Brangelina fans "will be happy to see them affirm their relationship and what they mean to each other," Jacobs said.
And they might be just as eager to read accounts of why the wedding is not to be. Galloway speculates that "between now and whenever the wedding takes place, there will be at least a dozen stories that say it's off; Brangelina call it quits."