image: cherie6c

Your wedding day should be one of the most special days of your life, and that can mean big spending. If you’re super rich then it’s the perfect reason to blow some cash and host an event to remember. Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone is doing just that as his daughter Petra prepares to marry businessman James Stunt in a ceremony reportedly costing £1.3m

For that kind of money you can get Eric Clapton to play for the bargain price of just £240,000. If you think that seems extravagant, that’s just for the opening song- the rest of the entertainment will be provided by The Black Eyed Peas, who will receive £750,000 for their time. It is assumed they have a cheaper per-song fee than Clapton, otherwise the reception will be mighty short. Either that or Bernie has hired a mobile disco for when the crowd is really warmed up. After all, is it really a wedding without Dancing Queen?

That’s small change compared to some of the other available artists. The Rolling Stones have been known to charge up to £5m pounds for playing private parties. For an extra million they’ll put up a curtain so you don’t have to look at them.

It’s not just the entertainment that you can really splash out on. According to the New York Post, Kim Kardashian is set to spend $20,000(£12,000) on the cake for her forthcoming nuptials. The expensive confectionery is said to comprise 10 tiers of white cake plus chocolate chip frosting. Real classy Kim – for that kind of price you would expect at least diamonds to be ground into the frosting. Either that or its organic.

What is a bride without her dress? You can really find some spectacular ways to splash the cash. Kate Middleton’s Alexander McQueen dress was worth a reported £250,000  - that’s barely even 21 cakes! If you want the ultimate in wedding dresses then it has to be Martin Katz Jewelers and Renee Strauss’ $12m Diamond Wedding Gown. Like most wedding dresses, this one is white and shiny but mainly that’s because it’s laced with 150 carats worth of diamonds. Sounds heavy.

The venue sets the tone for the whole wedding. Madonna got married to Guy Richie in the splendour of Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands for the bargain price of just £34,ooo. Petra Ecclestone is set to marry at Odescalchi Castle in Italy- the same venue where Tom Cruise married Katie Holmes. No matter how rich you are, it seems there are always savings to be made. The castle waived the normal £30,000 charge for the Mission Impossible star as a gift to the couple. That generosity meant the Hollywood stars could afford the table centres they really wanted.

What would you pay for your dream wedding? Would any band make your day extra special? Tell us in the comments section below.

I’ve definitely picked the right girl – no doubts about that. All the major things for the ceremony are sorted – we have a venue, the future Mrs MoneyRaptor has picked out a lovely expensive dress to wear once in her life and we know more or less who we’re going to invite – but we still have a lot of the smaller things to finalise. We don’t know who we’re getting to do the catering, we don’t know what types of flowers we’re going to get (I didn’t know you got different types of flowers) and the bridesmaids have still got to choose their shoes. Decisions, decisions! Thankfully, the future Mrs MoneyRaptor and her mother (literally a fire breathing dragon) are taking care of most of it.

I am still worried though, and I’m typing the next part of the sentence touching as many different pieces of wood as possible – what if something goes wrong?

Now, I know this isn’t Hollywood – we’re both in love and we’re both going to turn up, neither of us has a secret lover or a horrid past that’s going to burst in the church to interrupt proceedings (wood, wood, wood), but what if one of us gets ill and can’t make it? What if someone – the dressmaker, the florist, the baker – doesn’t deliver on time and we’re lacking something to make our day perfect? What if part of the memorabilia – the photos, the video or the guestbook – goes missing? What happens to our day, our memories, our money?

The same goes for our new house – we’ve found one we like, we just have to hope no one else has spotted it yet – but we are worried about future problems. As well as all the normal and obvious needs, we need some sort of cover that will includes our garden equipment, protect us against accidents (dinos are very clumsy, you know) and, perhaps most importantly, a policy that doesn’t charge us extra every time we make a direct debit payment.

Coming back to our inherent clumsiness (mix clumsiness with sharp teeth and you don’t get a pretty sight), we’ll probably need some sort of policy to cover ourselves (do raptors need life insurance or pet insurance?), just in case, and neither of us are very medically minded so a policy that gives us access to information or a helpline.

Still, hopefully none of these thoughts will come to fruition and the firm grip I have on my desk will have fought off any fate that I may have tempted. I wonder if I can find an insurance policy that covers claw marks…