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5 of the Most Expensive Wedding Presents Ever

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 19:22:23 +0000

On their wedding day most couples can expect to be showered with an array of decidedly mediocre gifts. The traditional offering is something for the home, be it a trendy toaster or a silly shower curtain. These gifts are often uninspiring and are the perfect example of the old adage “It’s the thought that counts”.

She is not impressed.

With the wealthy elite, however, wedding presents can be used as a symbol of status—a way to impress your peers and ‘flash your cash’. These gifts can amaze and astound with their ostentatious extravagance and, if intended, overshadow even the wedding itself.

Here are the most expensive wedding presents. Ever.

5. The Star of the East—$144,000 (£93,000)

Old-school bling wins.

An American mining heiress and socialite, Evelyn Walsh Mclean, was the daughter of Thomas Walsh, an Irish immigrant who made his millions from mining and prospecting. In 1908, Evelyn married Edward Beale Mclean, the heir to a large publishing fortune. For their wedding the couple received $100,000 (£65,000) each from their respective fathers with which to get Evelyn a wedding gift.

All that money and still she doesn’t smile.

The wedding gift Evelyn’s father had suggested was “The Star of the East”, a 95-carat, pear-shaped diamond, mounted on a chain below a hexagonal emerald of 34 carats and a pearl of 32 grains. Upon seeing the diamond, Evelyn was spellbound and is reported to have bought the gift immediately, using an additional $20,000 (£13,000) dollars of her new husband’s money, bringing the total cost of the gift up to $120,000 (£78,000). On top of that the couple was forced to pay an undisclosed amount of import tax, reckoned to be around $24,000 (£15,000).

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4. Clive Christian Perfume Set—$450,000 (£293,000)

Luckily, they arranged the bottles C then W, and not the other way around.

The Clive Christian No.1 Imperial Majesty Edition is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s most expensive perfume. This isn’t surprising as its ingredients cost $2,350 (£1,530) per ounce and include Italian cinnamon rose, which requires at least 170 blossoms for a single drop of oil.

The bottle includes a 24-carat gold collar with a 5-carat diamond inset; a one-of-a-kind seal commissioned by Queen Victoria over 135 years ago, and is made from a material so difficult to work with that one out of every three attempts to create a bottle fails.

Royals don’t use tongues—it’s not dignified.

For the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William, Clive Christian presented the pair with “his and hers” editions of his signature scent in a luxurious silk lined case adorned with an ornate, hand-embroidered, gold coat of arms. This one-of-a-kind gift is technically priceless, as it cannot be bought, but to commission such an item would cost close to half a million dollars.

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3. Custom Gulfstream Jet—$20,000,000 (£13,000,000)

Superman took this picture.

One of the most famous celebrity couples in the world, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise, married on November 18, 2006, in a $3.5m (£2.3m) ceremony at the fifteenth-century Odescalchi Castle in Bracciano, Italy. For their engagement Cruise had given Holmes a $275,000 (£178,000) Fred Leighton oval-shaped diamond ring; however, for his wedding gift to her he decided to set the stakes a little higher.

She is kneeling down.

Cruise is known to be a fan of personal jets, having owned a Gulfstream IV for a number of years. So, it is no surprise that he would want his bride-to-be to travel in similar style. Some people may consider giving their loved one a $20,000,000 customized Gulfstream Jet, to be a bit ”over-the-top”, but if you’ve ever seen an interview with Tom Cruise, you’ll know that’s exactly his style.

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2. Wedding Stadium—$22,000,000 (£14,000,000)

This makes every present you ever got look pathetic.

In 1981, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, married Princess Salama. To celebrate the occasion, the Sheikh’s father, the Ruler of Dubai, provided the venue for the wedding, which is not an unusual gesture for a parent to make.

More royalty should wear sunglasses.

In this case, however, the venue happened to be a purpose-built 20,000-seat stadium, at an estimated cost of around 22 million dollars. Upon completion, the couple enjoyed a week-long celebration within the stadium of their marriage. Even though the wedding was over two decades ago, it is still in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive wedding ever, costing an incredible $100,000,000 (£65,000,000).

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1. Two Towns—Priceless

This is only half of the gift.

In 1659 Portugal was abandoned by its ally France. Fearing for her country’s security, the then regent, Queen Luisa, opened up negotiations with England that were to end in an alliance that still lasts to this day. This alliance was secured by the marriage of the recently restored monarch, Charles II of England, to Catherine of Braganza.

The original pimp.

As was the tradition of the age, a dowry was given to the husband as “payment” for taking over possession of the wife. Usually, a royal dowry would consist of precious jewels and metals, but the dowry Charles II received was rather more extravagant—he was given the towns of Tangiers and Bombay (modern day Mumbai). The price of this gift is incalculable as both towns are now world-class cities, creating billions of dollars of money every year.

If a single person where in sole possession of these two cities, they would be the richest person in the world.

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There you have it, five dazzling ways in which well wishers have approved the joining of lives that wedding represent. Don’t worry if your wedding presents don’t pass the 100k amount – love should not cost your life savings. You can’t by happiness, or love for that matter.

The Biggest Tree House Ever Made

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 18:38:04 +0000

This has to be every children’s dream; a gigantic tree house. The self-taught carpenter and landscape architect Horace Burgess built this great tree house in Crossville TN after God told him to do so, as he claims himself. He started building in 1993 and hasn’t finished yet. It consists of 10 floors and weighs 5700 pounds.

Each floor is about 11 feet high and measures between 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, and it’s 97 feet tall. 400 to 500 people visit this tree house every week, and you can find people from each state that comes to see this madness. Of course this great house will enter soon into Guinness book of records, Burgess will just have to have the right measures first.

As for now he is still adding new pieces to the house that are recycled lumber from garages, storage sheds and barns. What to do than to wish him good luck with this awesome project. Some other great tree houses are these ones in Costa Rica where people actually live in their own little world.

Artistic Subway System Of Stockholm

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:54:14 +0000

When you enter the subway system in Stockholm, you’re not sure whether you’ve entered an art exhibition or a transport system. That subway system is said to be the longest art exhibition in the world, about 110 kilometers in length. There are 100 subway stations around Stockholm, and about 90 of them are decorated with old and new art. Everything from sculptures to paintings.

150 artists have participated in this project to make the Stockholm subway an amazing traveling experience, and it is part of a long tradition. When you sit on one of the trains and travel underground you feel like you are traveling through time. In some stations the roof has a bright and crazy color.

Another station looks like an archaeological excavation, while others have modern style several arrows painted in different directions. You can find all kind of art, and it’s open for everyone. Something completely opposite is this abandoned subway in Cincinnati.

The Amazing Falkirk Wheel Of Scotland

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:11:22 +0000

How is it possible to transport a huge boat from one water level to another much higher one? Scotland has the answer; a gigantic wheel that lifts boats. We are talking about the famous Falkirk Wheel that is an engineering landmark for Scotland.

It opened in 2002 and is connecting the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It has such an elegant structure which works in a way that the boat is first placed inside on one of the ring gears; then it rotates 180 degrees to lift up the boat. It has two ring gears, so there is always one empty ready to take in new boats.

It has an overall diameter of 35 metres (115 ft) and its design is inspired by a Celtic double-headed axe. It works on the Archimedes principle of displacement which means that the volume of the boat sailing into the ring will be a proportional mass of water so the final combination balances the original total volume, no wonder it’s a great landmark and something Scotland is proud of.

While we are at the landmark topic, here are a great one in Bulgaria – the Belogradchik Rocks.

Unbelievably Realistic Paintings

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 19:15:28 +0000

At first I thought this was real black and white photographs, but then I realized it was paintings. Amazing is the perfect word for Spanish painter Juan Bautista Nieto’s work. And if you wonder how he can draw such perfect human bodies, the answer is: he studied medicine before studying art.

He uses a combination of acrylic and oil paint, and he paints with an air-brush method. He uses a lot of time on each painting because he wants it all to be very detailed, so he produced a couple of paintings every year.

He says himself that only one painting take about 6 to 9 months to finish. In his work you will see a lot of female bodies, either dressed or half undressed.

The work is so delicate that you can sit a really long time just staring at them trying to figure out one flaw that would make it look more like a painting than a photo. Other realistic paintings are these cinematic paintings.

The Perfect 1960′s American Town

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:16:13 +0000

An typical American town from the 1960′s, untouched like it has frozen in time. How is that even possible? Well, at first glance this looks like a real town with all the Chevys parked around, the cinema, the toy stores and all the dining places. It’s like entering a movie scene, but where are the people?

You will maybe be disappointed when you hear that this is a miniature town built by Michael Paul Smith. He has called this little kingdom Elgin Park, and it’s a mental combination of memory and fiction brought to life by this great artist.

The photos he takes of his little town look freakishly real. He has even brought some rain to one of the scenes, and with the lights and all it just looks like reality. This is a proof that camera or photos can lie.

Photos of Elgin Park has been launched in a book that you can buy on Amazon. Speaking of miniature models, take a look at the world’s smallest aquarium with baby fish swimming around.

Puzzlewood – Tolkien’s Major Inspiration For LOTR

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:07:31 +0000

Puzzlewood is an ancient woodland site in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. It has become a popular location for filming, and as you may know, J.R.R. Tolkien has used this woodland as inspiration for Lord of the Rings.

Only he has called it Middle-Earth. This place is so magical that you would really think there are elves, wizards and hobbits there. When it comes to geology, Puzzlewood is full of scowles, and it has an amazing cave system.

It also include ancient trees and a confusing maze of paths. The owner of this woodland laid down a mile of pathways to provide access to the woods, but today it’s a tourist attraction.

Though Tolkien never used Puzzlewood as a movie locations, other BBC TV shows have, like Merlin, “The Labyrinth of Gedref” and “The Nightmare Begins”. Not far away you can find Hobbit-looking homes in Wales.

Via Flickr.

The Crannog of Loch Tay

Mon, 31 Oct 2011 17:42:34 +0000

The definition of a crannog has to be “artificial island, usually built in lakes, rivers and estuarine waters”. They have been variously interpreted as free-standing wooden structures, as at Loch Tay. The word “crannog” is from Old Irish and means young tree.

They were made to protect the more wealthy families of a population. Scotland has now 400 crannogs, but Ireland still holds the record with over a thousand of them. Besides being used by wealthy families, the crannogs have also served as non residential hunting and fishing stations, and holiday homes.

Now they have reconstructed a crannog on Loch Tay in Scotland, and it’s open to visitors everyday day from Easter to October. A team of archaeologists from Edinburgh University has given us a good picture of how the people lived in crannogs, so you can learn a lot by visiting it.

Speaking of floating residents, here you have the floating island of Lake Titicaca where people actually live.

Dark And Raw Movie Posters

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 22:00:49 +0000

These actually look like book covers, but they’re not, they are movie posters. Flickr User Traumatron Illustration form UK is the person behind them. He is drawing the movie posters with probably darkness as inspirations.

Because they are dark and raw, just like the covers of horror or fantasy books that you can find in the library. The movies that are represented are The Shining, Black Swan, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and many others very known films.

If you take a closer look at these movie posters, you will notice how scary the characters are, more scary than in the actual movies. The “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is working its creepiness. Some other amazing posters of famous movies are these minimalist ones.

Tataouine – A Desert Town Where Skywalker Was Born

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 10:51:14 +0000

Have you ever wondered if Luke Skywalker’s home planet is real? Well, the planet is still fictional, but the desert place we see in the movie is real. In the movie it’s called Tatooine, but the real desert town is named Tataouine, so I guess we all know where they got their inspiration from.

In the Star Wars movies Tatooine is a desert planet with two suns, but in reality it’s a small city in Tunisia in North Africa. The sand houses soon reminds you of Mos Espa, also the home of Luke’s father Anakin Skywalker that becomes a cruel Jedi.

In real life the houses are actually “cave dwellings” of the native Berber population, designed for coolness and protection. Today it’s a major tourist and film makers attraction.

A dream place for every Star Wars fan to visit. If you’d like to see a fun part of Star Wars, take a look at Darth Vader on vacation in Hawaii.