Wedding backlash: How rich is too rich to seek crowdfunding?
Source: Instagram
Online crowdfunding campaigns were once largely the preserve of struggling artists and entrepreneurs who used platforms like Kickstarter to help them get their dream projects off the ground.
Over the years they’re expanded to fund everything from school or sporting trips and medical bills, to business start-ups – but where, exactly, do we draw the line?
Turns out it might be when a celebrity couple said to have an estimated net worth of up to $11 million turns to a crowdfunding website to help pay for their wedding.
After the backlash earlier this year when GoFundMe pages were launched for the families of Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek and Grey’s Anatomy actor Eric Dane, who died within a week of each other, it was perhaps not surprising that American actor AnnaLynne McCord and former British rugby player Danny Cipriani’s dash for cash would ruffle some features.
McCord, best-known for her roles on TV shows 90210 and Days of Our Lives, and Cipriani, who spent time in Australia while playing for the Melbourne Rebels in the 2011 Super Rugby season, sought donations towards their Los Angeles wedding through US site Honeyfund.
The requested amounts ranged from $US100 ($A140) to $US600 ($A840) towards expenses such as the marriage licence, flowers, beverages and catering at their wedding reception, photography, the rehearsal dinner and even “wedding venue construction”.
“Help us create our dream wedding and honeymoon experience with any amount of donation,” urged the page, which was launched just three weeks ahead of their big day.
It sparked immediate criticism from some social media users, one of whom wrote on X: “If your reported $8 million can’t cover your wedding, I don’t think I’m the one with the budgeting problem.”
“Ridiculous. For heaven’s sake, you are adults, pay for your own wedding or tone it down,” another wrote.
Celebrity Net Worth puts McCord’s estimated net worth at $US4 million ($A5.59 million), with many media outlets claiming the pair have a combined worth of between $US8 million ($A11.19 million).
McCord told The Sun on the eve of the couple’s nuptials last weekend that she and Cipriani received death threats over the Honeyfund page, which she said was intended as a way for wedding guests to make a contribution in lieu of gifts.
“I was told I was despicable – and that I was trying to extort money from my wedding guests,” she told the tabloid.
“People actually donated $10 towards the wedding so they could write on the site that Danny and I were disgusting.”
In the end, five of the nine registry items on the Honeyfund page remained “unfulfilled” by the time the couple tied the knot in what has been described as an “elegant bohemian” backyard wedding at their LA home on August 22.
However, it didn’t seem to affect the celebrations, which People magazine reported included a “sacred day of blessings” with shamanic rituals and a friendly soccer match involving the bridal party – all before the wedding itself.
The Honeyfund page was still active mid-week, days after the wedding, with reports suggesting the couple are planning further ceremonies in London and at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.
When crowdfunding seems a bit rich
The global crowdfunding market has increased dramatically in recent years and is expected to continue growing, with one recent report projecting it will increase from $US2.08 billion ($A2.91 billion) in 2026 to $US5.81 billion ($A8.13 billion) by 2034.
But while this market includes everything from business start-up and investment opportunities, to creative projects and charitable causes, it is the crowdfunding campaigns by celebrities – or people connected to celebrities – that seem to generate the most widespread backlash.
The GoFundMe page launched by friends of Van Der Beek after his death from cancer in February initially prompted a huge outpouring of sympathy – and dollars – for his wife and six children, before some commentators began to question why such campaigns were needed for the families of famous people.
There were similar criticisms over a page started to help the partner and daughters of Dane, who died at just 53 from ALS, a form of motor neurone disease.
“How about donating to a charity instead of helping people that are already wealthy,” one social media user wrote about the Dane campaign, while others suggested celebrity donors should spread their cash elsewhere.
More recently, Priscilla Presley’s son, musician Navarone Garibaldi Garcia, was attacked for launching a GoFundMe campaign to raise $US5500 ($A7700) help kickstart his new business venture – serving “affordable organic pizza” from his driveway.
Explaining that he was offering free pizza to people who chipped in, Garcia said he was just seeking help to buy an oven that was “out of my budget”.
“Haters gonna hate … and I’m sure I’ll have to explain this many more times to ignorant people who think I should ‘ask my mom’ or that I have money,” he wrote at the time.
The top donor listed on Garcia’s GoFundMe page – which surpassed its target – was actually Priscilla Presley, who pitched in $US500.
Actor Alyssa Milano, who was at the centre of controversy two years ago when she set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for her son’s baseball trip, was among who spoke out in defence of the Dane and Van Der Beek GoFundMe pages.
She argued at the time that “visibility is not wealth”, and the actors’ friends were merely doing something ordinary in “passing the hat”.
“The idea that once you’ve been on a hit show you are permanently insulated from financial vulnerability is just not today’s reality,” Milano said.
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