Most people in the throes of wedding planning are happy to share details of the impending nuptials with family and close friends.
But these days, more couples are choosing to wed in a way so secret that even those invited to the wedding don't know exactly what they are attending.
Perhaps the most high-profile of recent secretly wed couples would be billionaire Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg and his doctor wife Priscilla Chan. The 100 or so guests who attended their simple backyard wedding were told it was a surprise party to celebrate Chan's graduation from medical school. Instead, she emerged in a US$4,700 bridal gown by designer Claire Pettibone, and the couple treated their friends to food from their favourite restaurants in local Palo Alto. Given that Zuckerberg's net worth is about US$15 billion, he could have afforded to do something far more extravagant.
This is an interesting factor among couples who choose to marry on the down-low: whether they are celebrities or not, their decision is mostly driven by reasons other than financial.
In recent years, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock and LeAnn Rimes all had weddings orchestrated not just to elude the paparazzi, but to surprise their friends, who had no idea that a supposedly casual get-together would lead to a vow exchange.
It's also happened in Hong Kong. Canto-pop crooner Andy Lau Tak-wah secretly married his long-time girlfriend Carol Chu Lai-sin in 2008, not even telling people after the fact. Singer Miriam Yeung Chin-wah married publicist Real Ting Chi-ko privately last year in Las Vegas, although there are plans for the typically splashy Chinese banquet. And another megastar, Leon Lai Ming, married model Gaile Lai Kei-yi also in Las Vegas, away from the glare of the spotlight.
Still, the reasons for having such a wedding can be bittersweet.