PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 20 (UPI) -- This is turning into conspicuous consumption week.
Donald Trump will get married Saturday for the third time in what could be the most lavish wedding of the year.
Meanwhile, critics are carping about the cost of the presidential inauguration in Washington, where a tab of $40 million will be picked up mostly by private enterprise. But there are only a few complaints about Trump, who is doing the same thing in Palm Beach.
Private interests have jumped at the opportunity to help Trump get married again -- offering everything from free flowers to a complimentary gourmet meal for hundreds of invited guests.
A profit is even possible -- according to some people -- but that appears unlikely.
Replica wedding rings are on sale for $700 each and engagement rings for $600. The real engagement ring cost $1.5 million.
The Christian Dior wedding gown for Melania Knauss is reported to cost $100,000 to $200,000.
The 300 feet of satin includes 1,500 rhinestones and took 28 seamstresses 550 hours of labor just to do the embroidery. It weighs 50 pounds.
In what appears to be a solitary attempt to streamline, the bride, a 34-year-old Slovenian model, said she will not carry a bouquet of flowers. She will carry an old rosary instead.
"Why carry a bouquet, just to follow tradition?" she asked in a spread in Vogue magazine.
She also said she will not have any bridesmaids, although a sister, Ines, is listed as maid of honor.
The wedding will take place at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda by the Sea, and the reception will be at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, which has undergone a complete makeover over the last decade.
Mar-a-Lago is one of the most famous locations at Palm Beach along with the Kennedy compound. The 17-acre estate was built in 1928 by cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and in 1995 bought for $10 million by Trump, who turned it into a club for the rich and famous.
The guest list has 350 names on it including Muhammad Ali, Prince Albert of Monaco, Elton John, Clint Eastwood, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, David Letterman, Oprah Winfrey and Elton John. Noticeably absent from the list are Trump's former wives, Ivana and Marla.
Contestants from Trump's NBC series "The Apprentice," which was scheduled for its season debut Thursday night, also were not invited.
A list of those who accepted or declined is not available.
One of those invited who will be absent, however, is basketball star Shaquille O'Neal, who said he can't make it because his children are sick.
Trump, 58, said at one point he was entertaining thoughts of a live telecast, but that has somehow morphed into a virtual media blackout.
Just one black-and-white photo will be released until the day after the wedding when a flood of color pictures will be released.
As usual, all the restrictions have resulted in a media frenzy. Television crews including that of "Entertainment Tonight" and other celebrity shows have staked out locations around the church and Mar-a-Lago.
Leaks abound, including the guest list and descriptions of the wedding cake.
The Palm Beach Post reported there will be two cakes. The main cake that may weigh as much as 200 pounds and individual cakes consisting of replicas of the top tier for each guest.
The real cake is an orange Grand Marnier chiffon. It will be covered with 3,000 white roses made of icing.
The individual cakes are chocolate sponge with chocolate truffle filling and one rose on top.
In a front-page story last week, The New York Times said Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose restaurant is a tenant at Trump International in New York, will provide filet minon for the guests. The value is estimated at $43,000.
Jet Aviation has offered a welcome complete with a red carpet and champagne at the airport for arriving guests, and a fireworks extravaganza.
But even without the freebies, Trump can afford whatever it costs. His estimated worth is $5 billion.
Trump owns some of the most expensive real estate in the world, mostly in New York. His name is on some of the finest hotels, casinos and office complexes nationwide.
Security will be headed by Palm Beach Police Capt. Kirk Blouin, who has handled several presidential visits in the past.
He said his biggest concern is the paparazzi photo corps expected to try to make pictures from air, sea and land. There have been no requests to close the airspace above Mar-a-Lago, however.
Blouin said Trump is paying for off-duty police for the event, but Blouin won't disclose how many there are and where they will be posted.
The biggest concern is getting the guests from the church to the reception, two miles away.
The fireworks will require five firefighters and a fire engine on standby.
With all the hoopla, the question remains, will Trump's third marriage manage to hang together after two failures?
"I take it seriously," he told GLARE magazine. "I've always said that marriage is the greatest institution in the world when you get it right. I've been a great father and a lousy husband."
He said he is planning a change in the way he goes about it this time.
"This time around, I'm going to devote more time to my wife."
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