We've likely all thought about what crazy things we would do if we had all the money in the world. It turns out, that when some people get that money, they actually try to do those things. One of the world's super rich people once had a massive Lord of the Rings themed wedding and offered Sir Ian McKellan $1.5 million dollars to officiate it. Unfortunately for them, "Gandalf doesn't do weddings."
Back in 2013 former Facebook President, and founder of Napster, Sean Parker, had a massive Lord of the Rings themed wedding in the California redwoods. It was, by most accounts, a lavish, and mostly insane affair, but it turns out that the event could have been an ever bigger spectacle than it was. Ian McKellan recently told The Daily Mail that he was offered a million and a half bucks to officiate the wedding. He tells the paper that he very nearly accepted the offer. The only problem was that he would have been required to perform the ceremony dressed as Gandalf. The actor was apparently not willing to take that extra step, and so he declined the generous offer.
Sean Parker is worth billions of dollars, and as such, spending a million and a half on the officiate was certainly no big deal for him. And if you could have the actual Gandalf perform your wedding ceremony, wouldn't you? Weddings are like the one day where you can be unapologetically selfish, it's your day and if you want to do something nuts for no reason beyond the fact that it's what you want, go for it. If I'd had access to Sir Ian McKellan I might have asked him to perform my wedding. Of course, I'd ask him to dress like Magneto, but that's just me.
It's certainly worth a shot to ask the actor if he'd do the job. We've seen celebrities perform private concerts for some super rich people, or attend some high school prom for no reason beyond the fact that they want to be nice. You'll never know if Ian McKellan will perform your wedding unless you ask, and if you're a billionaire, you have the ability to do that. The offer was apparently made through an intermediary, which implies that there's somebody in this world who is friends with both Sean Parker and Ian McKellan. This person is the real celebrity, whoever they may be.
In the end, the ceremony was performed by a Unitarian Universalist minister, which seems like a significant step down from Ian McKellan, no word as to whether or not he was dressed as Gandalf. Personally, I would have let McKellan just do the wedding in a suit.
