President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are celebrating a historic anniversary on January 22, 2025. This day marks the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary.
In 2005, long before real estate developer Trump became the 45th and now 47th president of the United States, he married his fiancee, model Melania Knauss, in a wedding ceremony with 350 invited to Bethesda-By-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, Florida. The couple met in 1998 at a party in New York City.
Their wedding was followed by a star-studded reception at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
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The lavish wedding was described at the time as fit for royalty – from the spectacular dress worn by Melania Trump to the impeccably decorated reception at Trump’s private club.
The future first lady wore a $100,000 Christian Dior wedding dress. It consisted of a 13-foot train and a 16-foot long beaded veil that reportedly took over 500 hours of hand sewing to create, according to published accounts of the event in The Palm Beach Post and The Palm Beach Daily News in time.
The couple are pictured celebrating with friends on New Year’s Eve before they were married on January 22, 2005. (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)
Donald J. Trump’s ballroom at Mar-a-Lago was reportedly decorated with 10,000 flowers for the occasion.
The chefs served caviar and Cristal champagne was available for 500 guests.
In a January 2005 account, The Palm Beach Daily News said the dinner included “beggars bags filled with caviar, tenderloins, miniature wedding cakes and the finest Cristal poured into one of those magical glasses that never is never empty.”
On January 21, 2005, in West Palm Beach, Melania Knauss is seen leaving the Bethesda Episcopal Church by the Sea after her wedding rehearsal with Donald Trump on Friday afternoon. The two were married at the church Saturday night (Greg Lovett/West Palm Beach-USA TODAY NETWORK). (Greg Lovett/USA Today/Imagn)
On January 22, 2005, a worker is seen placing flowers around the entrance of Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, where Trump married Melania Knauss in Palm Beach, Florida. (Steve Mitchell/USA Today/Imagn)
The interior of the church in Bethesda-by-the-Sea in West Palm Beach is shown on January 18, 2005. Trump’s wedding took place on January 22, 2005. (Jeffrey Langlois/USA Today/Imagn)
The report continued: “Long tables for 20 filled the ballroom, with its sparkling chandeliers and sweeping gold leaf. Designer Preston Bailey set the tables in cream and gold, from the linens and china to the flatware. .
“Great candelabras were draped from top to bottom with white orchids and roses,” the account continued. “A stage at the east end of the room held the Michael Rose Orchestra.
“This was not your typical wedding reception,” the society column continued in 2005.
Melania Trump is greeted after marrying Donald Trump at Bethesda Episcopal Church by the Sea in West Palm Beach, January 22, 2005. (Jeffrey Langlois/Palm Beach Daily News/Imagn)
Writing in her latest best-selling memoir, Melania, the first lady said of her wedding day, “Although my wedding was grand in scale … what I felt in my heart was what every bride feels other on her special day. The pressure to make sure everything went smoothly was definitely real, but at the end of the day, my main focus was celebrating Donald and my love and commitment, surrounded by my loved ones.”
Present at the ceremony were representatives of the media, Hollywood stars and many others.
Group portrait of, from left, the Trumps and TV hosts Joy and Regis Philbin as they pose together at the Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach, Florida, 2005. (Davidoff Studios/Getty Images)
Also on hand for the grand occasion were award-winning musicians Paul Anka, Billy Joel and Donna Summer — plus political bigwigs like Bill and Hillary Clinton.
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The Trumps, of course, would go on to have their son, Barron William Trump — President Trump’s fifth and youngest child — who was born on March 20, 2006, in New York City.
President Trump and first lady Melania Trump are shown on the first day of the president’s inauguration walking the parade route on Pennsylvania Avenue before his first term as chief executive. Son Barron Trump is on the left. (Evan Vucci/USA Today Network)
Trump at their first inauguration celebrations. Melania Trump presented the Hervé Pierre-designed dress she wore to President Trump’s first inauguration in January 2017 to the Smithsonian. The off-the-shoulder vanilla silk dress with a slit hem and embellished neckline to hem is now prominently featured in exhibition of First Ladies. (Reuters)
Barron Trump is 18 years old today. He is a college student this year at New York University, NYU Stern School of Business.
He played a key role in winning his father a second term in the White House, according to many.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump place their hands on their chests during a Salute to America event on the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, July 4, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Melania Trump looks on with son Barron Trump after President Trump delivered his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination on the South Lawn of the White House on August 27, 2020, in Washington, DC (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Morgan & Morgan founder John Morgan said on Fox News in November 2024 that Barron Trump’s insistence that his father go on “The Joe Rogan Experience” and other popular podcasts was critical to defeating Vice President Kamala Harris in the election presidential.
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“It turns out that Barron Trump, who looks like a runway model, was telling his dad, ‘You’ve got to go on the podcast, you’ve got to go on Joe Rogan,'” he said.
Barron Trump arrives at his father’s inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC Donald Trump took office as the 47th president of the United States for his second term. (Chip Somodevilla/Pool via Getty Images)
Barron Trump gestures as he is recognized during an indoor inauguration parade at Capital One Arena on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
After an eventful inauguration day on Monday, President Trump arrived that evening at the Commander-in-Chief’s Ball shortly after 10:00 PM ET.
He shared his first dance with his first lady – the first of his three ball appearances that night.
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Shortly after the band played “Americans, We,” Trump was introduced by a man at the Walter Washington Convention Center in Mount Vernon Square.
The Trumps wowed guests at the inaugural ball Monday night. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The presidential couple on the dance floor on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
President Trump and Melania Trump attend the Commander-in-Chief’s Inaugural Ball at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)
The balls follow a packed day of events that included President Trump’s official swearing-in ceremony, an inaugural parade at Capital One Arena, a signing ceremony in the Oval Office and much more.
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Jeffrey Clark, Charles Creitz and Alec Schemmel, all of Fox News Digital, contributed reporting.
