Was Gwyneth Paltrow’s lavish engagement party actually a secret wedding?

Gwyneth Paltrow is seen arriving to her black tie event

Here are some photos from outside of Gwyneth Paltrow’s “engagement party” in LA on Saturday night. The engagement party was a black-tie affair hosted by Gwyneth and Brad’s good friend Ryan Murphy. Apparently, 400 guests were invited, including (but not limited to): Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Chelsea Handler, Jennifer Aniston, Steven Spielberg, Blythe Danner, Reese Witherspoon, Rob Lowe, Liv Tyler, Karlie Kloss, Kate Hudson, Rashida Jones, Matthew Morrison, Lake Bell, Jennifer Meyer, Jon Favreau and Chris O’Donnell. No Chris Martin, from what I saw.

All of these people got dressed up to fete Gwyneth and her (new) Brad on their engagement. But maybe more? There were many, many rumors flying around that this engagement party was actually a cover for a surprise wedding. Blythe Danner was even seen carrying a dress bag from Monique Lhuillier. AND the party came on the heels of Gwyneth’s luxurious bachelorette party in Mexico last week. So did Gwyneth and Brad actually get married on Saturday? For what it’s worth, I don’t think Gwyneth would have worn this fugly maroon gown to her wedding, even if she changed inside the event. The maroon gown is what convinces me that this was just an engagement party.

What do you think in general though? I think Gwyneth is exactly the kind of person to have Ryan Murphy host and presumably pay for her surprise wedding. But I don’t think that’s what happened. I think it really was an engagement party. I think Gwyneth’s real wedding will happen sometime soon – after the Met Gala, probably – and that she’ll go all out and organize and plan every detail to goopy perfection. This party was just about other people celebrating Fabulous Gwyneth and her Fabulous Brad. Still, who would have guessed that Jennifer Aniston would now be tight enough with Gwyneth to attend this shindig?

Jennifer Aniston is all smiles as she leaves Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk's engagement party

Guests arrive to Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk's black tie event

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

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62 Responses to “Was Gwyneth Paltrow’s lavish engagement party actually a secret wedding?”

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  1. Lurker says:

    I love the dress and think she looks beautiful!

    • annabanana says:

      Me too, I actually do

      • Ankhel says:

        That dress looks like something JLo would wear on a good day. I think she looks pretty.

      • SM says:

        I think the dress looks really nice, it’s the hair that is a total mess, looks unwashed and something you do when you have to run out of the house sudenly after rolling around aick in bed or running after small kida all day

      • A says:

        @SM, you pin your hair up like that and comb it when you’re sick in bed? Damn.

    • tracking says:

      Me three. She looks lovely.

    • Nev says:

      Yes she looks spectacular.

    • minx says:

      I didn’t think I liked it in the top photo, but the lower ones showed how pretty it is. Very nice.

    • Umyeah says:

      I think she looks great and i really like the dress

    • Erinn says:

      Can’t stand the stuff she shills, but my goodness, she looks great. This is the best I’ve seen her look in YEARS. Her hair looks healthier, she pulled it back a bit instead of just the stick straight center part alone, and she looks genuinely happy. I love the dress.

      • Argonaut says:

        And her hair isn’t brassy and yellow! looks darker and more natural highlights, maybe more ash toned than the golden she had before. major improvement.

    • Godwina says:

      Ditto.

  2. Oliphant says:

    I actually love that dress on her! She looks great, good styling.

  3. Astrid says:

    I feel like this was the wedding. Not sure why…but oh well

    • MostlyMegan says:

      I think it was the wedding. To get all those A-listers together AGAIN (over 400 people) in the Hamptons would be a big ask. Like are Stephen Speilberg and Julia Roberts going to clear their calendars TWICE for goopy? I have my doubts. LA was convenient enough to pull a large A-list crowd for her big, vanity, surprise wedding – it’s totally up her isle – pun intended.

      • MostlyMegan says:

        OR that was the industry party version of a wedding – a HUGE engagement celebration. Then perhaps for the actual wedding she will have a barefoot garden style wedding in the hamptons this summer with a much smaller guest list, with her kids etc – that way she gets the best of both worlds.

      • Bridget says:

        Stephen Spielberg is her godfather. I think he’d be there regardless.

      • Argonaut says:

        Neither Gwyneth nor Brad had their children there. I doubt it was the wedding, just a big splashy engagement party since her first husband kept everything extremely low key for that marriage, so she’s doing it big this time.

    • Mgsota says:

      I agree. Doesn’t make sense for an engagement party to come so long after the engagement…also, after the bachelorette party, which usually is close to the wedding.

  4. lightpurple says:

    She did something with her hair!

    • minx says:

      She did! She actually looks very pretty.

    • poppy says:

      extensions or weave?

      the long part looks healthy for once so most of that cannot be her root grown hair -we have all seen that fried mess.

      and shes no stranger to extensions

      her hairdoes look sooooo much better

      frankly she could (has) pull off a very short cut but this one stays stuck hard with what she decided at 12 was beautiful and feminine.
      gurl let the iron go or cut it short

    • wildflower says:

      I thought so too when I saw the first pic and came here to say how pretty she looks with the warmer color.

  5. Diana says:

    What happened to Jenn’s wrist? Yoga injury?

  6. Darla says:

    Wow, I LOVE her dress including the color. Also love Aniston’s, I am really into all of the choker built into apparel looks.

    I’ve no idea if this was a wedding or engagement party, but IMO Gwyneth looks gorgeous.

    • tracking says:

      I didn’t realize the choker was attached to the back of the dress, I like it better now. Looks like she’s been downward dogging so much she hurt her wrist.

  7. Jillian says:

    Looking pretty

    I saw pictures of others at the engagement party, Cameron Diaz and Liv Tyler looked great.

  8. Cynical Ann says:

    I guess engagement because I would assume if it actually was her wedding, her kids and Brad Falchuk’s kids, would be in attendance.

  9. Maya says:

    Sorry but who would invite 400 people to an engagement party?

    I think this might be a wedding reception where you invite the people you didn’t invite for the wedding.

    And I am willing to bet these people aren’t her true friends but more like people from same PR agency and also show business friends.

    • Anners says:

      What is the etiquette of having bachelorette and engagement parties for subsequent marriages? I always side eyed family and friends who did this as grasping for more gifts/$ to offset the cost and (in all my stingy honesty) I resented being expected to pony up more presents when I anticipated this relationship would last almost as long as the previous one. I think it’s really tacky – am I super out of touch?

      • RedOnTheHead says:

        Anners, I don’t think you’re out of touch. I feel the same way you do. I hate when people use getting married as an excuse to bleed people dry. Gimme, gimme, gimme. Especially when the couple is wealthy like these two and can just buy whatever they need. And I always thought an engagement party was to bring people together in celebrating, not about gifts. You know, people that actually give a crap that you’re getting married. 400 guests? Yeah, I’m side eyeing that in this case. Seems like goop just wants a big party where she’s the center of attention. And yes, I know I’m extra salty about her today, she just irritates me to no end.

        Having spewed all of my venom about goop, to be fair we don’t know if gifts were expected at this party. And we also don’t know if this was something planned for her and #2 Brad by friends and family. Or the industry.

      • minx says:

        I think people should celebrate their marriages but if it were me I would say “no presents.” I wouldn’t want friends and family to feel burdened by the cost.

      • Anners says:

        @redonthehead fair enough! I can’t get mad about a party celebrating the joy of her upcoming nuptials. But I’d side eye the hell out of Goop & Co it presents we’re expected. I mean, FFS, the woman has a jade vag egg – what the hell else does she need?!

      • Ankhel says:

        … two jade vag eggs?

      • Anners says:

        @Ankhel LOL! You win

    • kloh says:

      Lots of people throw big engagement parties. It’s like a mini wedding to celebrate the engagement. Maybe this was for all the industry types and she’ll have a more intimate wedding?

  10. perplexed says:

    She has a lot of celebrity friends…

    • Tulip Garden says:

      Not surprising really considering that she was raised among that community and then chose to join it. It would be more surprising if she didn’t have a lot of famous friends.

      • perplexed says:

        Yeah, but you could say the same for a lot of celebrities. And yet it’s rare to see a list like that. And the list runs the gamut — from the A list (Julia Roberts) to the C-list (Lake Bell?). Maybe George Clooney’s wedding was like this, I can’t remember, but even his list seemed more pared down.

        Rob Lowe is so annoying, I’m actually a little irritated he was invited.

  11. Lala says:

    I haven’t seen her look THIS GOOD in a long time! That color is one of my ALL TIME FAVES…and the dress/styling is PERFECT! Lawd…I HOPE she got married secretly…cause hosting a 400 guest engagement party…THEN having to turn around and do a wedding is a bit much! Ain’t nobody got TIME for all of that!

    • Tulip Garden says:

      I agree with every word of your comment! I usually find Paltrow to look bad for one reason or another but she looks great here. Paltrow with healthy hair, artful makeup, and such a rich colored dress just really surprised me. It’s nice to see this.

    • kloh says:

      That’s what event planners are for.

  12. lucy2 says:

    That is a huge party. If it was a secret wedding, I’m sure she’ll blog about it soon.
    I really like her dress, she looks good.

  13. Umyeah says:

    I love the fact that Jennifer Aniston was there, puts to rest those tired theories that woman cant be friends if they dated the same man.

  14. homeslice says:

    I’m in the minority, I saw all the pics on the Fail this weekend and I thought everyone looked long in the tooth and that celeb hairstylists must have all been on spring break.

    Exception…Cam Diaz looked very good.

    I don’t care if it’s her wedding or not, she’s ridiculous…the Marquee on the event read BF loves GP…lmao.

  15. Paisley says:

    I was surprised to Chelsea Handler there. Thought she was persona non grata.

    Gwyneth looked happy.

  16. Bliss 51 says:

    I saw the pictures on the Fail and wondered are all these people nearest and dearest to her and Falchuck? I thought Cameron Diaz looked stunning.

  17. ValiantlyVarnished says:

    She invited her ex-fiance’s (Brad Pitt) ex-wife to her engagement party?? One of the things that has awlays creeped me out about Hollywood is how incestuous the romance scene is there.

  18. homeslice says:

    I only thought it was weird because Jen A is not part of her girl squad. But let’s face it, 400 guests? She probably didn’t even know eveyrone there and sure as hell didn’t talk to them lol. What a sentimental gal…

  19. YankLynn says:

    I like the dress in the shot where she’s getting out of the car. Like some others have suggested I’m leaning towards this being essentially the wedding reception that all these people won’t be invited to because they’ll have a much smaller family wedding.

  20. crackers says:

    I bought all the bad talk about her personality and goop and dismissed her. But then I recently watched the movie “Country Strong”. Her acting and singing in this are unexpectedly fantastic. She has a great voice. Very beautiful as well. I also saw a video of her speaking European Spanish that impressed me too. Definitely not some kid of celebrity parents that just became a model and ended up doing nothing much.

  21. Ladiabla says:

    She looks really happy in her Instagram pic and I love her dress here. And I’m not surprised to see Jen A there, regardless of what G may have said in the past. I think she once remarked that Jen had always been nice to her. Not surprised at the turnout, as someone noted above, she has a lot of friends in the business. She’s said she never had a real wedding since she and Chris eloped, so I hope she gets the celebration she envisioned this time around.

  22. Shannon says:

    Weirdly, though I’m not a fan of the dress and only semi-like the hair. I do think she looks lovely. Very happy and glowy. I vote no on it being a secret wedding, only because she doesn’t strike me as very secretive. She can be insufferable, but I’m happy for her.