Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi were originally planning quite the spectacle of a wedding. Nothing crazily over the top, but certainly not the low-key affair they ended up going with. It was reported that they were planning a lavish event and their guest list was so huge, “my gardener is invited,” according to Ellen.

In the end it wound up being just 19 guests that were just close friends and family. What led to Ellen and Portia’s change of heart? Justin Timberlake. And Ryan Seacrest convincing the pair not to have him sing at their wedding. Naturally.

Ellen DeGeneres says Ryan Seacrest played a hand in keeping her August Beverly Hills wedding to Portia de Rossi “lovely and small.” Originally, Justin Timberlake was going to perform a new song he penned for the two. “That made it get bigger,” DeGeneres said Wednesday on Seacrest’s KIIS-FM radio show. “We said, ‘He can’t just sing for our Aunt Helen from Mississippi! We got invite some more!’”

George Michael was going to sing as well. “It just got bigger and bigger,” DeGeneres said. “It was going to be gigantic, and Ryan talked us out of it.” Explained Seacrest: “‘Are you sure you’re going to be comfortable with elephants on your grass?’ I truly believe people get carried away with the volume of the wedding that they don’t enjoy the purpose of the wedding.”

“It started from the wrong place,” DeGeneres later admitted. “We called and disinvited everyone. They totally understood.”

[From Us Weekly]

I never thought I’d say this seriously, but that was some classy advice Ryan Seacrest gave. Joshua Radin ended up playing instead. And as great a singer as Justin Timberlake is, Radin is a little more quiet and folksy, which definitely fits together nicely with their smaller wedding theme.

Whoever thought someone like Ryan Seacrest would give such down to earth advice? He’s right, even non-celebrity weddings have gotten out of control lately. When your event has gotten so big that you have elephants wandering around, it’s time to take a step back and re-evaluate if that’s what you really want. If so, more power to you. But it’s nice that he was able to phrase it in a way that was sort of a question instead of just saying, “I think this is getting crazy big.” Which is exactly how Seacrest would phrase it. Now I almost hate him a little less. Almost.

Here’s Ellen and Portia on the beach in Malibu on August 31st. Images thanks to Fame.

One of my favorite Ellen DeGeneres jokes from her comedy CD was when she said she wanted to have a baby, she just didn’t want to have a baby. Nothing in life has ever made so much sense to me. Yeah I want to have one, but I have absolutely no desire to push a 6-8 pound (if you’re lucky) living creature out of one of the smaller parts of my body. And though Ellen and I seem to be on the same page here, she and new wife Portia de Rossi are considering having kids.

With their weekend nuptials now behind them – and chronicled in words and exclusive pictures in the new issue of PEOPLE – Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi are contemplating their future together.

They may not be alone.

“We go back and forth,” de Rossi, 35, tells PEOPLE about the prospect of having children. “I don’t know if it’s our immediate future. It’s something we talk about every few months.”

“It’s something we would never take lightly and just say, ‘That would be fun.’ It’s a lot of work and we recognize that,” says DeGeneres, 50. “In a way, we want to be selfish because we love our life, but we know how much that adds to it.”

And, Ellen adds, “If they would be as pretty as Brad and Angelina’s kids, we might.”

[From People]

Though they don’t specify whether they’re considering artificial insemination or adopting, something tells me if they’re planning on having the baby, they’re thinking about Portia. It would make more sense because she’s younger… and hasn’t told thousands of people just how horrified she is by the idea of childbirth. Though I swear if she’s a sane person she must think it sounds absolutely terrifying. In a wonderful way of course.

I think Ellen and Portia would be great parents. They’ve been together for a while now and seem to have a really stable, loving relationship. And they’re not unrealistic about their lifestyle and the changes that might come, so it seems like if they do go through with it, it will be after careful thought and reflection.

Ellen and Portia on 4/26/08. US Weekly has a wedding photo. Credit: Adriana M. Barraza / WENN
Talkshow hostess Ellen Degeneres, 50, and her longterm girlfriend Portia de Rossi, 35, were married on Saturday night in an intimate ceremony at their Beverly Hills estate. Their guests numbered just 19 and included close friends and family. They both wore Zac Posen, with Portia in a pale pink backless gown with a tulle skirt and Ellen in white pants, shirt, and vest. During the ceremony they exchanged handwritten vows.

“Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi were married tonight in an intimate ceremony at their home in Los Angeles,” their spokesperson tells PEOPLE exclusively.

DeGeneres, 50, and de Rossi, 35, both wore Zac Posen and exchanged rings by Neil Lane during the Saturday ceremony. Their big day also featured arrangements by L.A. florist Mark’s Garden.

The intimate ceremony was attended by 19 guests, including DeGeneres’s mom Betty and de Rossi’s mother Margaret Rogers (who flew in from Australia for the occasion), who witnessed the couple exchange handwritten vows.

The couple have been dating since December 2004. DeGeneres announced her plans to wed de Rossi during a taping of her talk show in May after California’s Supreme Court ruled a previous ban on gay marriage to be unconstitutional.

[From People.com]

US Weekly has a photo of the couple hugging and posing for cameras. They are said to have taken photos with their two dogs and Ellen’s mom. Both of their mothers were there, with Portia’s mom flying in from Australia for the occasion.

The small ceremony is a big change from Ellen and Portia’s earlier plans for their wedding. Ellen quipped that she had even invited their gardener, and their guest list was rumored to be over 200. Ultimately they decided to keep it less complicated and just share it with a few friends and family.

Congratulations to Ellen and Portia and best wishes for a lifetime of happiness together! I want to see more wedding pictures than just the faraway blurry one that’s out, and we’ll see if they release some clearer ones. Either way, it’s their special day and it’s up to them if they want to keep it private.

Ellen and Portia are shown below at the Daytime Emmy Awards on 6/15/07. Credit: Adriana M. Barraza / WENN

Talk show host Ellen Degeneres, 50, announced plans to marry her longterm partner, actress Portia de Rossi, 35, the day after a landmark decision by the California Supreme Court overturning the ban on same sex marriage. Now that same sex partners have full marriage rights in their state, Ellen and Portia aren’t waiting to make their union legal. Ellen told reporters at the Daytime Emmy Awards on Friday that they’ve set a date and that Portia has a Neil Lane engagement ring. People reports that it’s a “marquis cut diamond set with pink diamonds.” From the details Ellen mentioned, it sounds like their wedding is going to be a lavish affair with a large guest list:

“Yes, we have set a wedding date,” she confessed. “Portia has a ring. It’s a Neil Lane ring.”

Ellen, who also revealed she plans to fly Portia’s mom in from Australia for the ceremony, was eager to talk about her upcoming nuptials admitting that , “planning a wedding is stressful.”

She also joked about the size of the guest list, joking that her many Emmys “will be on top of the cake,” and that the wedding is now so big “my gardener is invited.”

“We have incredible people singing” at the wedding, Ellen said. “It’s very exciting.”

[From OK! Magazine]

Ellen took home her fourth Emmy for Best Talk Show Host on Friday. She has a popular show and an incredibly successful career. Her net worth was estimated at $63 million by Forbes Magazine in 2007.

Ellen and Portia aren’t going to get a prenuptial agreement, according to the barely reliable Star Magazine. Star quotes a supposed insider that Ellen “finds prenups unromantic,” and claims both partners are secure that the relationship will last. Under California law, all assets acquired by the couple during the marriage are community assets to be split in half if the couple divorces.

Congratulations to Ellen and Portia and best wishes for a happy and lasting future together.

Ellen and Portia are shown at the Daytime Emmy Awards on Friday, thanks to WENN.

Here’s the video of Ellen telling her studio audience that she’s getting married. She joked “I’ll tell you who the lucky guy is soon.”

She got choked up, and said “If I’m this emotional now just saying it, I can’t imagine how that’s [getting married] going to be. It’s something that we’ve wanted to do, that we’ve wanted to be legal, and we’re just very very excited.”

Ellen’s partner Portia de Rossi is shown in the audience smiling and clapping. She looks like she’s crying a little too.

Ellen made the announcement yesterday after California made same sex marriage legal. The episode in which she broke the news to her studio audience airs today.

It did occur to me that they should get a prenup, which is a smart move for even the most stable couples. Ellen’s net worth is estimated at around $65 million. She has been with Portia since December, 2004.

Yesterday California’s supreme court overturned the ban on sex sex marriage, which makes it the second state after Massachusetts to allow same sex partners full marriage rights. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he would uphold the decision by his state’s Supreme Court, having twice vetoed past bills by the Legislature legalizing same-sex marriage. His reasoning for rejecting the bills was a referendum in 2000 which banned gay marriage and was approved by 60% of California voters. Now Schwarzenegger says that he respects the court’s decision and will not overturn this ruling.

Same sex couples should be able to marry in a month or so, according to the Associated Press. Conservatives want to block the measure with an amedment to the state Constitution barring same-sex marriage, but Schwarzenegger has already stated that he would not support it and will abide by the court’s ruling.

Ellen Degeneres, 50, announced that she would marry her same sex partner of three and a half years, Australian actress Portia de Rossi, 35, as a result of the legalization of same sex marriage in their state. She is said to have told her studio audience in an episode to air today that they will make their union legal.

Both People and US Weekly quote Ellen’s interview with the Advocate, in which she called Portia her “perfect fit,” and said “She’s taught me lessons about myself, and I feel like I’ve taught her. We’ve both changed and grown, and we just feel like, ‘Oh, ok, this is completion.’”

Congratulations to Ellen and Portia and best wishes for a lifetime of happiness together.

Ellen and Portia are shown at the GLAAD media awards on 4/26/08, thanks to WENN.