Couple tied the knot in Venice last weekend

Oct 1, 2014 07:48 GMT  ·  By
People Magazine runs first photo from George Clooney’s wedding to Amal Alamuddin
3 photos
   People Magazine runs first photo from George Clooney’s wedding to Amal Alamuddin

If you’re going to have a wedding that generates a media frenzy, you might as well turn it into a chance to do a good deed, by selling your official portraits and donate the money to charity. Ripping a page out of Brangelina’s book, this is exactly what George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin have done.

The two tied the knot in a 3-day wedding extravaganza in Venice, Italy, with the first wedding portraits appearing in People magazine and the British tab Hello!.

Rights for the pics went to the highest bidder

Many celebrities use important events in their life, like a wedding, a birth, or an engagement, to cash in big time, by selling the exclusive rights to the first photos (and the story, implicitly) to the highest bidder and putting the money in their back pocket.

Only a select few are actually “above” this, selling the photos and donating the cash to charity. This way, they don’t just do a good deed, but they also make sure they avoid unwanted paparazzi attention by securing an exclusive deal.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have done this time and time again, from the birth of their children to the more recent secret wedding ceremony. They always get a good chunk of money for the photos (after all, they are Hollywood’s favorite A-list couple) and few others could ever boast of getting offers to match.

Well, according to reports, George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin can! The two sold the photos of their wedding to the highest bidder, and word on the street has it that they got seven figures for them.

People secured the North American rights, while Hello! the European ones. A photo of Amal in her gorgeous Oscar de la Renta dress also appears in the pages of Vogue (but not on the cover), but that one was for free.

Interest in the wedding was huge

In case the extensive coverage the wedding got over the weekend and the abundance of photos didn’t convince you – and neither did the high amount for which the first wedding pics were sold –, we should say that Clooney’s wedding to the lawyer proved of great interest.       

People magazine will run a story in this week’s issue, with accounts of the wedding ceremony and the parties, to which they were privy because of the aforementioned arrangement. Hello! will cover the wedding in a 40-page report, complete with photos, out today, October 1.

All in all, it was money well spent because both these magazines are expected to sell this week’s issue like hot cakes.

More importantly though, lives will be saved.

Sudan’s Satellite Sentinel Project gets much-needed cash infusion

TMZ reports that the money from the photos will go, as per Clooney’s instructions, to “several human rights charities.” “The lion's share is earmarked for the Satellite Sentinel Project – a charity that monitors the movements of militant gangs in the Sudan, in order to warn civilians. Clooney is a co-founder of the group, which launched in 2010,” the report notes.

Clooney has been very active in this part of the world through the foundation, often speaking out on the issue and urging fellow actors and regular people to get involved as well. By selling his wedding portraits, he’s putting his money where his mouth is again, probably hoping to motivate others to do the same.

George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin's wedding photos (3 Images)

People Magazine runs first photo from George Clooney’s wedding to Amal Alamuddin
Hello! will cover George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin’s wedding in 40-page specialAmal Alamuddin and Oscar de la Renta at the wedding gown fitting
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