Selena’s Dreamy Wedding

Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco were married in Santa Barbara on Saturday and it doesn’t seem that it was all that much of a secret in the weeks leading up to the wedding. But even though there were leaks, the whole vibe of the event still seemed kinda chill in the sense that there wasn’t all kinds of media chaos or stories about intrusions – which is a credit to the teams responsible for planning and organisation. And what’s looking like an excellent media strategy. 

Because relatively early on Saturday, Selena posted a carousel on Instagram that revealed all if not most of the details that people would be most interested in: the dress, the rings, the hair, the makeup, the bouquet, etc etc. 

The visuals are dreamy and specific enough without being too specific. This is the Petra Collins signature, and she is tagged on the post that looks like scenes from a music video, not unlike the gauzy, throwback vibe of the video for Selena and Benny’s song “Sunset Blvd” released last year. I love that this now exists in their growing personal and professional library. 

(A quick word on Petra? She is huge in Korea, which I realised back in March when I was there because I walked by a pop-up where she was doing a signing and there was a line around the store. She was just there again in August.)

Yesterday Benny followed with his own post, with Selena in another dress, and veil, and a closer look at her wedding band.

Some are speculating then that the first set of shots that Selena shared were taken before the actual ceremony, and intended to get ahead of the public interest and the media frenzy that might follow. And her second look, as shown on Benny’s account was the actual dress she wore to exchange vows. 

It doesn’t matter, really, to anyone other than them. Everything was beautiful, they are deliriously happy, and nothing was spoiled. Good for them. 

In terms of the rollout though, which is what we like to analyse here, it’s been exceptionally well played. Like I said, they’ve been able to control the release of the most high-key details, and there have been no significant leaks. Pretty much everything that we know has been reported the old-fashioned way: in writing. Like the guest list: Taylor Swift, Steve Martin, Martin Short, SZA, etc. And who gave speeches: Taylor and Ed Sheeran, her family members, etc. And who DJed: Mark Ronson. 

But nobody posted anything on TikTok, nobody went live on IG. We have no images from the actual wedding. Which means that everyone who was invited respected what must have been a request to not share and show off that they were there. Which seems reasonable but more and more, in these thirsty times, harder and harder to achieve. That said, you have to know what you’re getting when you’re putting a guest list together that involves all kinds of famous people and relatives and whatever acquaintances who might not be famous at all. And there’s usually at least one of those on both sides. Needless to say, Selena and Benny have the resources – and the inclination – to successfully lock it down.