Perks of Being a Famous and Rich Man or Good-Looking Lady

The New York Times Weddings section proves that magazine features as well as tons of money and fame can fan the flames of marriage - especially when the famous millionaire is an old/fat/bald man and the woman is much younger and hotter than the man (yes, Gothamist knows the women are accomplished, but let's face it, they're also really attractive). The featured Vows column was about the marriage of famed writer, Salman Rushdie, and model-cookbook author, Padma Lakshmi. Rushdie was "intrigued" by a tabloid's feature about Lakshmi, who provides one of the more disturbing quotes ever from the Vows section: "'This couldn't be Salman Rushdie,' Ms. Lakshmi remembered thinking. He seemed to her more like a distant uncle whom 'my mother had bragged to all about me.'" Salman Rushdie, fatwa-victim and fanboy!

Then there's the marriage of former GE chairman, Jack Welch marrying Suzy Wetlaufer, who met when Wetlaufer was interviewing the then-married Welch for the Harvard Business Review. We stand by our position that Wetlaufera write a book about marrying a millionaire.

With 250 guests, the Lakshmi-Rushdie nuptials included Lou Reed, Steve Martin, Tina Brown, Ismail Merchant, Julie Taymor, Jay McInerney, and Diane von Furstenburg. The Wetlaufer-Welch affair had 75 guests - Vernon Jordan and Matt Lauer among them. Advantage: Lakshmi-Rushdie, especially because their wedding was in New York City, but the Wetlaufer-Welch wedding probably had a better goodie bag.