Gisele's Engagement Ring and Wedding

In February of 2009, 31-year old New England Patriots superstar quarterback Tom Brady, he of three Superbowl rings, married the world's highest-paid supermodel, 28-year-old Brazilian superstar Gisele Bundchen. Despite their superstar status and their essentially unlimited coffers, the couple had a rather small, intimate ceremony to bond themselves together. Bundchen had once said that her wedding should be "a simple ceremony...I don't like parties, I prefer something more intimate, just for the closest people." It seems Brady was perfectly content to fulfill her wedding dreams in more than one way.

The pair had been dating since 2006. But the engagement was kept as subtle by Brady as the little-photographed wedding was. In fact, Bundchen denied, with all sincerity, that she was getting engaged even after Brady had been found out. Before he presented her with the engagement ring, she snapped, "Someone deduced I was getting engaged...I don't know how people are so creative!"

Well, perhaps it was because in late October of 2008, Brady was found out. He tried to do a quarterback sneak into Cartier jewelers in Beverly Hills right before he had his knee surgery, but he got sacked by a few photographers. He came out of the shop with an engagement ring that consisted of a five-carat yellow diamond flanked by two triangular diamonds. The cost? A mere $145,000. Hey, Tom--that's not even two weeks salary for you, let alone two months!

After his caught play, a reporter leaked the information. "He's seriously considering proposing. Tom has a lot of free time now that he may miss the entire football season. It's made him realize he's finally ready to get married." The handsome Brady is known to be one of the most low-key and modest superstars on the planet.

At their quietly elegant wedding at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, Bundshen wore a form-fitting ivory lace strapless gown with scalloped edges, a trumpet skirt, a long train, and a floor-length veil along with attached handmade satin roses and headband, all of it designed by Dolce & Gabbana. They live together now in the gated Los Angeles community of Brentwood in an $11.7 million property. One has to wonder if they paid cash for it.

By Julie Shields