Kristen Bell Shares Her Favorite Part About Her $142 Wedding to Dax Shepard

When Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard got married on October 17, 2013, their wedding wasn’t the typical extravagant affair that celebrities are known for. Instead of a star-studded event with a hefty price tag, The Good Place actress and the Employee of the Month actor kept it very casual with a no-frills Beverly Hills courthouse wedding, which set them back a grand total of $142. At the premiere of The People We Hate at the Wedding, on November 16, 2022, Bell shared why exchanging vows at the courthouse was the best decision for her and Shepard. “What we desired was the intimacy of just each other,” the actress tells People. “We didn’t want to look at or talk to anyone else other than each other. We really wanted to try to be as there as possible. It’s certainly easy, and it’s very cheap.”

Unlike other celebrity weddings, the couple didn’t compile a guest list full of A-listers or host a grand reception. They bucked tradition in other ways, too: The Veronica Mars star even ditched the traditional white wedding dress for an all-black ensemble, and the Armchair Expert podcast host opted for a wedding tattoo instead of a ring. 

After almost 10 years later, Bell admits that she and her husband often struggle to remember all of the details of their nuptials. One element that’s slipped her mind more than once? Their actual wedding date. “We remember late October because when we look at any of the pictures we took, there are goblins and ghouls and spiderwebs all over the background of the pictures,” she says to People. 

Although they sometimes forget the exact date, the couple knew they wanted to get married in 2013, and that's for a very important reason: Bell and Shepard didn't want to get married until same-sex weddings became legal in California, which happened in June of 2013. Not having to nail down a certain day was one of the main reasons why Bell says marrying Shepard was the “easiest day” of her life, though. “The minute we were like, 'Oh, I have next Tuesday. How about you?' we drove to the courthouse,” she tells Today. 

The couple definitely enjoyed the small event, but their loved ones weren’t as pleased with their decision to tie the knot in private. “Our friends joked a lot about the fact that we invited no one, and later that afternoon, they got us a cake that said ‘The World's Worst Wedding,’” the Forgetting Sarah Marshall actress shares. 

As of late, Bell has been able to relive that special day by starring in The People We Hate at the Wedding, which will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on November 18, 2022. The new film focuses on a dysfunctional family who tries to pull it together for their half-sister’s wedding in London. Bell plays Alice, one of the main characters who reluctantly attends the event with her brother upon her widowed mother’s request. Cynthia Addai-Robinson, Ben Platt, Allison Janney, and Annie Murphy also have roles in the movie. 

Bell and Shepard first met at a dinner party in 2007. Two years later, the Baby Mama actor proposed over the holidays. Since swapping vows in 2013, Bell and Shepard have had two daughters, Lincoln and Delta. Not only do they share the role as parents, but they've also gotten the chance to work as co-stars together, with Shepard as a guest star on an episode of The Good Place and Bell as Shepard's on-screen ex-wife in CHiPs. To keep their marriage strong, the couple swears by couples’ therapy.