Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton’s Oklahoma Ranch Wedding, 2021
A chapel on his Oklahoma ranch, a friend from The Voice as officiant, her sons’ names stitched into a Vera Wang veil and a song written for the vows. A country wedding with feeling.
Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton met as coaches on NBC’s The Voice, went public as a couple in November 2015 and married on July 3, 2021, in the chapel on his ranch in Oklahoma. It was a small wedding, about forty people, full of personal gestures: a friend from work as officiant, a song in place of the groom’s spoken vows, children’s names embroidered in a veil and a wedding cake copied from the bride’s parents’. The glamour came from Vera Wang. Everything else came from the family.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Date | Saturday, July 3, 2021 |
| Place (ceremony) | The chapel on Blake Shelton’s ranch, near Tishomingo, Oklahoma |
| Reception | At the ranch |
| The dress (designer) | Vera Wang (two looks) |
| Guests | About 40 family members and close friends |
| Officiant | Carson Daly |
The couple
Both had been married before. Stefani, the lead singer of No Doubt and a solo star, was married to the musician Gavin Rossdale; their divorce was finalized in April 2016, and they share three sons. Shelton, the country singer, had been married twice, most recently to Miranda Lambert, from 2011 to 2015. Stefani and Shelton became friends and then a couple while working together on The Voice. He proposed in October 2020 in the chapel on his Oklahoma property, in front of her sons and other family members. “Hey @gwenstefani thanks for saving my 2020,” he wrote when announcing it.
The ceremony
The ceremony took place in the ranch chapel, with about forty guests, mostly family. Carson Daly, the host of The Voice and a longtime friend, officiated. He later said he had encouraged the couple to write their own vows months in advance. Stefani spoke hers; Shelton, playing guitar, sang a song he had written for her, working title “Reach the Star.” Daly described the day as perfectly them, her polish and his country ease in the same room. Shelton wore jeans.
The dresses
Stefani wore two custom Vera Wang designs. For the ceremony, a lily-white gown in silk georgette and hand-tumbled tulle, with a plunging neckline, a fitted bodice, a cutaway back and a high-low skirt. Her chapel-length veil was hand-embroidered with five names, Blake, Gwen, Kingston, Zuma and Apollo, flanked by two white roses.
For the reception, a strapless mini dress in lily-white Italian silk crepe and tumbled tulle, embroidered with silk, crystal and sequin foliage cascading from waist to hem. At the waist, Wang explained, “a pair of hand sewn love birds” symbolized the couple, joined by three baby birds representing Stefani’s sons. With it she wore a shorter veil scattered with small white blossoms and a large bow.
For more of the gowns that shaped modern bridal style, see our guide to celebrity wedding dresses.
The cake
The five-tier cake, by Fancy Cakes by Lauren of Dallas, re-created the design of Stefani’s parents’ wedding cake, and both of her parents were there to see it. It was made in the Lambeth style, a technique of elaborate, overpiped royal icing, decorated with swan pillars, bells, sugar flowers and white chocolate cherubs. The bakery said the wedding had likely helped bring the style back into fashion.
Why it mattered
Here was a wedding for two people who had each been married before, and it felt neither apologetic nor overblown. It showed how to include children from a first marriage with real tenderness, how to make a private chapel the heart of a wedding, and how an old-fashioned cake could feel fresh when it carries a family story. It also added to Vera Wang’s long list of famous brides, from Chrissy Teigen to Ariana Grande.
Borrow the idea
Stitch the family into the veil. Names, initials or a date embroidered along the edge of a veil is a lovely way to include children, parents or grandparents. Ask your seamstress for a sample first.
Re-create a family cake. If a parent or grandparent has a wedding photograph that shows the cake, give it to your baker. Our guide to the wedding cake explains styles and costs.
Sing, read or play your vows. If words don’t come easily, a song, a poem or a reading can carry them. See how to write your vows and our modern readings.
Give the children a role. Children from an earlier marriage can walk in the procession, do a reading, hold the rings or simply stand with the couple at the altar. Ask them what they would like to do, and keep it short for the youngest. Our guide to the order of the ceremony shows where each moment fits.
Ask a friend to officiate. Many states allow a friend to officiate after a simple online ordination; check the rules in your county before the date.
Written and edited by the Today’s Weddings editors. How we research and check what we publish is set out in our editorial standards. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
