President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are marking a personal milestone this week as they celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary on January 22, 2025. The celebration comes as the president heads back to Washington, D.C., following his trip to Davos, Switzerland, where he attended the World Economic Forum. According to a White House source familiar with the schedule, the president “aims to have an anniversary dinner with the first lady” once he returns home.
The couple’s love story stretches back to 1998 when Donald Trump met Melania Knauss, then a model, at a party in New York City. Their glamorous 2005 wedding became one of the most talked-about society events of the decade, drawing roughly 350 guests to the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea in Palm Beach, Florida, followed by a lavish reception at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The future first lady wore a $100,000 Christian Dior gown with a 13-foot train and a 16-foot veil covered in intricate beading. Published accounts from The Palm Beach Post and The Palm Beach Daily News noted the gown reportedly took more than 500 hours of hand-sewing to complete.
In her bestselling memoir “Melania,” the first lady reflected on that day with both affection and candor. “Although my wedding was grand in scale … what I felt in my heart was what every other bride feels on her special day,” she wrote. “The pressure to ensure everything went smoothly was certainly real, but ultimately, my primary focus was celebrating Donald and my love and commitment, surrounded by my loved ones.”
The reception at Mar-a-Lago was as extravagant as expected. The ballroom—now named the Donald J. Trump Ballroom—was adorned with 10,000 flowers and featured caviar and Cristal champagne. One 2005 account from The Palm Beach Daily News described how the dinner included “beggar’s purses filled with caviar, tenderloin done to a turn, miniature wedding cakes and the finest Cristal poured into one of those magical glasses that is never, ever empty.” The publication added that “long tables for 20 filled the ballroom, with its gleaming chandeliers and extensive gold leaf,” and that designer Preston Bailey dressed the setting “in cream and gold, from linens and china to flatware.”
The Trumps welcomed their son, Barron William Trump, the following year on March 20, 2006. Now 19, Barron is a college student at New York University and currently attends classes at the school’s Washington, D.C., campus.
As the couple celebrates 21 years of marriage, the first lady is also preparing for the premiere of her documentary MELANIA. The 104-minute film offers a behind-the-scenes look at her life during the 20 days leading up to the presidential inauguration. “History is set in motion during the 20 days of my life prior to the U.S. presidential inauguration,” she told Fox News, calling it “a private, unfiltered look as I navigate family, business and philanthropy.”
The film, she said, “has never been told,” and because of its historical weight, she insisted it demanded “meticulous care, integrity and uncompromising craftsmanship.”