Sophia Loren’s own understated bridal dress for 1966 wedding to Carlo Ponti she regretted

The Hollywood legend’s wedding gown in her 1958 film Houseboat, which she wore to marry Cary Grant, served as the inspiration for Lauren’s own dress, which required 900 hours of atelier work.

However, Sophia herself, now 90, kept things remarkably simple for her own wedding on April 9, 1966 to Carlo Ponti, her husband until his 2007 death.

The couple met in 1950, when she was 15 and he was 37. However, Carlo was already married to Giuliana Fiastri at the time, and Italian law did not permit divorce back then. In 1957, following a brief affair with her Houseboat co-star Cary, she married Carlo by proxy.

The marriage was deemed null and void in 1962, though, with the couple getting a quick annulment to escape bigamy charges. They continued to live together and in 1965, both were granted French citizenship.

Carlo then got a divorce from his first wife, finally legally tying the knot with Sophia the year after, with the pair simply going through an intimate marriage ceremony to essentially renew their vows and celebrate with a party for loved ones after.

Given the nature of the affair, though, and despite the many lavish wedding dresses she’s donned as an onscreen bride, Sophia’s actual bridal attire ended up being a lot more understated, but still chic.

The Oscar-winning actress went for a classic ’60s style mod overcoat with large buttons to arrive at the venue, with the dress inside being a light satin flowy blouse with a scarf around the neck and a waist-cinching belt, ending in a pleated skirt.

The star was photographed at a party afterwards cozying up to her husband, her classic bob styled into a large and sleek bouffant, topped off with light glam (but with a striking winged liner), and minimal jewelry.

Her style remained just as simply yet effortlessly classic decades later in 2004, when Sophia attended the wedding of her son Carlo Ponti Jr. dressed in a pastel purple pantsuit with floral appliqués and a pearl choker.

While Sophia and Carlo’s marriage was long and beautiful, years after his passing, she did recall one regret when it came to their wedding ceremony — and it happened to involve her dress.

“It’s very hard to say you have no regrets,” Sophia told Radio Times in 2020. “I think I’ve reached a peaceful life. I have everything I ever wanted, which is a wonderful family with beautiful children and beautiful grandchildren. The only thing I regret a little is that I never got married in a white dress. That was the dream of my life, which is still inside me.”