All together now: AWWWWWWWW!

Jared Kusher and Ivanka Trump pose on their wedding day in New Jersey (Courtesy Brian Marcus/Fred Marcus Photography)

Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump, married New York publisher Jared Kushner in a private ceremony yesterday evening, at her dad’s Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey. The bride wore a Vera Wang dress inspired by Grace Kelly, and $265,000 worth of bling around her neck. Hours before the exchange of vows before 500 people, Ivanka tweeted: “Just finished a gorgeous hike. The leaves are spectacular and the sun is shining. Everything is simply perfect! I’m getting married today!” A favorite with the Mar-a-Lago crowd as a little kid, Ivanka turns 28 Friday. Much luck to the couple!

Eighteen area residents, 15 in Palm Beach and three on the Treasure Coast, are on Forbes magazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans.

Published yesterday, the list of U.S. oligarchs is still topped by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, the $50 billion man whose people have been shopping for houses in the Jupiter Island area, and Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett, second with $40 billion.

Bill Koch

The only Palm Beacher (actually, he’s a snow bird) in the top 10 is energy mogul David Koch, who’s ninth with $16 billion. The poor guy lost 42 percent of his wealth in 2009, but his modest home here is a $37.2-million beauty on the ocean.

Combined, Forbes reports, the 400 have lost $300 million during the past 12 months to the economy, scams, divorces, bank collapses and other calamities.

But don’t play the violin for the fat cats just yet. They’re still worth a combined $1.27 trillion.

Other locals on the list everyone would like to be on:

#35, John Kluge: The 95-year-old full-time Palm Beacher once was considered the world’s richest man. But his empire has been in free-fall, mostly because of bad restaurant investments. He’s still worth $6.5 billion, Forbes says.

#77, Henry Kravis: The Kravis Center in West Palm Beach was named after his dad. The leverage buyout king is down to a mere $3.8 billion, but his Palm Beach home on North Lake Way is worth slightly north of $50 million.

Who else is on the Forbes 400? For the poll and more local names, look below, or click (Read more…)

Jay (Courtesy WPEC, I mean, NBC)

– Strange goings-on at WPEC-Channel 12. The CBS affiliate promoted Jay Leno’s new show despite the fact it airs on its arch-nemesis, the NBC affiliate WPTV-Channel 5. If you logged on to WPEC’s website Monday, you’d have seen a countdown clock on top of the page. Countdown to what? To the new prime-time 10 p.m. start of The Jay Leno Show! Newsroom folks at 12 who saw it are scratching their head in disbelief, wondering if the station was the victim of a hacker. The man in charge of website ads, Rich Engberg, is at a loss for an explanation. “I didn’t know,” he said. “I’ll check into it.” The clock hasn’t appeared since.

Hard to believe she's Donald Trump's spawn

– Got to give celebuspawn Ivanka Trump beaucoup credit. Word is that the hot co-star of dad Donald Trump on The Apprentice, will not sell to news organizations access to her October nuptials to New York trust-funder, I mean, publisher Jared Kushner. While both dad and mom, jet-setter Ivana Trump, made a mint on their latest weddings in Palm Beach, Ivanka isn’t inclined to immitate them — despite nice offers, according to the New York Post. The affair is slated for Oct. 25 at the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey.

– CSI: Miami star David Caruso has finally made nice with his SoFla-based baby mama. Miami aerobics instructor Liza Marquez, with whom Caruso had two ninos, settled a lawsuit against the flame-haired actor. The settlement isn’t public, according to TMZ, but court documents show she didn’t get anything “of value.” Originally, Marquez sued because Caruso, who has an beachfront apartment in Miami Beach, didn’t make good on his promise to give her $1 million when they split.

Liza and Caruso (Courtesy stupidcelebrities.net)

Kushner and Trump

– Hoping for yet another Trump wedding at Mar-a-Lago? Not this time! Ivanka Trump, daughter of Donald and Ivana Trump, isn’t going where her parents have been. While both The Donald and jet-setter Ivana were re-married to other people at Palm Beach’s Mar-a-Lago — he in 2005, and she last year — Ivanka plans on exchanging vows with wannabe publishing mogul Jared Kushner at her daddy’s Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. The lovebirds are planning an Orthodox Jewish shindig on Oct. 25, according to the New York Post. The 525-acre property once belonged to sports car builder John DeLorean.

– The country must have its fill of Bernie Madoff. Book-sales trackers report that none of the four major Madoff books published last month has done well in stores, according to The AP. Sales for Madoff mistress Sheryl Weinstein’s tell-all, Madoff’s Other Secret, have barely topped 2,000. Jerry Oppenheimer’s Madoff With the Money tanked, with 1,000 copies sold. Andrew Kirtzman’s Betrayal is doing slightly better, with 3,000. And Erin Arvedlund’s Too Good To Be True is on top, with barely 5,000 copies. Arvedlund, a reporter who questioned Madoff’s investment methods years before the SEC, blamed the lack of interest on Wall Street fatigue. “The public is just weary of financial scandals,” she said.

– NBA champ Lamar Odom, who joined the L.A. Lakers two years ago in a trade by the Miami Heat, is said to be smitten with Kardashian clan’s Khloe. K2, a star of  Keeping up with the Kardashian and E!’s Khloe and Kourtney Take Miami, hooked up with the tallhead at a party thrown in Hollywood by NBA badboy Ron Artest, according to the entertainment website Hollyscoop. They’ve been attached at the hip since. Off-the-court, this is by far the most attention the self-effacing Odom has received in years. The Kardashians, meanwhile, seem to have a thing for famous athletes. Sister Kim recently broke up with NFL running back Reggie Bush.

Lamar and Khloe (Courtesy buzzPhoto)

– First up, the July cover of GQ. In case you’re wondering, that naked guy already ran through the hallways of a hotel in the same state in his previous flick, Borat. This time, Sacha Baron Cohen turns into a flamboyant Austrian fashion reporter whose purpose is to make heterosexual males uncomfortable for Bruno, set to release on July 10.

– Is it just me or is David Letterman the ultimate late-night wimp? The fading comedian issued a second apology for a joke about former vice-president wannabe Sarah Palin’s daughter getting knocked up by Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez. Palin has milked this thing for more than a week now, getting just enough publicity out of it to get back into the public’s consciousness. By apologizing not just once, but twice, Letterman has played right into her game.

– It feels like Palm Beach Gardens tennis champ Venus Williams has been on top for ever, but she turns only 29 Wednesday.

– Just when you thought that the professional investigators looking into the recent crash of the Air France Rio-Paris flight were sucking wind, Palm Beach’s own Donald Trump has figured it all out. In a recent entry on his blog, The Donald writes that the composite material used for the Airbus’ rudders is just no-good. How does he know? He quotes a friend who owns a hand-cart company. “The carts are made of the same composite material as the Airbus 330’s vertical stabilizer/rudders . . . and he gets about 10 calls each year that details how a cart will disintegrate with very little physcial abuse.” Oh, we feel much better knowing!

Hard to believe, but the silver-haired lady who became a late-late night local TV fixture alongside the likes of Conan O’Brien, except that she had to pay for the air time to push her Save-a-Pet charity, turned 98 over the weekend.

Maxwell with grandson Aaron Bell

About 300 well-wishers sang “Happy Birthday!” to Gertrude Maxwell at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach.

And ever the businesswoman, the doyenne of Palm Beach society had them pay $125 to get in, with the proceeds going to her Save-a-Pet. Hey, she may be 98, but no one can say the lady doesn’t have all her wits! Maxwell, by the way, promised to be back for several more years.

Seen among Maxwell’s fans: Horse farm owner Gale Brophy, polo player Peter Rains, rookie Town of Palm Beach Councilman Bill Diamond, and others.

For more pictures by Page2Live lenswoman Michele Sandberg, click (Read more…)

. . . Now that his sidekick Kelly Ripa’s left the area until next horsey season, Regis Philbin is being spotted all over Palm Beach –- including at Publix. Why? The star of Live with Regis and Kelly is staying at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, and I’m sure toothpaste and oranges are cheaper at Publix . . .

. . . I don’t know how superstar TV chef Bobby Flay found his way to Dolce de Palma the other day, but he did. Flay, a regular on CBS’ The Early Show, paid a visit to local up-and-coming kitchen virtuoso Anthony de Palma’s new place last week. It’s set up in a warehouse district on Old Okeechobee Road in West Palm Beach . . .

. . . More than 100 well-wishers are expected at Mar-a-Lago Sunday to celebrate Palm Beach animal activist Gertrude Maxwell’s birthday. It’s a big one: The moneyed supporter of Gov. Charlie Crist is turning 98, which means she was born at the dawn of the administration of President William Taft . . .

We’re now smack-dab in the social season’s equivalent of hump-day.

The shine of opening weekend has worn off, but there are 30-something big shindigs left over the next six weeks.

Bling, anyone?

Yet, Friday night’s black tie at Palm Beach’s Mar-a-Lago for the Boca Raton addiction-treatment center Caron Renaissance netted $770,000. That makes the loot one of the richest of the season so far. Even more impressive is that some tickets went for a “mere” $500.

“We groveled and we begged for sponsors and we got some,” said ball chairwoman Petra Levin. I reached her in her Caribbean hideaway because Levin, a former Miss Germany, high-tailed it out of town at a time when the night crew at  Donald Trump’s private club were still cleaning the ballroom.

“I’ve had a big smile on my face since yesterday because in this economy, believe me, we had to work for it.”

Among the guests: U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.); former Minnesota U.S. Rep. Jim Ramstad; and Kennedy clan writer/actor/activist Chris Lawford.

(For more pictures of the wingding by Michele Sandberg, click below)

(Read more…)

If only this little one were on his daddy’s TV show, ratings would be much higher, even on NBC. Who’s he? Click on the link below.

(Read more…)

Mar-a-Lago

With rumors swirling that the economy is forcing Donald Trump to sell Mar-a-Lago, the star of The Apprentice phoned Page2Live this morning to say unequivocally that the historic property on the south side of Palm Beach isn’t for sale.

“I would never sell Mar-a-Lago,” Trump said. “I’m golfing at Trump International (in West Palm Beach) and 30 people came up to me to ask if I’m selling. I have members begging me: ‘Please, Mr. Trump, don’t sell!’

“I think there’s been a lot of confusion in town since I sold the Abe Gosman estate for $100 million last year. Some people thought I sold Mar-a-Lago. Mar-a-Lago isn’t for sale. I love that place.”

Even in an unprecedended economic quagmire, Trump said the luxury club is doing just fine. (Read more…)