Usher's Weird Wedding History

Usher with Grace Miguel at an event in July. (Getty Images)
Usher with Grace Miguel at an event in July. (Getty Images)

When it comes to getting married, Usher is not your average groom.

The “Yeah!” singer, 36, is once again a married man. He eloped with his longtime girlfriend/manager Grace Miguel in a secret wedding. Tipping people off about the nuptials was this photo, which she posted on Instagram, in which he’s wearing a gold ring as they pose together.

Grace's photo of Usher wearing a ring led to the reveal that they secretly tied the knot. (Instagram)
Grace's photo of Usher wearing a ring led to the reveal that they secretly tied the knot. (Instagram)

Us Weekly, which broke the wedding news, reported that the low-key pair, who have never hit the red carpet together, initially planned to marry in front of 100 guests in Atlanta. For whatever reason, they changed their minds and eloped instead sometime over the summer. E! News dug up a marriage certificate that was filed this month in Fulton County, Georgia.

The last-minute switcheroo seems to be The Voice coach’s modus operandi when it comes to weddings. When he married the first time — his bride was stylist Tameka Foster, who’s the mother of his two sons, Usher V, 7, and Naviyd, 6 — he called the ceremony off, too.

Usher's first marriage to Tameka Foster almost never happened. (Getty Images)
Usher's first marriage to Tameka Foster almost never happened. (Getty Images)

On July 28, 2007, 100 guests were invited to celebrate Usher and Tameka’s wedding at L.A. Reid’s home in New York’s Hamptons. However, the morning of, the R&B star called guests to let them know that the wedding was canceled. Many guests didn’t hear in time and arrived in Sagaponack, N.Y., to find wedding preparations half done because planners were abruptly told to stop decorating and vacate the premises the night before.

The guests weren’t the ones who were the most surprised — that honor went to Tameka. At the time, it was reported that she was livid he canceled the nuptials. Two reasons were given: She was not happy with the prenup (though she did sign it) and his mom, Jonnetta, was not happy with the bride.

At the time, it was such a juicy story — helped along with reporting like this via People magazine: “Says a source: ‘When reality set in … he panicked.’ Whatever the issues, it was no secret that tensions did exist. Usher … was 'never comfortable,’ says a source. In the two weeks they planned the wedding, 'there was never a moment when he was smiling.’ Says a relative: 'A week before, Tameka told me there were some disagreements going on; wedding details were still up in the air. It was a stressful situation’”

Our favorite scoop though was, again from People: They “had a lot of differences about the details. For example, the bride wanted barbecue, [and] he wanted to have Jean Georges cook.” Total #RichPeopleProblems!

Well, whatever pre-wedding issues they had were mostly worked out by August of that year when they tied the knot in a civil ceremony in his lawyer’s office. On Sept. 1, they had another wedding in front of 200 guests at a French chateau outside Atlanta. His mom did not attend. As for the food, they compromised on southern cuisine, including buttermilk fried chicken.

Of course, things with Tameka famously didn’t work out — they divorced in 2009 — freeing him up for this romance with Grace Miguel, whom he has been linked to since 2009 before becoming engaged earlier this year. It’s unclear how far they got in their wedding preparations before they bailed and eloped, but — as you can see — Usher knows the drill when it comes to calling off a wedding, so it was likely NBD. And now they can just focus on the “happily ever after” part.