Ivy Getty’s San Francisco Wedding Is Why We Need a Wealth Tax

The ceremony wasn’t a ‘miracle’ — it was a window into a dystopian hellscape

Matt Charnock
8 min readNov 12, 2021
Photo: Jose Villa/Vogue Magazine with premission

Up until recently — before this past Tuesday, to be exact — I had no idea who Ivy Getty was or why masses of Instagram influencers and TikTokers fawned over her. When “Getty” became a trending Twitter topic on November 8, I initially thought something must have gone horribly wrong with Getty Images; a quick log into my account quelled my anxiety, and I could continue downloading creative stock images with ease. The Getty that was trending was, apparently, the surname of billionaire John Gilbert Getty’s 26-year-old daughter, who married in an affluent ceremony in San Francisco this past weekend.

Her estimated net worth? Somewhere in the billions, thanks to the family’s immense wealth that’s mostly staked in oil fortunes.

Money isn’t the source of the world’s greed. It’s our relationship with money that is the said origin of these oligarchical tendencies.

Her then-trending credibility? Hosting what was considered by media outlets a multi-million-dollar fantasy marriage to photographer Tobias Alexander Engel, which was officiated by Speaker of the House…

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Matt Charnock

SF transplant, coffee shop frequent; tiny living enthusiast. iPhone hasn’t been off silent mode in nine or so years. Former EIC of The Bold Italic.