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The bride and groom in the giant redwood forest where construction took place. Mark Seliger via Business Insider

This is the fantastical set built by Napster and Facebook billionaire for his wedding

Pictures show the reconstruction of redwood forest area – created by Lord of the Rings set designer – which got him in trouble with state of California.

NEW US government documents show just how over-the-top Sean Parker’s extravagant $10 million wedding in the Big Sur forest really was.

The state of California actually fined the Facebook billionaire $2.5 million over it.

That’s because he built a cottage, fake ruins, waterfalls, staircases and a huge dance floor in an ecologically sensitive area near ancient redwoods and a stream with endangered steelhead trout.

He also built a gateway and arch, an artificial pond, a stone bridge, multiple event platforms with elevated floors, rock walls and fake ruined castle walls. And although he was building all of this in a forest, he also planted 125 trees and other plants and flowers, too. The sets and gowns were created by a designer for the Lord of the Rings films.

Parker even created an LLC company, Neraida, to run his wedding, reports The Atlantic’s Alexis Madrigal.

But he didn’t get permission from the Coastal Commission, which regulates the area. The commission got wind of it all before his unauthorised construction caused too much damage.

Parker, who also co-founded file-sharing site Napster, married singer-songwriter Alexandra Lenas as scheduled last Saturday.

All images California Costal Commission unless otherwise stated

This is what the area looked like before construction began
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  • This is what the area looked like before construction began

  • Then Parker's wedding company brought in bulldozers

  • The fake stone pond and bridge under construction

  • Here's one of the stairways, rock walls and potted trees

  • An elevated platform built over the creek

  • An ancient redwood holds up rock wall (note comparative size of people on right)

  • More rock walls and equipment put in place

  • Sean Parker and Alexandra Lenas in the forest

    Image: Mark Seliger/Business Insider

- Julie Bort

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    Mute Mary Keating
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    Jun 8th 2013, 5:39 PM

    Wonder what he will do for the divorce????

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    Mute Declan
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    Jun 8th 2013, 8:34 PM

    Granted, he got lucky with Facebook, but doing as he saw fit to public property without consultation or permission shows that money brought him not just luck, but self indulgence, a spoilt demeanour and a skewed extravagance.

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    Mute Figo murphy
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    Jun 9th 2013, 2:25 AM

    I think it looks great. Better than before. Very artistic.

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    Mute Sean De Brun
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    Jun 9th 2013, 7:59 AM

    Mordor I presume!

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    Mute Sean Mac Gabhann
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    Jun 9th 2013, 8:04 AM

    The precious…..

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    Mute Master Mc Man
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    Jun 8th 2013, 5:43 PM

    What a w@nker

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    Mute bob®
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:20 PM

    Don’t knock his hobby;p

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    Mute Martin Donovan
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:02 PM

    The best part of this story is the irony that the guy who started a website that allowed people to steal music is getting married to a musician.

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    Mute Master Mc Man
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:09 PM

    So he also stole her heart

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    Mute Paddy O'Reilly
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    Jun 8th 2013, 11:41 PM

    The Napster website never facilitated the sharing of music, it required an application.

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    Mute Ian Conway
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:50 PM

    I’d love to have so much money that I could do what I want whenever the hell I wanted. Red thumbs awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

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    Mute Dave
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    Jun 8th 2013, 7:25 PM

    What kind of ars***les who can have their wedding in any permitted place in the world think its alright to turn a beautiful natural spot into their own party zone regardless of any damage they or their guests might do to the area? Should have been jailed, certainly would have been appropriate to spend their honeymoon in the slammer for a couple of weeks!

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    Mute Stuart Hyland
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:50 PM

    I hope she gives good head.

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    Mute marcus de paor
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    Jun 8th 2013, 5:54 PM

    And so much hunger and poverty in the world. … bit wasteful it would seem. … still is not my money

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    Mute Billy Nomates
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    Jun 9th 2013, 4:34 AM

    Did they serve cocktail sausages and sandwiches at 11 o’clock though?

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    Mute Bridget Heappey
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    Jun 8th 2013, 7:25 PM

    I knew my wedding was crap but my husband’s lucky I didn’t know the extent of what I could have got elsewhere :p

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    Mute Beth Murphy
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    Jun 8th 2013, 5:54 PM

    I was there but not at the wedding lol

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    Mute Graham Murphy
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:26 PM

    Kill joys

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    Mute AnnMo
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:50 PM

    The alternative is to let a millionaire destroy the environment of the area simply because he has the money to do so

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    Mute Rory Duffy
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    Jun 9th 2013, 10:58 AM

    that’s won me over

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    Mute Pokey2013
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    Jun 8th 2013, 6:27 PM

    Looks a bit like Charlie from ‘it’s always sunny in Philadelphia’!

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    Mute smurfi
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    Jun 8th 2013, 7:09 PM

    You need to see TheAtlantic.com for the true version of this story, including rebuttal from Justin Timberlake (sic)

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    Mute AA
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    Jun 8th 2013, 11:05 PM

    From wiki. Pocket change. “On June 1, 2013, they married in Big Sur, California. It was reported that extensive damage was done to a campsite by the unpermitted set-up and use of the site for the wedding, as a result of which Parker paid $2.5 million in penalties. “

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    Mute Jed I. Knight
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    Jun 9th 2013, 1:20 AM

    Apart from paying the $2.5m in penalties, does he have to restore the area to the way it was when he found it?

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    Mute seamus mcdermott
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    Aug 13th 2013, 7:54 PM

    It would be fitting if “he”, personally had to restore the site to its original condition, and sleep there every night until he’d finished.

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    Mute James
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    Jun 9th 2013, 10:20 AM

    He’s right
    Enjoy the present

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