Get Your Royal Wedding Fix – not me!!!!! – Philadelphia Wedding and Event Planner – Angela MALICKI events

Can you believe how royal that wedding was? We know you have seen the videos and pictures – but what did you think? We thought the wedding was absolutely amazing and best of all, it went off without a hitch! The royal wedding of course marks an important time in history, but also an important time in fashion history!

This wedding marked the 16th royal wedding to be held at Westminster Abbey. There was 1,900 people inside the Abbey for the ceremony, with many guests from around the world. Roughly 44 royals from different countries were invited to the ceremony and had prime seating near the Queen, the Middleton’s and the Spencer’s. Only a few celebrities received a royal invitation including the Beckham’s, Elton John and his partner David Furnish, Joss Stone, Tara Palmer Tomkinson and Guy Ritchie.

Nearly one million people lined the streets of London to catch a glimpse of the royals and a few million more would watch on television. Guests started arriving at the Abbey as early as 9am and continued through the 10 o’clock hour.

 
The Beckham’s (on left) arrived at the Abbey very early. Victoria wore a dress from her own collection, Christian Louboutin platform pumps and a Philip Treacy hat; while David looked PHENOM in his Ralph Lauren suit. Seriously, HOTTTT!!!! Tara Palmer Tomkinson (right), who is an English socialite, wore a bright blue ensemble including a Philip Treacy hat. OMG, her Blue Louboutins are killer, Ang will probably call her personal shopper at Neimans for those to add to her collection!

Most guests arrived in style with toppers and fascinators on head – all of which we love! Although it seemed as if Samantha Cameron, the British Prime Ministers wife, forgot her fascinator! There of course were a few oddballs (Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice) but overall style was great! There seemed to be many bright colors including purples, pinks and oranges. Many of the guests did make some fashion statements, but lets be honest – who were you all really look at? The wedding party, the Royal family and the Middleton’s.

First to arrive were the Princes, William and Harry.  We have seen these two at all sorts of affairs since they were young boys but it was at the wedding, they both seemed so grown up. William looked strikingly similar to his late mother, Princess Diana and Harry looking dapper with his full head of red hair. The Princes left the Clarence House at 10:12am and arrived right around 10:18am at Westminster Abbey in their uniforms. Prince William, now Duke of Cambridge, was seen wearing his Irish Guards Uniform, since he is the Colonel of the Irish Guards. Prince Harry chose to wear his Captain of the Household Cavalry Uniform to the royal ceremony.

Both William and Harry seemed relaxed and full of smiles. Once inside the Abbey they were greeted by the Dean and escorted down the aisle by Stephen Lamport, Prince Charles’s former private secretary. Prince William immediately greeted members of his mother’s family, which is a true testament of how present Princess Diana’s spirit was at the Abbey.

Next in line was the “mums” – Carole Middleton, Camilla and the Queen. Carole Middleton wore Catherine Walker, who ironically was Princess Diana’s favorite designer. She wore a light blue almost gray dress and fitted coat with satin piping and braiding. Camilla chose a two toned Anna Valentine dress and long coat. The Queen wore bright yellow, a bit unexpected, with matching hat and purse. (What does the Queen even need to carry in that purse?) All the ‘mums’ looked fabulous and regal.

Next to arrive was Pippa and the mini attendants. Pippa wore a Sarah Burton gown, which was exquisitely done and looked amazing on her.The children included Margarita Armstrong-Jones, Tom Pettifer, Lady Louise Windsor, William Lowther-Pinkerton, Grace van Cutsem, and Eliza Lopes. The little ladies wore Nicki MacFarlance handmade gowns and the boys wore red uniforms which mimicked Foot Guards during the Regency era.

Last but certainly not least is Kate Middleton’s dress designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, was flawless! Her dress was elegant but sexy and matched her personality to a T. The now “Duchess of Cambridge” walked down the aisle in a white and ivory satin gazar gown with English and French lace covering the bodice, skirt and underskirt. Flowers including rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrocks were hand cut from lace to create the dress design. The back of her dress featured 58 covered buttons with rouleau loops with a nearly 9 foot train. (We also couldn’t help but notice how similar Kate’s dress was to Grace Kelly’s gown when she married Prince Rainier of Manaco.) Her crown was a halo tiara borrowed from the Queen, made by Cartier in 1936. The crown was originally a gift to the Queen Mum from King George VI, and was then passed to Queen Elizabeth (Princess at the time) on her 18th birthday. Her modest veil was made of silk tulle with hand-embroidered flowers just sheer enough to see the brides face. Kate’s earrings were a present from her parents, and designed after the Middleton coat of arms featuring oakleaf and acorn shapes made by Robinson Pelham. Although we didn’t see much of her shoes, they were also hand made by McQueen. Kate held a small bouquet made of ivy, hyacinth, lily of the valley, and sprig of myrtle from Queen Victoria’s wedding. And if you were wondering what polish Kate had on her nails, it was ‘allure’ by Essie, which I’m sure is sold out by now.

This was the exact moment when Kate revealed her dress to the world. She gracefully stepped out of the 1977 Rolls Royce Phantom at exactly 11:00am to display her royal wedding gown.

Soon after she arrived, Kate walked down the aisle to her Prince. William waited until Kate stood beside him, to see his bride for the first time. You could see the emotion all over William’s face as he whispered to Kate “you look beautiful.” William even was seen nervously biting on his lip (as his mother did) during the ceremony. The couple exchanged vows and quickly became the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge.
The new couple would take the famous carriage ride to Buckingham Palace and officially greet London on the balcony for the royal kiss (or two).
The official wedding photographs took place inside the Palace, which would be followed by a reception hosted by the Queen.

After much celebration and photos, the couples close family and friends partied late into the night, as Prince Harry hosted a party for the couple. The Queen left shortly after her party to allow some real partying to begin.

Prince William, Kate and Pippa had a costume change for the reception parties. They look fabulous, maybe even more fabulous than the wedding! We absolutely love Kate’s dress and mini sweater along with Pippa’s silk green dress with a plunging neckline!

Although there hasn’t been any reports of royal hangovers, we can only imagine how late or early into the morning Harry’s party went!

We felt like royalty watching this wedding and it will be the talk of the century, that is, if Harry gets married soon. I thought that him and Pippa looked kinda cute together!!!!.

xoxo

ang and ash

Stay tuned for our in detail post of all Royal Goodness – the dress, the hair, the kiss the after party!!!

The Royal Wedding – this is what I’m talking about! – Philadelphia Wedding and Event Planner – Angela MALICKI events

April 29, 2011 – Nearly two months away and the world will watch in awe of the next royal wedding. It could presumably be called the largest and most extravagant wedding in 2011 or the decade for that matter. Nearly 2,900 invitations have gone out. But don’t feel bad if you didn’t receive your royal invite, Eric, Ashley, Emily, Cindy and I had to kindly decline do to personal events here, you will not see our own prez Obama nor The Duchess of York received one either. Although, it is rumored that the Beckhams, Kayne West and Elton John did receive the royal stamp of approval. Personally, I’d rather have celebrities at my wedding then politicians too. They make for better gossip and pics.

Staff at Buckingham Palace prepare the invites. We know this all to well ourselves when designing custom invites for our clients

The official royal invite. What are your thoughts? I guess the swarovski crystals, satin ribbon and lush velvet die-cuts were not in the design palette.

So instead on continuing to divulge into all the juicy details, let’s take a look at the past. One of the most talked about details of the wedding is, of course, the wedding dress. Yes, there is still question about what military uniform Prince William will wear, but let’s be serious, everyone will be looking at Kate Middleton. We have seen the ring, the church, the rest of the royals, the morning coats and top hats – let’s look at the dresses!

1947- Queen Elizabeth II

I will start off with the Queen Bee herself.  I absolutely love this dress! There could be a few slight alternations made, but overall it’s beautiful! The ivory gown was designed by Norman Hartwell and had over 10,000 pearls. I’m not a big fan of the veil, but it does go with the dress nicely. Remember, they were married during a time of depression. Queen Elizabeth did not want to have an extravagant look during a commiserating time. A royal wedding always makes for good headlines and good cheer.

1960 – Princess Margaret

Princess Margaret took after her sister, Elizabeth and chose designer Norman Hartwell. Yet, her dress was drastically different. She wanted no sequins, pearls or fancy designs. I like her simplicity. The dress seems a bit stuffy at the top but overall elegant. I do love the veil. You don’t need all that glitz with a crown like that!

1973 – Princess Anne

Not a big fan of Princess Anne’s dress. It is a typical 70’s dress that was designed by Maureen Baker. Although it was seen as a medieval “romantic” dress, the sleeves are hideous! Was that really the style then? I also don’t agree with the turtle neck style and head dress. A big fashion no-no in my book. But that was the 70′s, my mother wore something very similar to this on her nuptials. Now a days, designers are genius with their designs. Our lovely bride Leah wore a fabulous custom designed dress byEdgardo Bonilla. Her removable lace turtleneck bolero was worn during the ceremony, then at the reception it was removed and replaced with a chic lace belt. See turtlenecks can be sexy and fabulous!

1981 – Princess Diana

Oh Princess Diana! You probably don’t even need to look at the picture to remember her dress. I actually had the privilege to see her dress in person, when the Diana exhibit came to Philly. Let me just say, it is much more gorgeous in person than in pictures. Of course it fit in with the 80’s style with the big puffy sleeves, but not exactly what I would of picked for Diana. The train is absolutely stunning but I can only imagine how heavy the whole dress was. Most people pick this as their number one royal wedding gown.

1986 – Sarah Ferguson

I really like Sarah Ferguson’s dress , except those darn shoulder pads! Then again, fashion does recycle itself, look at Rihanna, she LOVES the shoulder pads!Take them out and the dress would be fantastic. I like the elegance of the top with the simple skirt. But I feel like it looks just like everyone else’s dress. Can’t we do a little better for a future royal? (Ex-royal now that is.)

1999- Sophie Rhys Jones

This is almost a combo of Princess Anne’s and Princess Margaret’s dresses. Just a mini version, but not so loud. It has the v-neck line and somewhat belle sleeves. You wouldn’t believe that the dress has around 325,000 beads and pearls on it! This is one I would of loved to see in person. Remember  Melania Trump‘s to die for Dior gown? That stunner weighed about 60 pounds. That is roughly around the same weight as 2 concrete cinder blocks. Wowzers, I guess she didn’t need to work out the leading up to the wedding.

2005 – Camilla

Camilla had to be different than all the rest and wear two dresses. The above dress she wore to the civil ceremony, since there was too much controversy of remarriage of divorcees in the Church of England. So for the blessing afterward at Windsor Castle, Camilla wore the dress below. I am pleased to say that Camilla dressed very age appropriate. She did not do any typical ballgown style dress to show off, she kept it classy. I am not too thrilled about the head pieces, Angela and Eric ofcourse, they loved it. “Go big or go home” they say, but I guess that is just the royal way.

So the question still remains, what will the future Queen wear? Well, the designer of Diana’s dress, Elizabeth Emanuel, decided to take her own guess. If she, herself, had the chance to dress Kate – this is what it may look like.

In her own words – “My design for Kate’s dress is simple with a layer of complexity. I’d make it in an off-white silk. I wouldn’t give her sleeves, but I’d put a silk organza drape over the shoulders to keep her sufficiently covered over the top half. I would apply a lace applique over the drape to make it more detailed. Then I think it would be lovely to include a beautiful brooch, perhaps something from the Royal Family’s collection.

Well get your cup of tea and scones ready! I don’t think Prince William and Kate will let us know. With 2,900 invites it is bound to be a great event! Newsflash, there are only 300 guests attending the reception! Go figure.

xoxo

Ang and Ashley