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
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