Royal Wedding Recap

Along with the 1,900 invited guests watching from the pews of Westminster Abbey to the million spectators lining the streets of London to the two billion viewers glued to their television sets, Friday morning celebrated the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, who became the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and will eventually become the future King of Queen of England.

I want to start with the classic and simple, but very romantic wedding dress worn by the future Queen of England, designed by British Designer Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen. When Kate first emerged out of the Goring Hotel where she was "in hiding" before the wedding day I was blown away by the Duchess of Cambridge's dress.


My initial reaction was it was very similar to the 1956 wedding gown worn by Grace Kelly when she married Prince Rainier of Monaco. What I loved about Kate's dress was that it matched her personality and I liked how it wasn't overly dramatic like her late Mother-in-law's 1981 wedding dress.

According to the Royal press office, the dress was described as The dress was made of ivory and white satin gazar, a loosely woven silk, with the skirt echoing an opening flower, with white satin gazar arches and pleats and a train measuring nine feet. The ivory satin bodice, which is narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips, draws on the Victorian tradition of corsetry and is a hallmark of McQueen’s designs.


The dress featured a lace applique bodice and skirt handmade by the Royal School of Needlework and lace flowers on ivory silk tulle in a design incorporating the symbolic rose of England, thistle of Scotland, daffodil of Wales and shamrock of Ireland.


The royal wedding gown was a perfect mix of tradition and modern.

I also loved the way, Kate worn her hair in simple in her half-up/half-down subtle wave of curls. The rumor is that Kate did her own make-up focusing on a warm color palette focusing on pink tones.


The veil was stunning. Her veil was transparent, made of ivory tulle and trimmed with hand-embroidered flowers. The flowers on the veil are a nod to Kate’s country upbringing.

The Cartier Halo Tiara Kate wore was made in 1936 as a gift for Queen Elizabeth’s 18th birthday from her parents, at the time holding the titles of Duke and Duchess of York.

I loved how "simple" she was in her jewelry wearing the gorgeous drop earrings that were presented to her the morning of her wedding by her parents. I liked how she wore no necklace to better accentuate the v-neck of the gown.


She followed the bridal tradition of something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. The Cartier tiara served as her something old and something borrowed. The earrings from her parents served as her something new. The something blue was a blue ribbon sewen into the interior of her dress,

The bride carried a shield-shaped wired bouquet of myrtle, lily-of-the-valley, sweet-william and hyacinth flowers.

The flower meanings in the bouquet are:

• Lily of the valley – Return of happiness
• Sweet william – Gallantry
• Hyacinth – Constancy of love
• Ivy – Fidelity; marriage; wedded love; friendship; affection
• Myrtle – The emblem of marriage; love

I was quite surprised by the size of the bouquet. I would have like to have seen a bigger bouquet; however it was a great shape as I am not a fan of cascading bouquets.

The ivy and lily of the valley hair wreaths worn by the younger bridesmaids were influenced by the bride’s mother’s own headdress at her wedding in 1981.

The bridal party consisted for four bridesmaids and two page boys followed by Prince Harry who served as the Best Man and Pippa Middleton, Kate's sister and Maid of Honor. Pippa wore another dress created by Sarah Burton made of a heavy, ivory satin-based crepe, with a cowl front and with the same button detail and lace trims as her older sister's dress.

As for the future king of England, William was dressed in the uniform of a colonel of the Irish Guards regiment, his senior honorary appointment in the army. He is currently a flight lieutenant in the Royal Air Force, based in north Wales and could also have worn a naval uniform. His younger brother and best man Prince Harry wore the uniform of a captain of the Household Cavalry.

Following the nearly hour-long ceremony, the Queen’s army of 21 chefs, led by Royal Chef Mark Flanagan, prepared 10,000 canapés to keep Will and Kate’s 650 guests satisfied.

Savory selections among the finger food included:

• Cornish crab salad on lemon blini
• Pressed duck terrine with fruit chutney
• Roulade of goats' cheese with caramelised walnuts
• Assortment of palmiers and cheese straws
• Scottish smoked salmon rose on beetroot blini
• Miniature watercress and asparagus tart
• Poached asparagus spears with Hollandaise sauce
• Quails eggs with celery sallt
• Scottish langoustines with lemon mayonnaise pressed confit of pork belly with crayfish and crackling
• Wild mushroom and celeriac chausson
• Bubble and squeak with confit shoulder of lamb
• Grain mustard and honey-glazed chipolatas
• Smoked haddock fishcake with pea guacamole
• Miniature Yorkshire pudding with roast fillet of beef and horseradish mousse
• Gateau opera
• Blood orange pate de fruit
• Raspberry financier
• Rhubarb creme brulee tartlet
• Passionfruit praline
• White chocolate ganache truffle
• Milk chocolate praline with nuts
• Dark chocolate ganache truffle

Guests were served  Pol Roger NV brut reserve champagne

The royal wedding spread also included Pol Roger NV Brut Reserve champagne and sumptuous desserts like blood orange pate de fruit, raspberry financiers, dark chocolate ganache truffles, and rhubarb crème brulee tartlets. Prince William got his wish: a chocolate biscuit cake made from a royal family recipe

The wedding cake chose a traditional multitiered fruitcake with cream and white piping designed by prestigious British baker Fiona Cairns.



Royal Wedding preview

Friday, April 29, 2011 will be a date that will forever live in the hearts of those all around the world who have anxiously anticipated the Royal Wedding of the future King of England and his commoner bride.

This wedding has been hyped on every channel detailing what the guests will be wearing including the variety of hats to the ultra-secret wedding dress.

Undoubtedly, this wedding will become an icon in the world of weddings and soon many brides will be taking cues from the couple to include in their own weddings from the decor, flowers and food selections.

The only downside for those of us on the West Coast is the timing of the wedding. I already have the E! Channel's six-hour news coverage of the royal wedding already programmed on my DVR and I will be analyzing everything and posting a Wedding Review.

Review as Conference Coordinator

Lori is amazingly detail oriented and thorough. She is very prompt and respectful of her clients time. Working with her is a breeze because she truly wants her clients to be happy and will do whatever is needed to make that happen. I wanted slushee machines for an event and Lori went the extra mile to get them within my budget dispite venue limitations. Reliability is her hallmark.

Jennifer Billingsley, Alpha Phi Pacific Northwest Regional Manager

Wedding Gift Etiquette

Today I received a great question from one of my August brides asking whether it's okay to open wedding presents that arrive before their wedding.

That is a great question!

"Traditional Wedding Etiquette" has couples wait until after their wedding to open gifts and sometimes in front of family at a post-wedding brunch. My thoughts and modern wedding etiquette states that couples should open their wedding gifts as they arrive and to send thank you notes right away. The reasoning for this is two-fold. First, it lets your guests know that you received their gift and you are "thanking" them for their generosity. Secondly, it gives you a jump start on your thank you notes.

However, I do agree with traditional wedding gift etiquette that states you do not use the gift until you after you are married as the gift is intended for your life as a married couple.

All thank you notes should be written within three months of when you receive the gift. (Ideally, a response should be written on the day you receive the wedding gift)

Emily Post's Do and Dont's of Thank You Notes

• Do personalize your notes and make reference to the person as well as the gift.



• Do remember that a gift should be acknowledged with the same courtesy and generous spirit in which it was given.



• Do be enthusiastic, but don’t gush. Avoid saying a gift is the most beautiful thing you have ever seen unless you really mean it.
  


• Don’t send form letters or cards with printed messages and just your signature; don’t use email or post a generic thank you on your wedding web site in lieu of a personal note.



• Do promptly acknowledge the receipt of shipped gifts by sending a note right away or calling and following up with a written note in a day or two.



• Don’t mention that you plan to return a gift or that you are dissatisfied in any way.



• Don’t tailor your note to the perceived value of the gift; no one should receive a perfunctory note.



• Do refer to the way you will use a gift of money. Mentioning the amount is optional.



• Don’t include wedding photos or use photo cards if it will delay sending the note.
  


• Don’t use being late as an excuse not to write. Even if you are still sending notes after your first anniversary, keep writing!

Edit 1 Media Hightlight Video

Tina & Mike Highlight from Edit 1 Media on Vimeo.

Edit 1 Media is my favorite videographer and here is a highlight video from Tina and Mike's wedding back in June on the Skansonia Ferry.

Review from Bride and Groom

When my fiance and I got engaged we were adamant about keeping costs low and having a DIY wedding. We looked high and low for friends and family that would be willing to help us plan our wedding. When speaking with one of my maids of honor she mentioned that one of our own Alpha Phi's was a wedding planner, that's where I met Lori. When researching costs of venues, cakes etc we looked into a wedding planner but opted out due to the extremely high cost. After connecting with Lori, we realized she could deliver all of what we wanted for an affordable price. She even offered to put together my DIY projects for no additional cost! Lori was fantastic to work with. She kept her eye on all of our pre-wedding details, things a bride and groom forget about in all of the hustle and bustle of planning a wedding. Lori made herself available to me 24/7 in the event I had any wedding details to go over with her. She kept us on track throughout the months, budgeting our time here and there, helping us put the final touches on everything and making sure we had everything we needed to become newly weds. In this tough economy it is important to get as much bang for your buck as you can and Lori is the one who can get the job done. She put all of my pre-wedding stresses to rest and truly helped make my wedding the best day of my life.

~E&C