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.