The Royal Wedding: Prince William and Kate's Wedding Day!

The big day is finally here. I was up at 5am to watch the royal wedding event. It was worth every single second of missed sleep that's for sure!

If you slept in and missed the event here's a quick rundown of what happened.

The Queen named Prince William to be the Duke of Cambridge, which means Kate will now be Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

We watched the guests arrive. Lots of fun hats and great people watching!

We saw Prince William and Prince Harry depart Clarence House almost on time. It was about 5 minutes late accoring to my watch.

Queen arrived at Westminster Abbey with Prince Phillip in a very springy yellow ensemble with coordinating hat and bag. She also, wore Queen Mary's True Lovers Knot diamond brooch.

We saw the rest of the royal family arrive at Westminster Abbey. Camilla did a good job as the Step Mother of the Groom and wore beige.

The Mother of the Bride wore a very appropriate Catherine Walker sky blue dress. Her fabulous hat was by Jane Corbett.

We saw Pippa's dress (also wearing Alexander McQueen)and the cute bridesmaids and pages arrive at the Abbey. Cuteness in full effect!

The big reveal of the dress was as exciting as anticipated. Here's a rundown of her wedding day look.



The Dress: I had a feeling she would put a twist on an otherwise strapless gown and sure enough she did! Kate wore a white lace dress (with sleeves)that was designed by Sara Burton for Alexander McQueen. The dress is made of French Chantilly lace and English Cluny lace throughout the bodice, skirt and underskirt. The train is almost nine feet long.

The Veil & Tiara: Kate's veil is made silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers. It is held in place by a Cartier "halo" tiara. I'm calling this her her something borrowed from Queen Elizabeth II. The tiara was presented to the Queen by her mother on her 18th birthday (some birthday gift huh?).

The Accessories - Her Robinson Pelham earrings were custom designed inspired by the new Middleton family coat of arms and designed to match her tiara. They are diamond-set stylized oak leaves with a pear-shaped diamond set drop and a pave set diamond acorn suspended from the center. The earrings were a personal gift to Middleton from her parents for her wedding day(go mom & dad!).

Shoes: The duchess satin and lace shoes were handmade by the McQueen design house.

I thought her look was perfect - classic, but with a little twist. Well done!

I know there was a sentimental reason behind the flowers that Kate carried. The bride and bridesmaids carried small bouquets of lily of the valley and the boutonnieres were small clusters of lily of the valley. As much as I love this flower, I feel that it needed to be paired with another type of flower or greenery that had more structure. The bouquets looked a little droopy and a little to small.

The ceremony was just perfect. Kate and Wills looked so in love and excited to be standing at the altar together.

At the conclusion of the ceremony the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge make their grand exit into the waiting carriage. The 1902 Landau Carriage was the perfect getaway vehicle for the ride back to Buckingham Palace.



Then we all waiting anxiously for 8:25am when the newlyweds appeared on the balcony for the first kiss. We were fortunate enough to see two kisses this morning. Really, they are such a cute couple!

I can't wait to see the details from the afternoon reception as well as the party hosted by Prince Charles this evening!

What were your favorite parts of this morning's wedding? What did you think of Kate's dress?

The Royal Wedding: Where to Watch

So we're less than 24 hours away from the biggest wedding of the year...okay decade and it's time to put your game plan together. Where to watch, where to see what's going on and finally see what Kate's dress looks like!

Some of us will be up at the crack of dawn watching TV coverage of the event. Here's a few channels that will be broadcasting the event live as it's happening across the pond.

3:00 am - BBC live, uninterrupted coverage begins.

3:30 a.m. - TLC's live coverage of the Royal Wedding begins.

4:00 a.m. - NBC(Meredith Vieira, Brian Williams & Matt Lauer), ABC (Diane Sawyer and Barbara Walters), CBS (Katie Couric), FOX, CNN (Anderson Cooper, Piers Morgan and Cat Deeley ) and E! (Giuliana Rancic) begin their live coverage.

5:45 am - BBC will begin to stream live coverage at www.bbc.com/royalwedding

And ...so you can follow along the events of the morning, below is the outline of activities and approximate timing. In case you were wondering London time is 5 hours ahead of EST.

3:15 -4:45 am The general congregation will arrive at the Great North Door of Westminster Abbey.

4:50 am Governors-General and Prime Ministers of Realm Countries, the Diplomatic Corps, and other distinguished guests arrive at the Abbey.

5:10 am The Bridegroom and Prince Henry of Wales leave Clarence House for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 5:15 am.

5:20 am Members of Foreign Royal Families arrive at Westminster Abbey from Buckingham Palace.

5:20 am Mrs. Michael (Carole) Middleton and Mr. James Middleton leave the Goring Hotel for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 5:27 am.

5:25 am Members of the Royal Family (except those listed below) leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 5:30 am.

5:35 am The following Members of the Royal Family leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 5:40 am:

The Duke of York
Princess Beatrice of York
Princess Eugenie or York
The Earl and Countess of Wessex
The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence

5:38 am The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall leave Clarence House for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 5:42 am.

5:40 am The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh leave Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 5:45 am.

5:48 am The Bridesmaids and Pages leave the Goring Hotel for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 5:55 am.

5:51 am The Bride, accompanied by Mr. Michael Middleton, leaves the Goring Hotel for Westminster Abbey. **note - I did hear this morning that Kate would not be getting ready at the hotel but at Buckingham Palace instead.

6:00 am The Marriage Service begins. The Marriage Service will be relayed by audio speakers along the Route.

7:15 am The Carriage Procession of the Bride and Bridegroom with a Captain’s Escort of the Household Cavalry, followed by The Queen’s Procession with a Sovereign’s Escort of the Household Cavalry, leaves Westminster Abbey for Buckingham Palace.

7:30 am The Bride’s Carriage Procession arrives at Buckingham Palace.

7:40 am Members of the Royal Family and Members of Foreign Royal Families arrive at Buckingham Palace.

7:40 am Other guests for the Reception arrive at Buckingham Palace.

8:25 am The Queen and the Bride and Bridegroom, together with their Families, appear on the Balcony.

8:30 am Fly Past by the Royal Air Force and Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

The Royal Wedding: the Dress

The big royal wedding question everyone is talking about is what will Kate Middleton's dress look like?   The second most asked question I've seen has been will Kate wear a tiara?

I think Kate has been faced with a tough decision.  Does she stick to tradition and go with the heavier, more conservative dress with sleeves and giant train?  Or does she stay true to herself and choose a more modern gown that is a little less frilly and maybe (do I even say this) sleeveless?

I think she'll have a combination of both.  I am in love with this Priscilla of Boston dress below.  I think it can be embellished and personalized  (as most royals have done with thier gowns) and have a long train added, but accessoriezed in a more contemporary way.  She could add sheer sleeve/top to a gown design like this.  Also, I think she'll choose a more sheer veil without the heavy lace work. I could also see it embellished with beautiful crystals for added sparkle.   A larger necklace would also look great.  For the record, I I think she'll wear a small tiara. Not quite as large a Princess Diana wore on her wedding day, but something with a little sparkle to balance out the look.





Here's a look back at a few other famous royal wedding gowns...

Queen Elizabeth, 1946



Princess Grace of Monaco, 1956



Princess Diana, 1981



Sarah Ferguson - Dutchess of York, 1986



Princess Victoria of Sweden, 2010



What do you think Kate's dress will look like? Do you think she'll be wearing a tiara?

Royal Wedding: Preparations!

I saw this image this morning of some of the preparations happening in London for the Royal Wedding on Friday, April 29!  There are over 200 of these flags being hung over Regent Street. 





Image courtesy of VisitBritainSuperBlog

Wondering where the long procession of royal cars and carriages will be going?  With this super cute map of the route, it is easy to see!



Image courtesy of HouseThatLarsBuilt on Etsy

Royal Wedding Week

It's Royal Wedding Week! 

 

We're so excited to watch the wedding of Kate Middleton and Price William  unfold in London on Friday, April 29th.  All week long we're going to be talking about the many aspects of the wedding - a few fun details from past royal weddings (Princess Diana & Prince Charles' is one of our favorites), what we think the design of the royal wedding details will be and share facts about Friday's royal wedding event. 

Stay tuned for our first installment and the hot topic of that everyone has been speculating about for weeks - what will Kate's dress look like?  Will she wear a tiara?  We can hardly stand the suspense!  Stay tuned to see what we're thinking and take a peek at some of our favorite images from royal weddings of the past.

Image courtesy of EdgeInspired.