|
Bride: Catherine Elizabeth (Kate) Middleton
Groom: Prince William Arthur Phillip Louis (second in line to the throne)
Venue: Westminster Abbey, London
Also know as The Collegiate Church of St. Peter, Westminster
Date: 29 April, 2011
Hair: Styled by Richard Ward and James Pryce – they attended Kate’s hair
from 6.30am on the morning of the wedding at the Goring hotel. Described as a
Demi-chignon, her hair was pulled back from her face with an asymmetrical parting.
Given lift on the crown to secure the diamond tiara and veil, then allowed to
cascade down her back in large open curls.
Vows: Kate walked down the aisle to “I was Glad” by Hubert Hastings Parry.
Two choirs, an orchestra and fanfare teams performed during the service.
The vows were administered by The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams
the head of the Church of England. The abbey was decorated with trees from the
royal estates and flowers which included wisteria, lilacs, rhododendron and azaleas.
The couple wrote a special prayer for their wedding, a declaration of intent for
their new life together. It was read by the Bishop of London, Dr Richard Chartres,
who has close links with William and his family, having counselled William and
Harry after the death of their mother Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
Dr Chartres told the congregation: "I pray that everyone present and the many
millions watching this ceremony and sharing in your joy today will do everything
in their power to support and uphold you in your new life.
"I pray that God will bless you in the way of life you have chosen, a way which
is expressed in the prayer that you have written together in preparation for this
day:
The Prayer
“God our Father, we thank you for our families; for the love that we share and
for the joy of our marriage.
“In the busyness of each day keep our eyes fixed on what is real and important
in life and help us to be generous with our time and love and energy.
“Strengthened by our union, help us to serve and comfort those who suffer. We
ask this in the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen."
Dress by: Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen – long sleeved lace dress with
a tulle veil and Cartier Halo tiara borrowed from the Queen.
The intricate lace design of Kate’s dress cleverly incorporated the rose, thistle,
daffodil and the shamrock – the four floral emblems of the United Kingdom. The
2 metre train and bodice were decorated with the delicate lace appliqué flowers,
handcrafted using the Carrickmacross lace-making technique that originated in
Ireland in the 1820’s.
For the evening reception, Kate wore another Sarah Burton gown – a white gazar
silk strapless dress with embellished waistband and white angora bolero.
Bouquet: Shield shaped spray of lily-of-the-valley, myrtle, sweet William
and hyacinth. After the official wedding photographs were taken, the bouquet was
left on the grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, a tradition begun
by the Queen Mother following her marriage in 1923 (in memory of her brother Fergus
who was killed on the Western Front in 1915).
Jewellery: Engagement ring: Garrard 18 Carat sapphire and diamond, cost
£28,000 in 1981.
Wedding ring: Welsh god band created by Wartski
Cartier Halo tiara lent by the Queen
Diamond earrings created by Robinson Pelham
Groom’s attire: Colonel of the Irish Guards uniform – scarlet jacket, gold
and crimson sash, gold sword slings and a forage cap.
Wedding Planner: Prince William’s private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton
working closely with his personal private secretary Helen Asprey.
Photographer: Hugo Burnand
Wedding cars: Kate left the Goring hotel, where she had spent the night
before the wedding with her family and rode to Westminster Abbey in a Rolls Royce.
William left Clarence House with his brother (the best man) in a Bentley.
An open top 1902 State Landau took Kate and William from Westminster Abbey to
the reception at Buckingham Palace. As the couple went under the arch into the
inner courtyard, William saluted and Kate bowed her head.
William whisked Kate away from the reception in a dark blue vintage Aston Martin
DB6 Mk11 belonging to his father Prince Charles. The car had been decorated by
Prince Harry and other friends, featuring a “JU5T WED” number plate and trailing
balloons.
Reception: Lunchtime reception hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Dinner later in the evening hosted by Prince Charles and Camilla.
First dance: Your Song – Ellie Goulding sand Elton John’s 70s classic.
Prince William and Kate danced for 30 seconds, before the tempo was increased
to draw others onto the floor.
However, Kate and William later delighted guests with a fun rendition of “You’re
The One That I Want” from Grease. Dancing and singing their way through the John
Travolta and Olivia Newton-John hit.
Honeymoon: Initially the couple were flown by helicopter for a few days
in Scotland, as William was due to report back to work the following Tuesday.
However, 10 days after the wedding the couple went to the Seychelles for a 10
day honeymoon, staying in a £4,000 a night villa on a secret island.
Cost: The Royal wedding cost the Middletons £250,000
Policing the event cost an estimated £20million as thousands of officers earned
double time for working a bank holiday. (Prince Charles and Diana Spencer’s wedding
cost around £4m – equating to approx £12m today).
Although the influx of tourists for the event is thought to have generated up
to £2 billion, but it is argued that the cost to the economy was £5 billion, as
there were two consecutive 4-day bank holiday weekends.
Number of guests: 1,900 guests attended, drawn from the couple’s family
and friends, including more than 50 members of the Royal Family.
650 were invited back to the lunchtime reception hosted by the Queen. While only
a handpicked 300 people were chosen to attend the dinner in the evening, given
by Prince Charles. He and Camilla chose 100 of these and Kate and William chose
100 each.
Special guests: The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Princess Anne,
Prince Andrew, Prince Edward. Famous faces included David Beckham, Victoria Beckham,
Elton John,
Engagement: Prince William finally proposed after eight years of courtship.
He popped the question while the couple were on holiday in Kenya in October 2010
and presented her with his mother Princess Diana’s 18-carat oval sapphire and
diamond engagement ring. While the choice of ring has been questioned by many,
as it did not lead to a happy marriage; William has insisted it is his way of
ensuring that his mother is a part of their marriage.
We had been talking about marriage for a while so it wasn’t a massively big surprise.
I took her up somewhere nice in Kenya and I proposed.
I had been carrying it around with me in my rucksack for about three weeks before
that and I literally would not let it go, everywhere I went I was keeping hold
of it because I knew this thing, if it disappeared I would be in a lot of trouble
and because I’d planned it, it went fine. You hear a lot of horror stories about
proposing and things well and I was really pleased when she said yes.
William and Kate’s were engaged for 6 months before their marriage on St Catherine’s
day.
Where did they meet? The couple met at St Andrew’s University in Scotland, in
2001. They started off both studying Art History, however during his second year,
Prince William changed his major subject to Geography and achieved his degree.
Kate went on to obtain her degree in Art History.
History: William’s first girlfriend was Rose Farquhar and she received
an invite to the wedding, as did Holly Branson and Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe,
two more Musgrave who dated William before he went to university and Jecca Craig,
thought by many to have been his first true love.
Kate invited her ex-boyfriend Rupert Finch to the wedding, she dated him at St
Andrew’s before she began seeing William. She also invited Willem Marx, who she
is rumoured to have had a relationship with, whilst in the sixth-form.
|
