Royal Wedding Recap

Here's the blog you've all been waiting for: Meghan & Harry's wedding day recapped!

Ooh, there is some serious dress hate going on up in here.  And look, I get it.  If you only look at the pictures, it seems like a let down.  To be honest, I had 3 reactions to this dress:

1 - When she got out of the car I thought "meh, that's what I was expecting.  It's very Meghan-esque.  It's fine."

2 - Then, when she was on the steps with that lovely veil following her, I thought "ooh girl, I get what you're doing."

3 - Finally, she walked in the chapel--perfect choice of venue, by the way, as St. George's seems way more cozy than Westminster Abbey--and the music started to play and the light was hitting her just right.  It was like something out of Lord of the Rings, and I was like "dang, you nailed that.  I rescind my earlier criticism."

So my point is that if you only saw pics, watch the video, and make sure you have the sound on.

If following the royals isn't your hobby, and you're just tuning in, you were expecting a giant princess cupcake dress.  And you didn't get that.  Those of us who make a sport of royal watching were never expecting a Princess Diana-esque gown.  In fact, we got exactly what we expected.  (The only thing I didn't anticipate about that dress was the sleeve length--I thought they'd be shorter.)

You'll recall that on Friday night I picked McQueen as the dressmaker.  I was completely wrong, and so was everyone else: no one saw Givenchy coming.  That includes the dressmaker's own husband and children!  Only five people knew.  See sketches below.  But what I was right about was this: "It will be more sleek than we've seen before on British Royal Brides."  Perhaps I should have prepared you better.  Next time I'll qualify it more: you will not see lace or a single sequin or pearl on this dress.

Also, look, sometimes royal brides wear this unembellished style.  For example:

Princess Maxima (now Queen Maxima) went with the unembellished 3/4 sleeve situation.

Infanta Cristina of Spain basically wore the same dress in 1997.

Mette Merit of Norway did the "simple silhouette" thing.  Feel free to make fun of that bouquet.

 Queen Silvia of Sweden made it all about the tiara and the veil back in the day.

And one more unembellished, off the shoulder dress: Queen Silvia's daughter, Crown Princess Victoria.

A few of you with fashion degrees tell me that the fit was off on Meghan's dress and I'll certainly give you that.  The sleeves and waist could have definitely been more tailored.  Princess Eugenie is getting married in the fall, so we'll have another shot at it.  (Although fair warning: we're putting our hope in a York Girl.)

Okay, back to the new Duke & Duchess of Sussex...let's start at the beginning of the day, with Meghan and her mom Doria in the car.

This was when we first got a glimpse of the tiara, and I started racking my brain.  And here's the interesting thing: there are a few royal jewel blogs I follow & comment on, and it was hilarious to figure out later that the American news media & Twitter were watching us for clues before the official announcement came out!

It was immediately obvious to me that what she was wearing was from the vault and not a new piece.  (If that sounds crazy, can you spot a vintage engagement ring vs. a new one vs. a new one made of old stones?  I know many of you can.)  Like everyone else, I initially assumed it was Marie Feodorova's Sapphire Bandeau, minus the sapphire.  If you click on the link and scroll down to the video of Princess Margaret wearing it, you'll see it's very similar.  But I got it on the second guess: Queen Mary's Filigree Bandeau, which last made an appearance in the early 1950's.

Can we also talk for a minute about Harry being the one to lift Meghan's veil?  Michael Middleton did it for Kate, and Princess Diana's hair stylist cut the blusher of her veil off when they were signing the register.  I wonder if her father was supposed to do it.  At any rate, I thought it was a wonderful moment--in fact, probably my favorite of the whole day.  It was as if there was no one else in the room, no cameras, just them.  Love it.  In fact, the way they looked at each other all day was amazing.  As someone who has never really been a big Harry or Meghan fan, this wedding may have changed my mind.

Let's take a quick diversion about how no one guessed we'd see this particular tiara on Meghan.  Here's the thing about Queen Elizabeth's jewel vault: we largely don't know what's in there.  The royals have a habit of taking pieces apart to make new ones, just like we rearrange our furniture or buy new throw pillows.  For example, the Queen Mother was given this necklace for her wedding.

 She had it made in to this tiara, which she wore early on in her marriage.

 She passed away, but not before giving the tiara to Princess Margaret.  Princess Margaret then passed, and her children sold a number of her jewels.  So we assumed it was gone or broke up or in their possession until....

It appeared on the head of the Duchess of Cambridge.

So tiara ownership in the British Royal Family--not to mention what's still around--is difficult to figure out.  I'd kill for 5 minutes alone in the vault a la "Supermarket Sweep."  Not necessarily to take anything, but just to see what's there.  (Okay, and maybe to take 1 or 2 things.)

My initial prediction was for the Cartier Bracelet Bandeau tiara, because I thought Meghan would pick a sleek design.

And the fact that she did pick a tiara--of a streamlined design--plus she wore Cartier earrings and bracelets, makes me feel like I should get more than partial credit.

We then got to see Harry & Wills walking to the church.  And this is where I feel like the media goes a little overboard--by employing lip reading experts--but I secretly love it so shhhh, don't tell.  Apparently Wills was complaining to Harry that his shoes and pants were too tight.  And Harry was adorably getting nervous, asking if Meghan was there yet.  So basically, just like any other wedding!

Claps to the gents on these uniforms by the way.  As I've noted many times before, this is the one I wanted William to wear to his own wedding.  And apparently, he also wanted to wear this one, but Queen Elizabeth said no.  (That's what's reported, although it sounds a little ridiculous.)  But if it's true, well, then YOU GOT IT WRONG, GAN GAN.  So I was pleased to see them both in the Blues & Royals uniform.

Speaking of Gan Gan, they showed Queen Elizabeth pulling up, and I thought she was wearing Day Glow Green, like she did that one time.  And I actually let out a long "oh noooooooo."

Fortunately, it wasn't that bad.  But I'm still going to say that as much as I wanted to love whatever she wore, I did not love the Queen's outfit.  I feel like she nailed it at Will & Kate's wedding, and the bar was set really high at a 10 out of 10.

 For Will & Kate she's got the cheery color going on, a sunburts pattern on her coat, and her hat looks like a delicious buttercream cake.  Plus! A rare glimpse of a tan shoe and purse. 
The True Lover's Knot brooch rounds out a great outfit.

 So this seemed...not good by comparison.

Sorry ma'am, but this is a Mardi Gras mess.  The lime isn't working for me, and neither is the black bag and heels.  It looks like something purple and furry died on your hat.  Even the spectacular Richmond Brooch looks out of place here.  I'll just say that it was good to see the Duke of Edinburgh walking without a cane after hip surgery, and that he looked very dapper.

So the queen pulled out historically significant brooch (this was also from Queen Mary), the Richmond brooch, and it was big and sparkly one as I predicted.  It was not a rose or anything sentimental to Meghan and Harry, as I thought it might be.  And dare I say it, but I think my choices of the Cartier Rose or Nizam may have worked better.

The Richmond brooch.

My backup choice: The Nizam Rose.

My first choice: The Cartier Rose.

But back to something good: THE KIDS!  All ten of them!  One of the funnier moments for me was all of the moms (including K-Middy) trying to wrangle allllllll those kids on the steps of the chapel.

And for anyone who was sad that Meghan's mom was sitting alone, she wasn't.  Meghan's friends--here in blue, hot pink, and blush--came and sat with her once they got the kids in to place.  Also in this bunch: an almost-visible Duchess of Cambridge.  (We'll get to her later.)

These kids were the best, and my favorite were the twins carrying the train.

Also well done was the fact that the page boys weren't dressed in ridiculous garter robes (looking at you, Edward and Sophie) or an ugly sailor outfit (Fergie and Andrew perpetrated this on William as a child).

Edward & Sophie with some ugly attendant outfits.  Also, if you thought Meghan's dress had fit issues, you better not look at pics of Sophie's dress.

I wonder if Wills has forgiven Andrew & Fergie for this.

You already know that I thoroughly enjoyed Michael Curry's message, and enjoyed even more the reactions of the white British elite.  Before we get to the reactions, highlights from the sermon:

• Two MLK Jr. quotes to begin and end: "We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world a new world, for love is the only way." And later...Dr King was right: we must discover love - the redemptive power of love. And when we do that, we will make of this old world, a new world.
• On the theme of fire: Anybody get here in a car today? An automobile? Nod your heads if you did - I know there were some carriages. But those of us who came in cars, fire - the controlled, harnessed fire - made that possible. I know that the Bible says, and I believe it, that Jesus walked on the water. But I have to tell you, I did not walk across the Atlantic Ocean to get here. Controlled fire in that plane got me here. Fire makes it possible for us to text and tweet and email and Instagram and Facebook and socially be dysfunctional with each other.
• And on the theme of redemptive love: Someone once said that Jesus began the most revolutionary movement in human history. A movement grounded in the unconditional love of God for the world - and a movement mandating people to live that love, and in so doing to change not only their lives but the very life of the world itself.

And now the reactions:

Princess Beatrice thinks: "for once, I won't be the most talked-about thing at this wedding!"

Zara's face is almost indescribable.
However, some of my fellow bloggers & commenters noted that she sat like this throughout the ceremony, and at 8 1/2 months pregnant, was likely very uncomfortable.  Mike Tindall (her husband) could be seen rubbing her belly at times, so I wonder if the baby was being especially active.

Charles, Camilla, and Kate try to retain their British stoicism.

Camilla tried to drag Kate in.  Kate wasn't having it.  SIDE.  EYE.

The Queen looks like she wants the floor to swallow her.  Prince Philip is amused.

After that I was pleasantly surprised by The Kingdom Choir's rendition of "Stand by Me."  I've seriously watched it and listened to it about five times since then.  They nailed it.  And it fit in the service perfectly.  I've admitted that when the ceremony came out, I raised an eyebrow at it.  Beautifully done, Kingdom Choir.

Also, did they hand out fabric samples to the ladies and tell them to wear cream or blush or gold?  Their outfit game was ON. POINT.  They win my "best dressed" of the wedding, which is a pretty good feat, because there were some amazing outfits and hats.

Let's also give some love to 19-year old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who they met at the Halo Foundation.  At 19 I'm pretty sure I was listening to Nelly and trying to get a B in my college stats class, so kudos to him.

Behind him is one of the many walls of flowers, which were absolutely gorgeous.

I wasn't as in love with the look of Meghan's bouquet, but I will give her and Harry snaps for a few things:
1 - Per the palace: "Prince Harry handpicked several flowers yesterday from their private garden at Kensington Palace to add to the bespoke bridal bouquet."

2 - Also per the palace: "The spring blooms include Forget-Me-Nots which were Diana, Princess of Wales’ favourite flower. The couple specifically chose them to be included in Ms. Markle’s bouquet to honour the memory of the late Princess on this special day."

3 - Meghan sent her bouquet--as is tradition--to rest on the tomb of the unknown solider.

4 - After the wedding, the flowers were sent to hospices around England.

Speaking of flowers, let's discuss how that train had flowers representing all 53 Commonwealth Nations on it.  This was touching and beautiful, but also politically savvy.  Charles is a tough sell to the Commonwealth countries, but the quad of Harry/Meghan/Wills/Kate are rock stars.  Nicely played.

Other sweet moments involved Meghan's mom.  As noted prior, Meghan's friends sat with her, which you can see in this picture when she and Charles went to watch M&H sign the register.  From what I can tell, this is a Church of England thing, conducted in private.  Kind of similar to us signing the marriage license, but part of the ceremony.  I suspect that it was originally supposed to be Charles + Camilla + Meghan's mom + Meghan's dad, but once dad dropped out, it was just Charles and Doria.  To me, it made it more intimate and special.

Speaking of Charles, he did a lovely job of walking Meghan down the last half of the aisle, and then having a seat.  Again, it was nice that there was no "giving away," and that Harry got to lift her veil.

Charles also made sure Doria didn't walk alone leaving the church or stand alone waving to the newlyweds on the steps.  He's been a single parent before, so I feel like he could relate.

Okay, we've made it this far and not really talked about Kate!

I thought she looked amazing for being only three weeks post-partum!  Also, as anticipated on my Friday facebook post, "Kate will wear something understated from McQueen, larger-than-usual hat, big smile." So check, check, and check.  In fact, I was pretty much expecting her to wear the potato chip hat from Zara's wedding, as she knows how to repeat outfits and wear a face-blocking hat so the attention stays on the bride.  She delivered with a modified potato chip hat.

Kate at Harry's wedding (left) and Zara's wedding (right).

While the palace stated that she was wearing a yellow McQueen coat, this appears to many in the Kate collective to be a repeat of Charlotte's christening coat, which she's also worn on a foreign tour and a Buckingham Palace balcony appearance.  My money is on the fact that it's a repeat, with the seams let out to accommodate her post-baby figure, and ain't nothing wrong with that.  And it turns out I'm wrong: it's actually a different dress!  What Kate wore did a super comprehensive analysis on this actually being a light yellow dress, which you can read here.

At any rate, it doesn't matter: it's not about her.  But I do love that her hat is a conversation blocker, so she and Will can talk about Camilla.

On to the other guests!

David Beckham proves that morning suits and tattoos go together.
Victoria, like always, looks mad.

This couple was referred to as "Social Justice Lawyer Amal Clooney and her husband."  LOVE IT.

Kitty Spencer wins my "Second Best Dressed Guest" after the choir.

Carole Middleton was also high on my list.

The Queen's niece--Sarah Chatto--was very colorful (for her!) and wore a diamond brooch at her waist.  Love.

Meghan's friend Priyanka Chopra stunned at the evening reception.

Although I wasn't a fan of her day look.
Everything about this is too much.

Fergie ALMOST didn't look like an overdone mess.
At least she scored an invite?

Stella McCartney's team made this dress for Oprah OVERNIGHT when she realized what she had packed looked too white on camera.  She didn't want to upstage Meghan.

As I'm sure you're well aware, Pippa Middleton dressed as a can of Arizona Iced Tea.
I still liked the pattern and the hat.

Serena Williams at the evening reception.

Serena at the wedding.  Great color dress and fascinator.

The Earl and Countess Spencer (Diana's brother and SIL) were also high up on my list.

The Countess of Wessex gets points for the color and the hat.
The shiny top was too much, and the skirt was a weird length.
Lady Louise wore one of her mum's outfits, but it wasn't a favorite.

Zara and Mike look nice here.  Zara can wear what she wants while she's pregnant.

Princess Anne dressed like Hugh Hefner.

Prince Harry's ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davies (one of two!  No thanks!) looked...unhappy.

The York Sisters did not screw up!
I REPEAT: THE YORK SISTERS DID NOT SCREW UP.
Eugenie channeled Jackie O. (although her outfit looked ill-fitting and messy when she sat)
Beatrice wore a not-terrible headband/hat thing, and an inoffensive dress. 

Let's move on to some reception action.  Harry & Meghan's elderflower, lemon, and buttercream cake looked stylish and sounded delicious.  Especially since the traditional British Royal wedding cake is...fruitcake?  It used 500 lemons, 200 eggs, and 10 bottles of Sandringham (the Queen's private estate) elderflower cordial.

Guests dined on (get ready to be hungry) Scottish Langoustines wrapped in smoked salmon with citrus crème fraiche, grilled english asparagus wrapped in cumbrian ham, garden pea panna cotta with quail eggs and lemon verbena, heritage tomato and basil tartare with balsamic pearls, poached free range chicken bound in a lightly spiced yoghurt with roasted apricot, croquette of confit windsor lamb, roasted vegetables and shallot jam and warm asparagus spears with mozzarella and sun-blush tomatoes.

Apparently there was a minor scandal that there was "bowl food" at the reception.  I think that means a buffet?  Somebody British help me out!  (UPDATE: Okay, I googled "bowl food" and it sounds like a lot of dishes and juggling. No thanks.)

Then James & Mrs. Bond...I mean, Harry and Meghan, departed for the evening reception (that's the one where things REALLY go down).

As they drove away, we got a look at a GIANT aquamarine ring that belonged to Princess Diana, gifted to her by Harry.

At the evening reception, Tom Hardy and Idris Elba apparently DJ-ed, and the first dance was "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by Whitney Houston.  There was a ginger & rum themed cocktail called "When Harry Met Meghan" (ha!) and a three course dinner.  George Clooney danced with Meghan AND Kate.  Meghan's beagle ran around and ate dropped canapes.  It was capped off by fireworks, and there were apparently two after-parties.  That's pretty much all we'll ever find out about it, and it sounds like they had fun.

Invitation for the evening reception as posted by one of Harry's friends.
Kate did a sketch of the chapel on Pippa's wedding program--it's thought, but not confirmed--that she did this one as well.

We'll let Bishop Michael Curry have the final words here, with a couple of pics for the road: "Two people fell in love and we all showed up."