Manolo for the Brides

This was the scene on a July morning in 1981 when a starry-eyed Anglophile teenager in Santa Rosa, California set her alarm for a painfully wee hour, didn’t get coffee lest grinding the beans wake her parents, tiptoed down the stairs, and turned on the television as quietly as possible so as not to wake her brother sleeping in the next room to watch the event of a lifetime: an actual British Royal Wedding of the Heir Apparent to the throne.

I didn’t watch with my analytic glasses on then. To me it was a fairy tale pageant. I was impressed with Lady Diana’s refusal to vow to obey. It was a truly gutsy move at the time. But mostly I wanted to see the dress, the flowers, the pomp and the circumstance of a royal wedding. Pretty carriages interested me more than any potential political cues I might glean about what sort of monarch Prince Charles might one day be.

Nearly thirty years later, I set my DVR the night before to record the wedding of that couple’s oldest son to another popular commoner. I got up hours after the excitement started and sat down with a steaming cup of coffee and a hearty breakfast before starting the recording. I wasn’t worried about waking Mr. Twistie since he needed to get up to go to work in a matter of minutes, anyway. I’m older, wiser, have access to better tech, and have lost a few of the stars in my eyes, though I’m still a romantic at heart.

So what did I see? What did I think of it? Read on, my friends, and see.

First, the gown, because I want to talk about it, too, darn it!

Fabulous. Just fabulous. It’s elegant, dignified without being stuffy, and patriotic. That’s right, patriotic. Not only was it made by a British designer (Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen), but the lace was handmade Carrickmacross, an Irish form of lace consisting of embroidery on a machine made net background, and the motifs involved were English roses, Scottish thistles, Irish shamrocks, and Welsh daffodils. It was opulent, but also showed restraint. The train was eight feet long, which is about the minimum one could really get away with in Westminster Abbey with the news cameras of the known universe focused on it. There was no crinoline, the sleeves were close fitted. Even the veil was quite simple in style, held in place with a Cartier diamond tiara borrowed from the Queen, who was given it by her mother.

The comparisons to Grace Kelly started about two seconds after Kate emerged from the car to enter the church. I fully expect them to continue for years, perhaps decades.

But on to other matters.

The flowers.
Again, I’m in love with this bouquet. It’s another piece of restrained elegance, full of meaning. Kate paid attention to the Victorian language of flowers in choosing what she carried. Here’s the list and what they mean:

Lily of the Valley: return to happiness
Sweet William: gallantry, as well as a graceful nod to the groom
Hyacinth: constancy of love
Myrtle: marriage, love
Ivy: fidelity, married love

Oh, and the ivy was taken from a plant that was planted by Queen Victoria herself. Queen Elizabeth carried a sprig in her wedding bouquet in 1947, as did Princess Diana in 1981.

But that’s not all the floral language of the wedding. Oh no, it wasn’t. You see, the aisle in the Abbey was lined with trees. And not just any trees. There were six field maples (reserve, humility) along the aisle, while the altar itself was flanked by a pair of hornbeams (resilience).

I think those are some excellent messages.

The Guest List.

The usual guest list for a royal wedding consists mostly of dignitaries and royalty, both domestic and foreign. William and Kate managed something no royal couple having an extremely high-profile wedding has ever done before: they got and retained primary control of the guest list. Yes, there were some dignitaries there, but most of the guest list consisted of the couple’s friends from college, from work, and family friends, such as Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish, and the heads of various charities the couple supports. What’s more, the Middleton family was seated opposite William’s relatives. Yes, they were placed on equal footing (at least symbolically) with the Royal family.

The Order of Service.

As I said, it was a fairly sizable flap back in 1981 when Diana Spencer refused to vow to obey her new husband. On friday, there were a couple murmurs when Kate Middleton made the same choice, but no real wringing of hands or horrified gasps (with the exception of a couple from Syria which resulted in the rescinding of an invitation) to speak of. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury noted that ‘obey’ has been optional for a very long time and it would be a rare couple who choose it today.

But there was more than that. The happy couple chose a reading from Romans which spoke of sacrifice, service, humility, generosity of spirit, mutual affection, and shared responsibilities. The line: “Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly” in particular strikes me as significant. This is a couple who spread the word that they would appreciate those wishing to give gifts do so by supporting charities the couple supports. These are people who insisted William’s RAF rescue helicopter pilot buddies and Kate’s school chums have a place in their wedding, major political event or not. This is a signal that they intend to be accessible to the public. Fitting for the first royal couple to announce their engagement via Twitter.

The themes of generosity, service, and partnership continued both in the sermon and in the prayer the couple wrote themselves.

The Afterparty.

Immediately after the ceremony, the couple had photos taken and attended a formal reception… but like more and more young couples today, once that was done they changed their clothes and continued partying long into the night. Kate chose another Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen gown, this one strapless with a cute bolero sweater shrug. I’ve had no word whether the Queen attended the afterparty, but Camilla clearly did.

In short, I’m a fan of this wedding. William and Kate? I doubt that you’re reading this particular blog, but if you are, I sincerely wish you both all happiness.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 1st, 2011 at 12:26 pm and is filed under Celebrity Weddings, Real Weddings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.