The Romantic Details On The Wedding Dresses Of British Royal Family Brides
What a royal bride wears matters. The original influencers, the British royal family have been leading the way when it comes to bridal trends ever since Queen Victoria opted to wear white for her 1840 wedding day. Since, the likes of the late Queen Elizabeth II through to the Princess of Wales have been helping generations of brides assemble their very own wedding day wardrobes.
Though every wedding dress a bride chooses is uniquely special and important, a royal wedding dress carries a greater pressure as it must sit on the world stage under heavy scrutiny, while also sending a message of who the newlywed bride is. Think Meghan Markle's veil embroidered with the flowers of the Commonwealth or Princess Eugenie choosing a style that highlighted her scoliosis scars. Both details were as much a note on design as they were central to the bride's intention and personality.
With an emphasis on British design and an eye on tradition, royal wedding dresses are often deeply romantic, using plenty of symbolism in their embroidery and fabrication and are extremely well-constructed, as they are sure to be photographed or filmed from every angle.
If you're looking for inspiration for your own special day, or are simply day-dreaming, a search through the royal wedding dresses from Princess Margaret's sleek 1960s style to Princess Beatrice's championing of vintage, and everyone in-between, should sate your curiosity.
Princess Eugenie's Wedding Dress, 2018
Princess Eugenie looked divine in a Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos-designed ivory dress at her wedding to Jack Brooksbank at St George's Chapel in Windsor.
The dress was made from a silk, cotton, and viscose jacquard weave that featured symbolic flora, namely: the thistle for Scotland, an homage to Balmoral and Queen Elizabeth II; a shamrock for Ireland, a further homage to Sarah Ferguson's Irish roots; the York Rose, after her title; and ivy to represent the couple's home.
The Princess requested a low back on the structured, full-skirted dress to highlight her scoliosis surgery scar.
Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress, 2011
The Princess of Wales wed Prince William in a lace-sleeved gown designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen.
A celebration of British fashion, Middleton's gown featured a handmade lace appliqué (featuring a variety of flowers to symbolise Great Britain), a corset and padded hip detailing for a Victoriana effect.
The bride accessorised the dress with the Queen's Cartier Halo tiara and diamond earrings featuring oak leaves with a pear shaped diamond set drop and a pavé set diamond acorn suspended in the centre in an ode to the Middleton family crest.
Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress, 2018
Now the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle's wedding dress wowed the world with its typically chic and classic, boat-neck design by Clare Waight Keller at Givenchy when she married Prince Harry at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.
Perhaps more notable than the dress, which Kensington Palace noted Markle and Keller wanted to have a: 'timeless and elegant aesthetic, impeccable tailoring, and relaxed demeanour', was the bride's veil.
As a homage to the work she planned on undertaking within the Commonwealth, the five metre-long white silk veil was embroidered with the national flora of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth. It also included Kensington Palace's wintersweet and California's poppy to represent herself and Prince Harry.
Zara Tindall's Wedding Dress, 2011
To marry rugby player Mike Tindall, Zara Tindall (who is Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips's daughter) wore an organza-sleeved, corseted gown by Stewart Palvin.
Camilla Parker Bowles' Wedding Dress, 2005
Queen Camilla wed King Charles III in a gold and sky blue coat and dress by Anna Valentine. The mother-of-two paired the dress coat with a gold Philip Treacy headpiece for their civil ceremony at Windsor Guildhall.
Sophie Rhys-Jones' Wedding Dress, 1999
The Countess of Wessex wed the King's youngest brother, Prince Edward, in a Medieval-style Samantha Keswick dress and coat at St. George's Chapel. She finished her look with the Anthemion Tiara, which is an assembled assortment of jewels originally belonging to Queen Victoria.
Lady Sarah Chatto's Wedding Dress, 1994
Lady Sarah Chatto, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II's sister Princess Margaret and Antony, Earl of Snowdon, wore a square-necked gown with a ruched bodice by Jasper Conran to marry Daniel Chatto. In a change to most royal brides, she wore a newly designed tiara that brought together a selection of her mother's brooches in a new stylised setting.
Serena Stanhope's Wedding Dress, 1993
Serena Armstrong-Jones, Countess of Snowdon (née Stanhope) married David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon (brother to Lady Sarah Chatto and known professionally as David Linley) in a 1950s-style dress by Bruce Robbins (which many believe is an homage to her mother-in-law Princess Margaret's wedding dress) at St Margaret's Church, Westminster.
Sarah Ferguson's Wedding Dress, 1986
The Duchess of York married Prince Andrew, the King's brother, in a super 1980s, puff-sleeved dress by Lindka Cierach at Westminster Abbey. She completed the look with the York Tiara, a tiara she has worn on several occassions since.
Diana, Princess of Wales' Wedding Dress, 1981
The late Diana, Princess of Wales, wore a supersized gown by David and Elizabeth Emanuel to marry Prince Charles at St. Paul's Cathedral, thus becoming one of the most famous dresses in history.
The ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown featured a 25-foot train and a secret horseshoe charm sewed on the inside for good luck, along with setting a new vogue for decades ahead with large puff sleeves and a frilled collar.
The then Lady Diana Spencer opted to wear the Spencer tiara, belonging to her family, rather than looking through her new in-laws' jewellery vault for a headpiece. Originally created in 1767, the diadem was remodelled by Garrard in the 1930s to the scroll design seen here.
Princess Anne's Wedding Dress, 1973
Princess Anne (Queen Elizabeth II's daughter) married Mark Philips at Westminster Abbey in a Tudor-style dress with wide sleeves and high neck by Maureen Baker at Susan Small. Following her mother, she wore The Queen Mary Diamond Fringe tiara.
Princess Margaret's Wedding Dress, 1960
To marry photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey, Queen Elizabeth II's sister, Princess Margaret, wore a completely unembellished gown by Royal couturier Norman Hartnell in silk organza, featuring a small train. Princess Margaret's bridal ensemble was complete with the Poltimore tiara, which she had bought for herself at auction the year before.
Princess Elizabeth's Wedding Dress, 1947
In a post World War II Britain, the one-day Queen Elizabeth II wed Philip Mountbatten in a Norman Hartnell gown bought with ration coupons.
The then-princess and Hartnell were given an extra 200 coupons to create the star-embellished gown. The dress was made from Chinese silk, and adorned with 10,000 seed pearls.
It's train was covered in, 'jasmine, smilax, seringa, and rose-like blossoms' to symbolise 'rebirth and growth' in a postwar country according to Town & Country.
Wallis Simpson's Wedding Dress, 1937
Breaking with tradition, the Duchess of Windsor wore a Mainbocher-designed column dress in 'Wallis blue' (to match her blue eyes) rather than white, to marry the former King Edward VIII at the Château de Candé in Monts, France.
Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon's Wedding Dress, 1923
The future Queen Elizabeth wore a typically 1920s-style ivory chiffon moire gown embroidered with pearls and a silver thread to marry the former Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) at Westminster Abbey. The dress was designed by Queen Mary's dressmaker Madame Handley-Seymour.
Princess Mary of Teck's Wedding Dress, 1893
Queen Mary (formerly Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall, and Princess of Wales) married the Duke of York (who became Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Wales and finally King George V) at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace in a gown designer by Arthur Silk, of Silk Studio.
The dress featured 'emblems of the rose, shamrock and thistle, and was embellished with orange blossom' according to the Royal Collection Trust, with both dress and train made from 'ivory silk satin woven in the East London (Spitalfields) silk mills'.
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