Royal Flashback of the Day: King Harald and Queen Sonja's Wedding

It took 9 years for Crown Prince Harald of Norway and Sonja Haraldsen to walk down the aisle, and now the King and Queen are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary.

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Harald's father, King Olav, and the government had objections to Harald marrying the commoner he met at a party in 1959 instead of making a royal match. So Harald eventually stood up to his father and said that he wouldn't marry anyone if he couldn't marry Sonja - a significant problem since Harald was the sole heir to the throne - and the King gave his consent. The couple finally tied the knot on August 29, 1968. As a show of acceptance and support for Sonja, whose father passed away some years before, King Olav walked her down the aisle. (That's right, the Duchess of Sussex was not the first royal bride to get a helping hand from her father-in-law on her big day.)

Queen Sonja's wedding gown was made by Norwegian brand Molstad & Co. It was a structured silk shape with simple pearl ornamentation on the collar and cuffs, with a long train extending from her shoulders. Although Sonja would soon have access to Norway's biggest tiaras - King Olav was a widower, so then-Crown Princess Sonja stepped right into a role as Norway's first lady - she opted for a simple floral-style headpiece to top her veil.

Sonja's dress is easily identified with the decade in which she married, yet five decades on, one of its closest royal comparisons may be something a little more recent: Queen Máxima's 2002 Valentino wedding gown. Does that make it timeless? Maybe so.

A post shared by Det Norske Kongehus (@detnorskekongehus) on Aug 27, 2018 at 11:54am PDT

The golden couple isn't having a huge celebration, since the last couple years have seen them celebrate the Silver Jubilee and their 80th birthdays. There are a few things going on, though; they opened Queen Sonja's childhood home - where they spent a lot of time in the years before they could marry - as a museum and recreated a photo from their engagement while they were at it (click through the Instagram gallery above for the original). They'll also have a celebratory church service on their anniversary.

Royal Dress of the Day: Princess Mabel's Wedding Gown, Revisited

Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau, wife of the late Prince Friso, one of King Willem-Alexander's brothers, celebrated her 50th birthday on Saturday. Seems like a perfect time to revisit her first big royal sartorial splash: her wedding gown. I can't think of another one that so accurately introduced a royal bride's style, because not only the designers but also the main motif and the general sense of quirkiness all became her signatures. That main motif is, of course, BOWS.

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Mabel Wisse Smit married Prince Johan Friso on April 24, 2004 in a gown by Dutch couturiers Viktor & Rolf. She requested something memorable and was interested in a three-dimensional train detail. They came up with a dress that featured 248 handmade crepe georgette bows, a favorite detail of the design duo: 128 bows on the skirt, 85 on the bodice, and 35 on the train.

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The bows are graduated in size, beginning with tiny bows at the shoulders and growing to massive bows at the end of the 3.15 meter (10'4") train.

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The bateau neckline and belted waist give the dress a flattering shape and it's a true piece of couture art, very cleverly made so that the ribbon lattice pattern behind the bows covers the seams. The gown is crafted from snow white double-faced duchesse satin and took more than 600 hours to make.

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The bride kept her veil short (wouldn't want to cover up any of those bows!), and topped it with a diamond tiara that borrows its larger stones from the top of the Dutch Sapphire Tiara. The tiara has an intriguingly two-dimensional look in a photo, with a lot of sparkle when seen in action. It has remained Mabel's top tiara pick in the years since.

The wedding dress was just the beginning of Princess Mabel's quirky royal sartorial statements, most also by Viktor & Rolf (and often featuring those beloved bows), but there's a lot more behind the fashion. Mabel herself is an accomplished and committed activist and philanthropist who has worked with organizations like The Elders and Girls Not Brides. Her marriage to Prince Friso began with controversy; the marriage was not submitted for the official parliament consent required for Prince Friso to retain his place in line to the throne because the couple were not entirely forthcoming in response to government inquiries about past contact between Mabel and Klaas Bruinsma, a drug lord and organized crime figure. Friso gave up his spot in the line of succession as well as his title as a Prince of the Netherlands when they married. He retained the Orange-Nassau title.

Sadly, tragedy was ahead: Prince Friso was trapped in an avalanche while skiing in Austria in 2012. He remained in a coma until he passed away the following year. Princess Mabel now continues her activist work while raising the couple's two daughters and seems to have a great support system in the Dutch royal family. She appears to be particularly close to her mother-in-law, Princess Beatrix.

Princess Mabel's wedding gown is currently on display in Rotterdam as part of an exhibition celebrating 25 years of Viktor & Rolf. As a premiere client (and a friend; she recently attended Rolf Snoeren's wedding), she opened the exhibition. She shared in her opening speech that Prince Friso, who was an engineer, had been fascinated by the construction of the gown.

On the left, the dress Princess Mabel wore to Prince Friso's memorial
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The wedding dress is poignantly displayed at the exhibition alongside a dress of mourning, first worn by Mabel in a long length to King Willem-Alexander's inauguration and then made shorter for Friso's memorial service. It is another Viktor & Rolf design, the white sleeve and bow echoing the wedding dress that started it all.

Viktor & Rolf: Fashion Artists 25 Years is at The Kunsthal museum in Rotterdam through September 30, 2018.

Royal Flashback of the Day: Peter and Autumn's Windsor Wedding

As the year of Windsor weddings continues, it's time for another look back. This couple just celebrated their tenth anniversary: Peter and Autumn Phillips.

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The Princess Royal's son married Canadian Autumn Kelly on May 17, 2008 at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Following the service, the couple departed via open carriage for their reception at Frogmore House.

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Autumn's wedding gown was a bespoke design from Sassi Holford made of Italian duchesse satin and Chantilly lace. The dress featured a three-tier sash above an A-line skirt with a cathedral train decorated with bows and lace inserts. A beaded lace bolero covered the bride's shoulders.

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Autumn wore the Festoon Tiara on loan from her new mother-in-law in her hair. The classic pearl and diamond earrings and matching necklace were the perfect basics for a new royal jewelry collection; fittingly, they were gifts from Peter.

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The bridesmaids wore strapless Vera Wang, and Princess Anne? Well, we just saw her festive brown outfit again earlier this month. No one-and-done special occasion outfits for her, thankyouverymuch.

Peter and Autumn's wedding kicked off the list of weddings of the Queen's grandchildren that's still growing. Of course, it was also the wedding where then-Kate Middleton flew solo as a guest (with Prince Harry's then-girlfriend) while Prince William was off at a different wedding, so some of the rest of this got a little overshadowed.

Psst: The blog will be back on Monday!

Royal Flashback of the Day: Princess Madeleine's Christening Looks

Swedish royal christenings have been very good to Princess Madeleine, sartorially. Or, I should say, she's made them very good. A flashback of her looks during the recent run of Swedish christening fun - and in case you weren't keeping count, that's been a serious run; they've had seven of them in the last six years! - reveals two of my all-time favorite Madeleine outfits and only one I'd say was a disaster. That's not a bad record. Not bad at all. (Click the kids' names to return to the individual christening posts.)

2012: Princess Estelle

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The first one turns out to be the most forgettable, this lavender belted coat with veil headpiece. I remember it mostly because she made the delicious choice to use diamond drops from the Connaught Tiara as earrings.

2014: Princess Leonore

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Two years later and it's Madeleine's turn to hold the baby. The first of her three was marked in a lace dress by Valentino which was very sweet and very short and very pink and very veiled. (I still think the veil with nothing much else to it looks silly.)

2015: Prince Nicolas

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Oh, but the second time was the charm, for this is one of those all-time faves. A Valentino so rich for the October season - and such a welcome break from all the pastels these christenings tend to produce - and so perfectly coordinated by bringing the color from the bottom of the skirt up to the fascinator. LOVE.

2016: Prince Oscar

Anna-Lena Ahlström, Kungahuset.se

She followed that all-time fave with the other all-time fave: the very best royal interpretation of the SLEEVES trend (sorry, Máxima), in a pink Roksanda Ilincic dress. Another fascinator is well deployed here. Best to leave all the volume to the SLEEVES.

2016: Prince Alexander

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Madeleine has a knack for picking the best from the Erdem pile. (Another example made your Best of 2017 list.) This one was practical, too; left all the froof at home and out of the way for the kid wrangling.

2017: Prince Gabriel

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One disaster, I said. Here it is. (She was pregnant with Princess Adrienne at the time.) The Valentino dress is kind of juvenile and it doesn't work with the coat, which she left on throughout the service. The whole thing feels more haphazard than we've come to expect from her.

2018: Princess Adrienne

Erika Gerdemark, Kungahuset.se

The latest addition to the christening outfit collection is, if nothing else, a return to a totally pulled together look. The Giambattista Valli dress, the flower crown, and the pieces of the Cameo parure make a pretty and carefully coordinated picture. My third favorite of the pack.

How do you rank Madeleine's christening looks?

Royal Flashback of the Day: Edward and Sophie's Windsor Wedding

The wedding of the Earl and Countess of Wessex in 1999 might be a good prototype for what we'll see later this month...or it might not, because who knows?! But still, it was a televised royal wedding at St. George's Chapel that was not a state occasion and included a carriage ride through Windsor, so at least some of the circumstances are similar. Let's look back...

One immediate difference: Edward and Sophie chose to hold their wedding a little later in the day, so the ladies wore longer dresses and ditched the hats (mostly; the Queen had a headpiece and the Queen Mother wore a hat anyway) so they were ready for the evening party. The couple played up their wedding venue with capes echoing the famous Garter robes for the children in the bridal party, which was super cute.

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Sophie wore a necklace and earrings designed by Prince Edward and a tiara on loan from the Queen, which hadn't been seen before that day and was made or altered for her from existing pieces. The bride's ensemble was by designer Samantha Shaw and included a coat with a train over a dress. The wedding gown was made of ivory silk organza with tulle and silk crepe, adorned with pearls and cut-glass beads.

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There's the dress that was underneath, worn on its own as the couple left for their honeymoon. Very similar, but maybe I like this even more than what we saw at the ceremony?

And there's your video, for a complete walk down memory lane. Happy Friday!

Royal Flashback of the Day: Charles and Camilla's Windsor Wedding

News continues to trickle in regarding the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; the most recent tidbits included the announcement that the guest list will skip the politicians/dignitaries/assigned reps of foreign royal families in favor of guests that know the couple personally. (This is not at all surprising.)

As speculation runs high, it's worth taking a look back at other weddings held in St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Past Windsor weddings may not bear any resemblance to the Harry & Meghan Show, of course - or the Eugenie & Jack Show! - but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a bit of a royal wedding flashback anyway.

Might as well start with a couple that just hit another wedding anniversary, right? It's been 13 years since the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall tied the knot in a civil service at the Windsor Guildhall followed by a blessing service at St. George's Chapel. Camilla wore a stunning Robinson Valentine coat and dress with a Philip Treacy headpiece as a lovely substitute for a tiara. It's one of my favorite royal wedding looks - and it made your list of favorites, too.

The video above includes their entrance and the two below have some longer clips, including the small walkabout they did after the service. Waste some midweek time on nostalgia...

Royal Flashback of the Day: Victoria Visits an Old Favorite

Crown Princess Victoria visited the "Secrets of Couture" exhibition at Sven-Harry’s Art Museum this week. I mentioned this exhibition a few weeks ago; Victoria loaned dresses for the display, as did Queen Margrethe, Queen Silvia, Princess Madeleine, and Princess Sofia.

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Victoria's visit will have brought her face to face with one of her most memorable looks of the past few years - no, let's make that one of her most memorable looks of all time. I am speaking, of course, of the dress several of you have dubbed Big Red.

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Designed by Pär Engsheden (he's the guy viewing the exhibition with her above), this dress was worn for the Nobel Prize Awards ceremony in 2014. Tomato red with a skirt that can only exist in a world filled with grand staircases, this might just be the ball gown-iest ball gown we've seen around here. How could I not love it completely?

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There wasn't anything quiet about her jewels that night, either; the Baden Fringe Tiara can't help but sparkle like Christmas lights, and ditto that for the Bernadotte diamond cross necklace. The necklace was her big debut from the family jewel vault that night.

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I wonder if she saw it and thought about wearing it again some day. I wonder what she would even wear it again for; this dress needs an entire stage to itself. It might be a one-and-done, and it might be worth it even for just that one night.

Royal Flashback of the Day: Margrethe and Henrik's Wedding

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The Danish royal family are this week continuing to mourn the loss of Prince Henrik and prepare for his funeral. They have emerged to view the flowers left outside the palace by the crowds and to accompany Prince Henrik's coffin from Fredensborg Palace to Amalienborg Palace. Queen Margrethe has declared court mourning until March 14th, during which time the royal family and court will wear dark clothing for public appearances and will not take part in any social or entertainment events. The funeral will be held on February 20th. It will be a private family event in accordance with Prince Henrik's wishes, not a state occasion (no foreign royals in attendance).

As they say goodbye, let's take a video look back to when they said hello: Margrethe's wedding to Henrik on June 10, 1967. The future queen wore the Khedive of Egypt Tiara and a Jørgen Bender gown that incorporated antique family lace; her groom could have passed for a French James Bond in his dapper white tie. Theirs may not have been the easiest match all the way through, but it certainly seemed to be a wonderful artistic and intellectual pairing, and they were clearly head over heels on this happy wedding day.

Royal Flashback of the Day: Queen Elizabeth II's Wedding Gown

Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten
November 20, 1947
Westminster Abbey

With their big 70th anniversary approaching, how could we not revisit this famous royal wedding gown? The dress Queen Elizabeth II wore to marry the Duke of Edinburgh is every bit as much of a dream today as it was back in post-war Britain. It was extravagant yet tailored to the austere times, and the perfect match for an event that, in a way, helped mark a new era. As Jock Colville wrote of the wedding, “The war, it seemed, really was over.”

The Botticelli inspiration and the wedding gown sketch

The bride selected leading couturier Norman Hartnell, already a royal favorite, to design her gown. The final design was approved in mid-August, leaving Hartnell’s team less than three months to make the dress. His inspiration for the gown was Botticelli's Primavera and the result was an intricate gown in ivory duchesse satin covered in embroidered garlands created with white seed pearls imported from the United States, silver thread, crystals for sparkle and transparent tulle appliqués.

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Princess Elizabeth wore a 15 foot court train attached at the shoulders. The train was made of silk tulle embroidered with pearls, crystals and appliqué duchesse satin. She also wore a silk tulle veil under her tiara. The veil was shorter than the train, leaving the embroidery to be the star of the show. The overall effect is quite diaphanous, like a halo of tulle surrounding the bride.

Royal Collection Trust

The heavy embellishment would remain a hallmark of Hartnell’s work for Elizabeth for decades to come, and is particularly reminiscent of the gown he created for her coronation. (It is distinctly not reminiscent of his other most famous royal wedding gown, Princess Margaret’s, which had a simpler line thanks to the strong requests of the bridal couple.)

The train

Just like everyone else in the country, Princess Elizabeth had to fund her gown with clothing ration coupons. Unlike everyone else, she was allowed 200 extra coupons by the government. Famously, people sent in their own coupons to help the Princess out (these were sent back with a note of thanks, since it was illegal for her to use them). In another sign of the times, the government had to be reassured that the silkworms used to create the gown came from China and the United Kingdom, rather than enemy countries such as Italy and Japan, and the fabric had been woven in England and Scotland.

The bride accessorized with high heel sandals by Edward Rayne in ivory duchesse satin fastened with a silver buckle ornamented with yet more pearls. Her bridal bouquet was made of white orchids and the traditional sprig of myrtle.

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Her bouquet was temporarily lost until someone remembered it was in a refrigerator, just one of several hitches that must have truly tested Elizabeth’s famous sense of calm. The two strands of pearls she wanted to wear also went missing, until it was remembered that they had already been placed on display with the rest of the wedding gifts in St. James’ Palace. Jock Colville, Princess Elizabeth’s Private Secretary, was dispatched to retrieve the pearls, taking the King of Norway’s car – nearly not allowing the King to exit the vehicle before he raced off – and facing an ordeal to convince the officers guarding the presents to allow him to remove the pearls. (They agreed after finding his name in the official program.) And, of course, the tiara broke.

Royal Collection Trust

Everything was found and repaired and the bride made it down the aisle with all the appropriate accessories: Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara on loan from her mother, the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline Pearl Necklaces that were among her wedding gifts from her parents, and the Duchess of Teck Earrings she received from Queen Mary earlier in the year.

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The Queen views her dress at Buckingham Palace, in an exhibition for the couple's 60th wedding anniversary.

The wedding gown has been displayed many times in the decades since the wedding. It was last on display for the Queen’s 90th birthday (as of this writing). Seventy years on, the fabric is beginning to show its age and I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes on display less often in the future. If you’ve had a chance to see it in person already, you’re lucky.

Unlike other milestone anniversaries the couple have celebrated, they'll be spending this one privately. Reportedly, a family dinner will be held.

Royal Flashback of the Day: Princess Sofia's Wedding Gown

Mattias Edwall / Kungahuset.se

Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia recently becoming parents for the second time is more than enough excuse to take a little trip down memory lane back to their wedding, right? Specifically, to Sofia's wedding gown, because we have another installment of reader pictures from the Swedish royal wedding gown exhibition at the Royal Palace several months ago. Special thanks once again to Janet and Viola for sharing their views! (I'm adding links to these detailed exhibition posts to my original post on the display, by the way.)

Courtesy of Janet

Princess Sofia's 2015 wedding dress came from Swedish designer Ida Sjöstedt. Sjöstedt's designs have become regulars on the royal scene since then, worn by Sofia as well as Princess Madeleine and Crown Princess Victoria.

Courtesy of Viola

The dress has a strapless base dress made of silk crepe with a train, and a long-sleeved Italian silk organza overlay with applied lace.

Courtesy of Janet

I didn't find this dress all that memorable, as royal wedding gowns go, at the time. But the great thing about seeing it on its own is that you get to see all kinds of detail you missed during the wedding broadcast - and I can see a lot of soft detail here that definitely didn't stand out at the time.

Courtesy of Viola

The other great thing is that we get a chance to focus on some of the accessories, because a big, long veil is a thing of beauty. Sofia's is made of tulle with hand-embroidered cotton lace.

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Wedding shoes! Sofia's are from Charlotte Olympia, and while the heart-shaped sole is a brand signature and not a wedding special, that detail is a sweet fit to the occasion.

Courtesy of Viola

These simple dresses were worn by the young bridesmaids, which included Princess Estelle.

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The exhibition also displayed a part of the wedding day that was only seen in paparazzi-style pictures from outside the palace: Princess Sofia changed into a simpler, one-shoulder lace gown for the party portion of the wedding reception.

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And the backs! The lace overlay on the wedding dress looks particularly fine here, and it's interesting that the lace appears to be an apron-style front on the reception dress.

You knew I wouldn't leave you without the full kit to encourage your Tuesday procrastination, right? You need all the evidence if you're going to reevaluate your opinion of Sofia's dress, after all.

(So have you? Reevaluated your opinion, that is. Does the dress on display change your mind?)

Programming Note, and a (New) Old Wedding

The blog is taking a brief break, and will return next week.

I leave you with this little piece of refreshed history, which - if you haven't seen it yet - is well worth a look:

Footage from the 1981 wedding of the Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer is viewable for the first time in high quality 4K video, courtesy of the restoration efforts of the AP Archive. It's a British Movietone documentary on the event, complete with such flowery commentary, you'd think it dates from decades earlier.

Despite having seen many clips of this wedding in lower definition - and despite, to be totally honest, feeling a bit of overload from all these recent Diana features for the anniversary - this felt new. So many little details, so many little sparkles, to appreciate for the first time. I think it's worth a click.

Enjoy!

Royal Flashback of the Day: Crown Princess Victoria's Wedding Gown

We have another big birthday coming up: Crown Princess Victoria is about to turn 40 (July 14th!) and there are events planned on Friday and Saturday next week. Let's get the party started early with a closer look at what I would argue is not only Victoria's finest sartorial moment, but one of the finest moments in royal bridal history.

Courtesy of Janet

Victoria's 2010 dress was exhibited at the Royal Palace a few months ago along with other family dresses. Once again, some lovely readers have allowed me to share their pictures from the exhibition - many thanks to Mrs. Diamond, Viola, and Janet! (Revisit our initial post on the exhibition and our other close looks here.)

Courtesy of Viola

Courtesy of Janet

I am particularly excited for this edition of exhibition pics, because Victoria's wedding gown currently reigns as my #1 fave. It's got all my favorite stuff: a simple and sleek gown plus a detailed veil, and a fabulous tiara selection to boot. This one also claimed the top spot in our poll of your favorite wedding gowns.

Courtesy of Janet

Her gown was, of course, from Swedish designer Pär Engsheden. The cream-colored duchess silk satin gown featured a graceful neckline and small sleeves, a cummerbund waist detail, and a nearly 5 meter (16 foot) long detachable train .

Courtesy of Janet

Courtesy of Viola

Courtesy of Viola

One unexpected observation that came from this exhibition was a noticeable similarity between the gown of Crown Princess Victoria and her mother, Queen Silvia. It's not a comparison I would have drawn based on wedding photos alone, but the sleek seaming of Victoria's gown really does recall Silvia's super simple Dior creation. (That's Silvia's in the background above.)

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At the time, I certainly felt that the dresses for Victoria's bridesmaids were something of a call back to Silvia's gown, being such simple sheaths. All these notes are very sweet, really; Victoria and Daniel chose to be married on June 19th, which is also Carl Gustaf and Silvia's wedding anniversary.

Courtesy of Viola

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

The two brides were also united in their use of the Cameo Tiara and in their use of the historical Bernadotte family veil. The delicate lace piece was first worn in 1932 and comes from Queen Sofia. I really don't think you can go wrong with heirloom lace, can you? Surely not.

Courtesy of Viola

Another family tradition: Victoria wore in her hair a sprig of myrtle, a tradition followed by all family brides, whether they place it in their hair or in their bouquets. Her hair ornament was on display, charmingly preserved in a box with a handwritten note that says Lycka till! (Good luck!) and the date. From her mother, I presume.

Courtesy of Janet

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

A sparkly pair of Roger Vivier pumps and a matching clutch finished off the bridal accessories, and finishes up our flashback to this glorious gown.

I must note, though, that this is not just my favorite wedding gown, it's also my favorite royal wedding. Loads of royal guests! Tiaras for days! What more could you want?! So why not wish the Crown Princess a happy early birthday and indulge in a little trip down memory lane on your Friday, hmm?

Royal Flashback of the Day: Princess Madeleine's Wedding Dress (Plus, National Day in Sweden)

I think it's time for a little flashback to a perfectly summery royal wedding gown, complete with new views courtesy of some lovely readers that visited Sweden's recent royal wedding exhibition! But first, we have business to attend to, and that business is national dress.

Photos: Erika Gerdemark, The Royal Court, Sweden

Sweden celebrated National Day on June 6, so the royal family did what they do and got fully into the Sweden spirit. First up: Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel released new photos of Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar, a little tradition of theirs that's full of awwws.

A post shared by Svensk Damtidning (@svenskdamtidning) on Jun 6, 2017 at 11:39am PDT

Second: The adults get in on the fun, with the ladies donning their national costumes to attend an outdoor concert. This is our designated annual time to wonder whyyyyy don't the men play along (not even wee Oscar, did you notice that?) and whyyyyy don't all the ladies wear the same old-timey shoes Silvia and Victoria wear? I think the best answer to both is probably something like this: *shrug*.

Feeling properly yellow and blue now? Good. Let us turn to one of the things that the Swedish royal family does best: fabulous summer royal weddings. (They also put on a great wedding exhibition, and we have today some photos of Madeleine's wedding gown courtesy of Mrs. Diamond and Janet, with many thanks!)

By Bengt Nyman - Flickr: IMG_2748, CC BY 2.0

Princess Madeleine married Chris O'Neill in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on June 8, 2013. At the time, I wrote that her gown was a perfect choice for a summer wedding, if not necessarily a memorable choice. I was wrong; it has stuck in the memory, but not really because of the gown itself.

Video: The walk down the aisle

It's that entrance. Accompanied by a choir of children singing a wedding march while her train and veil sweep effortlessly over the chapel floor? Please. In the past four years, it has zoomed up my list of best royal wedding entrances.

Courtesy of Janet

My love of that entrance casts the gown in a new light; a new light where the gown fits the fresh, floral summer theme of the wedding to a T. The wedding press release described her Valentino haute couture gown like so: “The wedding dress is made from pleated silk organza with appliquéd ivory-coloured Chantilly lace. The upper section of the bodice is lace with a deep-cut back. Narrow vertical pleats open up from the accentuated waist, above the wide skirt, which ends with a four-metre-long train. The veil is also silk organza, and is edged with tulle scatted with point d'esprit dots and small Chantilly lace orange blossom.”

Courtesy of Janet

It feels even more light and summer-appropriate in these glimpses of the dress on display, don't you think?

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

Madeleine's dress was quickly lumped into the Just Another Valentino Dust Ruffle category for many of you at the time of the wedding. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't done the same, to a certain extent. The close ups prove that there's actually a lot more going on here.

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

 You can see how the lace ended up floating along, and how delicious that lace really is.

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

And the pleats! These really didn't stand out in the pictures or video from the big day.

Courtesy of Janet

Oh, we mustn't forget the shoes. The Oscar de la Renta shoes are ivory white organdy with woven point d'esprit dots, which is an unexpected bit of whimsy on a serious shoe. Goes with the whole thing, no?

Yes, I think I'm coming around on this one. Are you? Or were you already there?