Why was it so special? For me, it's just that Kate is so ORDINARY! I don't mean that in a nasty sense - I mean that she is as down-to-earth as they come. Her father was an airline pilot, her mother a stewardess. They run a party planning business. They're the average family next door. Okay, they probably aren't struggling to make ends meet, but they're by no means aristocracy. They work for their money. But in being working parents, they've raised three poised, well-mannered, well-educated and - let's face it - stunningly beautiful children. Kate was just another undergraduate among hundreds at St Andrews when she caught Will's eye, and that's the whole charm of this story. It's every little girl's dream to be a princess one day. For Kate, or Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge as she's now titled, it's a dream come true.
The day
In our house, it was a good old English day. Rain outside, but inside, tea, scones, cream and jam. I was joined by my dear friend Lady Petronella Dinky-Boom (come on, you've ALL seen the current Facebook game and even if you won't admit it, you've all worked out your name!), and we settled down to oooh, aaaah, and laugh hysterically at the weird fashions! In London, the mood looked festive and literally a sea of red, white and blue. The weather looked overcast but not raining.
The dresses
The little flower girls looked stunning in their ivory dresses with puffy sleeves and flower halos, but the star of the wedding party (next to the bride, of course) was the bridesmaid. Pippa Middleton looked drop-dead gorgeous in the simple, straight-cut, cowl-neck white dress she wore. I'm sure she's going to be on plenty more society party invites after today, and NOT just because of her famous in-laws! Kate's mother was dressed simply and elegantly in a soft grey which really suited her. Camilla's outfit suited her well. The Queen's was brighter than the sunshine, but another winner for me was the absolute understated elegance of the Prime Minister's wife, Samantha Cameron, in her stunning emerald green dress.
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| Simple and stylish |
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| Elegant in Emerald |
Fashion Funnies
Of course, there are always those that make you ask "What were you thinking?" I know this is where fashionistas will come after me with machetes, but what the heck. Victoria Beckham's dress was actually very pretty but that hat - slap bang in the middle of her forehead - made her look like a try-out for a new style Dr Who alien. Add to that the long ponytail and you have a cross between Star Wars and Stewardess Barbie. I spotted a sky blue crescent moon hat, also perched on front of the head. Another black hat had a saucer-like creation that sat on the one side of the head, and a huge black rose on the other, like the wearer had said "Hat...flower...hat...flower..oh what the heck, let's have both!" But the winner, hands down, has to go to young Beatrice York for a creation that looked like she'd come to Africa, caught some kind of buck and got someone to mount the horns on the hat for the big day!
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| The Force was strong with this one.... |
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| Were Kalahari animals harmed in the making of this hat? |
Every bride I know wants to look their very best on their wedding day, and they always use styles that flatter them. Kate was no exception. Everything was simple and understated. The make up was natural, the dress in a simple elegant style, the train long enough to be a train, but not so ostentatious that you needed a whole team of bridesmaids to handle it. She looked completely relaxed and poised walking up the aisle, and even her dashing groom, resplendent in the scarlet dress uniform of the Irish Guards, was blown away by her beauty.
This was not the usual long-winded royal occasion. They got straight to the vows after the first hymn; then a short sermon, second hymn, reading, third hymn, prayers (and LOTS of prayers for children - "heir and a spare" is traditional, Kate, just so you know...) and signing the register. And then the long walk down the aisle to the door. There is just something so incredibly emotional about any newlyweds emerging from a church. Probably the only part of the day where I almost lost it.Then the open-top carriage ride back to Buckingham Palace (imagine, girls, that the first thing you had to do after getting married was to go back to your mother-in-law's house....)
The Balcony Scene
It was the moment all of us in the house had been waiting for. Even Colin. Though in honesty, Colin wasn't worried at all about the obligatory kiss (of which us lucky commoners were treated to not one, but TWO!) - he was much more excited about the Lancaster, Hurricane and Spitfire flypast!
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| Did Colin cry at this point, maybe? |
As I watched today, I just got such a sense of the purity of it all, and everything seemed to accentuate it - the decor in the abbey, the flowers, the bridesmaid's dress, the bride's dress, even the kiss on the balcony. Then it dawned on me. The name "Catherine" means "pure" (you'd think I'd have got that right from the start, with my daughter having the same name...). It certainly was prominent today.
I loved it. Brits just get pomp and ceremony. And yes, we moan about the taxpayers' money. And yes, we moan about all the hype. But face it - all us girls love a good love story, and we love weddings. I do wish them well. I wish them joy, long life and happiness together. True love won out today; this wasn't just Cinderella marrying her handsome prince - this was a 29 year old man and woman declaring before witnesses that they had found the one with whom they wanted to spend the rest of their lives. It's not a "for show" marriage. You only need to take one look at them to see they're best friends, first and foremost. They are a young couple who have solemnized their deep love for each other before God. Whatever the future of the British monarchy, I am an ardent supporter of matrimony and I want to echo one line of the ceremony - what God has joined together let no man (albeit another party, family interference, public scrutiny, or media frenzy) put asunder.
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| Say it with me, folks .... and they all lived happily ever after |
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