Do posh wedding guests have any more clue than we do?

[MontyDonsBlueSuit]

Looking at the coverage of Peter Phillips’ wedding I’m amazed by some of the outfits. Clearly a lot of these people have money but it really doesn’t show - some of the choices look very unstylish to me. Creased dresses, raffia wedges, mismatched accessories. I appreciate it was a rubbish day weather-wise so may have needed a few last minute rethinks but what hope is there for the rest of us when even those with access to the best designers and a presumably healthy budget look pretty average at best.

I think Anne looked like a mishmash and that it was very disrespectful. Also disrespectful to wear such an old dress. Together with her not lending one of her tiaras to the bride, when she did for Peter's first wedding, I think she's made very clear that she did not approve of the big white wedding thing for the second marriage. She married for the second time in church, but she wore a cream suit.

Also, Anne's marital break-up really wasn't her fault. Her husband shagged around and had a child behind her back. Whereas Peter's was just this wishy-washy "Oh, we grew apart." In which case, "You have a family. Can you grow back together?" is not an unreasonable response. So it's quite possible that she doesn't approve of any of it - the divorce, the remarriage, and the white wedding. And I think she communicated that.

Also disrespectful to wear such an old dress
I find that concept utterly preposterous.

@NameChangeMay2026 , it wasn't the sort of wedding you'd wear a tiara and maybe the bride didn't want to wear one.

Anne looks nice, and looks happy and relaxed. That's what I took from the photo.

I don’t know if it’s ’disrespectful’ as an old outfit could be lovely. Kate often rewears outfits to weddings and never looks less than perfect. The difference is, Anne’s looked like a careless mishmash.

And the tiara thing is undoubtedly made up tabloid bollocks.

Wow! From fashion choices to Royal psychological insights. That's quite the leap there but then I never understand how people manage to extrapolate the state of mind of people they don't know and have never met from photos and footage off the telly. It's a skill I definitely don't possess. And I've met her several times and still wouldn't be able to deduce all of that.

What a grossly judgy post.

When do you ever see wedding dress guests with their boobs out and crotch on show. Never. Give over.

IMO it wasn't just what they wore but how the dresses were often not right for their shape. Many looked too tight, too loose, not flattering.
I don't think being 'rich' necessarily equates with good taste.

The bride did wear a tiara, borrowed from the jeweller who made her engagement ring. Which I honestly do think is a slightly odd choice when your MIL to be could lend you one. But I’m not sure we ought to read too much into it.

Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones did look a bit of a mess, like she grabbed her top at the last minute to wear over a dress she’d otherwise have been cold in, but most people just looked pretty normal, not super fashionable, just country wedding ish.

@PinkMagpie Nancy Mitford was lucky to be able to afford - and wear the hell out of - Dior and the New Look, no wonder she loved French fashion so much. Although her (English) wedding dress I always thought was gorgeous … she really suited being extremely thin! She was so catty about the frumpy British Royals, as well.

'I’m surprised though that there has been so few comments about how pale some of the outfits were - namely Catherine and Camilla - the usual line trotted out on this board is that anything so pale is a no-no, because you know, you could be mistaken for the bride..'

But there has been so much bitching (on other threads) about the BRIDE daring to wear a traditional bridal look, including white dress, lace and a veil, given that she's - horror - in her 40s and - horror - divorced 🙄

I guess the moral of the story is that (some) people go bananas around weddings

Lady Margarita Armstrong-Jones did look a bit of a mess She looked lovely.

I know, it's very odd. Who cares how old the dress is?

I think some people get completely OTT about weddings and micro-analyse the guests' outfits. When I go to a wedding, I just wear something I think is nice and appropriate. It's not the Oscars, it's just another social event.

I don't think anyone will have been confused about whether the Queen and Pss of Wales might have been the bride.

Nor would anyone confuse anyone in 99.99% of the dresses linked on MN where someone asks if it's too white for the bride either but it doesn't stop people pretending it's a heinous crime.

I didn't really like the bride's dress either. My throat felt constricted looking at it.

Anne looked dreadful and I would have been really upset if my mum made such a lack of effort for my wedding. She has in the past looked elegant and well turned out. She could have reworn a decent outfit - she knows how to dress appropriately for an occasion

She really didn’t though, and she could have.

That’s because you understand the differently than most people. You have a modern interpretation which says “You won’t be mistaken for the bride so wear the white jumpsuit” whereas the traditional interpretation says “Out of respect for the bride no other women wear white.”

My daughter rented a flat for a few years which was in the wing of an old manor house. The lovely family were very much "old money", inherited house, kids at private schools and money in trusts but cash poor. They had a few family weddings at the house and gardens as it was stunning (from the outside at least) plus the village church was part of the grounds. It was brilliant to watch, the men always looked so smart in morning dress but lordy, the women.... there were some horrific colour combinations, and clearly hats/fascinators were dug out from an old cupboard that had been worn for another wedding decades before

I'd say that this wedding was a very typical aristo wedding.

If either of my children looked at me dressed like Anne in a completely appropriate and nice outfit and were upset by it I would be really upset myself that I raised anyone so shallow and unpleasant

Most decent people use more than what a person is wearing to decide whether or not they want to bonk someone. I mean, Hitler was usually quite smart.

No. The modern interpretation is "any white is terrible and makes it look like you're trying to upstage the bride". The older interpretation is far simpler and doesn't include hints of white or white backgrounds or other pale colours as problematic. And doesn't require anyone to stress themselves out.

That is where we disagree, it was neither nice nor appropriate. There’s a time and a place to look like you’ve made an effort and this was one of them

I’m just about to wear a hat which I bought for my dds wedding a decade ago to my nephews wedding next week.
Not sure why that’s something to laugh about. It cost a fortune at the time, it’s perfectly nice, suits me and I want to wear it again.

She did make an effort! She’d have been in her jodhpurs and riding boots if she hadn’t.