Royals' Wedding Dresses

[tarheelbaby]

Royal Wedding Dresses
By popular demand: post your thoughts on royal brides' wedding dresses here.
Most flattering
Most appropriate
Best tiara
Most unflattering
Most inappropriate
Worst tiara

I thought Meghan looked beautiful, but I thought the dress had a high waist seam. Looking at the picture of it on display, it doesn’t seem to. It really did ruck up if so; shame because I loved the simplicity although still not sure about day glo white and veils for older previously married brides.

Empress Michiko‘s dress was lovely!!

Princess Margaret‘s wedding dress was quite gorgeous. I also like the one Eugenie wore for the evening part of her wedding.

I also like the simplicity and elegance of Princess Birgitta of Sweden‘s wedding gown.

I think the previously married thing is a red herring, and we're way past the era of assuming that a white dress involves cosplaying virginity, surely! I mean, look at Grace Kelly's fabulously prim, fairytale princess number, complete with veil, bouquet of lily of the valley and peal-encrusted prayerbook -- and she was notorious for her affairs, often with married men. Jean-Pierre Aumont, Oleg Cassini, Gary Cooper, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, William Holden, Aly Khan, Ray Milland, David Niven, Prince Rainier, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy.

Yes I wonder why we take issue with a second time/ older bride in bright white. I’m not saying you are saying this @MrsFaustus but it seems like we are condemning the woman for being older/ married before

I didn’t see any criticism of Peter Philips in full morning suit for his second wedding

thats quite the list! It’s not so much the virgin bride thing, it’s the fact that it’s a second marriage ceremony.. old fashioned and illogical Im sure.

What is the social logic of not wearing white and a veil for subsequent marriages, though? (Not aiming this at you, @MrsFaustus,just in general.)

Does it date from the days where divorce was a shameful sign of failure, meaning that marrying again was seen as something that should look slightly shamefaced and sub fusc, so a neat suit and a prayer book in a register office, rather than a fancy white dress and lots of bridesmaids in a church?

(I get that the C of E technically does not marry previously divorced people, but does make exceptions...)

For a second royal wedding i thought Camilla did very well.
Megan's did not fit properly. I disliked the wide shoulder and thought she should have had a hairdresser.
Catherine's was lovely. Very fitted at the top half but very appropriate for status.
P. Anne. I remember tge medieval style sleeves, but can't remember the rest.
Diana's was awful. All those frills. I thought it looked very babyish.
Beatrice wearing a dress if the late Queen. Very appropriate and probably my favourite.
Eugenie did very well with the low cut back to display her scars. Something she very much wanted to do

Sarah Chatto was a work of art it was stunning

I don't think the whole veil thing for a 2nd wedding is about virginity.
Who is even a virgin the first time these days?! Not many!

I think a veil and a train and a very bridal style dress are the kind of thing you can only really get away with once.
It feels like a cosplay of a younger more naive time of a first time bride, which you've already done.

As a second time bride I think a more pared back look not repeating the first time bride look is more stylish.

Obviously everyone can do whatever they want: wear veils and swish around with trains at their wedding renewals if they want.

It's just a stylistic view not a moral one

I thought the bright white of Megan’s dress really suited her. I can see now his it was bit tight across her hips. For me it was a bit plain, it just lacked something. Maybe a better fit would have solved that.
like all clothes wedding dresses are of their time.
I’ve said before but for me nobody can match Princess Margaret on her wedding day. Absolutely beautiful.
I also love seeing white/ivory/cream bridesmaid dresses. I like the simplicity and think it looks far more expensive.
Traditionally the bride and bridesmaids wore the same dresses. Nobody was supposed to know which one the bride was.

Didn’t R&P lose their royal warrant for some indiscretion or other?

Diana had a bust but hers was where you’d expect it to be. I doubt R&P got near hers.

But why would you ‘get away with it’ only once? I mean, we still seem to be fine with staged ‘surprise’ proposals where the couple has lived together for ten years and have two children. Isn’t that just as performative and fake?

Yes.