Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you most likely heard the Royal wedding! Prince Harry married an American actress, Meghan Markle. I had not heard of her prior to the engagement, but she was on the show Suits. Anyway, they had a beautiful wedding at St. George’s Chapel on the grounds of Windsor castle.
Today I wanted to specifically talk about the details of their flowers, cake and her dress and veil.
The Flowers
The flowers were so beautiful! They were designed by Phillipa Craddock, here is Philippa Craddock’s Instagram
The exterior flowers had roses in cream and white, stocks, stephanotis, nigella, scabious, foxgloves, astilbe, Asparagus fern, beech, birch and peonies.
I have read apparently that Meghan was unhappy with the flowers to green ratio – I personally would have preferred more flowers! More is more in my book!
Can you believe there was no floral foam! Buckets and vials full of water, all incorporated into the structure.
Inside St George’s Chapel, the foliage was picked from Windsor Great Park, including beech, birch and hornbeam branches, white garden roses, peonies and foxgloves.
I had read somewhere, of course I can’t find the source now, that some of the flowers in these arches were faux – I am wondering if some way high up are.
This is at the altar.
I read that some people felt that the church smelled too much like pollen and it was like walking into a cloud of pollen because of the flowers. However, it might not have just been the flowers… my favorite candle maker, Diptyque apparently supplied the wedding with floral candles that were burning as well. We don’t know the exact scent, but if I had to guess it could have been the Roses candle, Baies Candle, tuberose, or gardenia. If you remember, at Prince William and Kate’s wedding they had Jo Malone’s Orange Blossom candles burning.
What was in her wedding bouquet?
The bouquet had flowers that Prince Harry picked from Kensington Garden (of course, with the help from the florist). Did your heart melt?
Astilbe: Meaning ‘I will be waiting for you’ or ‘I’ll still be waiting’, symbolizing patience and dedication
Lily of the Valley: Latin name- Convallaria. Symbolises sweetness and the return of happiness. It is also the birth flower of May.
Astrantia: Symbolises strength, courage and protection.
Forget-me-nots: Diana’s favourite flower
Myrtle: A royal custom going back to the reign of Victoria, which represents love. Many royal brides carry a sprig of Myrtle in their bouquets.
Sweet peas: Meaning ‘delicate or blissful pleasure’
Apparently the flowers were donated to hospices the following day.
The Cake
The baker, Claire Ptak of Violet cakes, wanted to create a cake that “incorporates the bright flavors of spring.” The cake had tiers of lemon sponge cake which were drizzled with elderflower syrup, then topped with an Amalfi lemon curd! She used an Elderflower Swiss Meringue Buttercream, frosting it below.
It took 5 days total to bake the cake and 6 people. They started assembly at 6am at Windsor Castle the day of the wedding.
There was a second cake that the guests actually ate – served canapé style on napkins. oh dear, I would dribble that down my dress!
They used a total of 200 Amalfi lemons, 500 organic eggs from Suffolk, 20 kgs of butter, 20 kgs of flour, 20 kgs of sugar, and 10 bottles of Sandringham elderflower cordial.
Curious about what Elderflower tastes like? Me too. The little blossoms bloom in the English countryside at the end of May and early June.
“Yes, there’s that slightly herby flavor you’d get from edible flowers, but elderflower’s sweeter than you’d expect — and a little musky. It’s closer to lychee in flavor, and it has a crisp, palate-cleansing finish.
If you think about how blueberries add a sweet-tart flavor to a lemon muffin or scone, that’s exactly what elderflower’s doing in the royal couple’s cake. Only it adds a delicate floral flavor, too.” – Via Delish.com
I just loved their cake – so pretty! It seems recently people have been going for tiered cakes for weddings and I just love the cake display here too!
The Dress
I feel like the dress and veil were designed for this moment below.
Her dress exclusive double-bonded silk cady in the “pure white color”. Designed by Waight Keller for Givenchy. It is simple in aesthetic and lets the bride’s natural beauty shine through. It reminded me somewhat of what maybe Guinevere from King Arthur might have worn… going to the castle through an English garden to marry a Prince.
I was honestly a bit underwhelmed by the dress itself, but the over all look is beautiful and she looks so pretty and happy! Also who doesn’t love the tiara? Look at them, so happy.
Check out this article about how her dress is much like many other royal wedding dresses – which on review, I find to mostly be a bit underwhelming.
Let’s talk about that veil.
Her veil had the flora for each of the 53 countries of the Commonwealth embroidered onto the edge, you can see below some of the detail.
The five-meter silk tulle veil took longer to complete than the dress—almost 500 hours meticulously spent creating each flower with silk threads and organza on a flat surface before sewing it onto the veil. It was so delicate, the workers (who included a former Royal School of Needlework student) had to wash their hands every 30 minutes to keep the tulle and threads clean. – Harper’s Bazaar
A beautiful veil… I almost wish they had embroidered some of the edge of the veil along the edge of her dress since the embroidery is just so stunning. I hope this ends up in a museum some day so we can see it.
She changed into a second dress, by Stella McCartney. I preferred this dress to the other one, however preferred the other over all look better. Not that my opinion matters at all!
Here is the royal family and the official photo!
Hope you enjoyed watching the royal wedding as much as I did. You can see my recap here of Prince William and Kate’s Wedding and Kate’s sister, Pippa’s English Society wedding here.
The floral information was via the florist’s Instagram and Daily Mail here.
Cake information and many pictures from Violet Cakes London by Claire Ptak Instagram, Town and Country Mag, London Eater.
Many images are also from Getty and Reuters.
This is a great recap! I LOVED the flowers, I thought they were breathtaking and perfect! Very English garden feel. I did not know that she was unhappy with them. James Cordon said that he needed to sneeze the whole time because he is allergic to a lot of flowers–would have been hard in an hour long ceremony! I thought her bridal look was beautiful–the only thing that bothered me was that her dress looked too loose in the waist and arms and I felt her hair should have been more pinned back and sleek to match the rest of the look. Obviously she is stunning either way, so it doesn’t much matter!
Author
I loved the flowers too! Oh yes I read that about James Cordon too – he must’ve kept the sneezing at bay as we didn’t hear it echo through the church on tv! I thought her hair should have been a little sleeker too to match the dress, but she looked beautiful nonetheless! Either way, she is the one smiling now, she married a prince!
It was a beautiful wedding and she was a gorgeous radiant bride. I love the rustic look of the cake and with the elderflower syrup, I’m sure it was delicious.
Author
Me too, it sounds delicious!
Great recap of the royal wedding. Everything was beautiful. Thanks for sharing your post with us at the #HomeMattersParty this week.
Author
I loved watching it and won’t tire of looking at pictures!