Showing posts with label Weddings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weddings. Show all posts

Royal Flashback of the Day: February 25

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    My Twitter feed reminded me that yesterday was the anniversary of one special event: the engagement of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling on February 24, 2009! The couple met in 2001 when Victoria was a personal training client of Daniel's at the gyms he owned in Stockholm, and by 2002 their relationship was known to the Swedish press. They tied the knot in June 2010. This was a long engagement, by royal standards, leaving plenty of time for Daniel to recover from the kidney transplant he underwent shortly after the engagement.
    Anyway, this means we should talk about the engagement day outfit, no? (Hers, that is. Daniel wore a suit.) Victoria's dress for their meeting with the press has always held a special place in my heart. Because purple, that's why.
    It's not just purple, it also has a very special accessory which I adore: a petite diamond flower brooch given to Victoria by Prince Bertil and Princess Lilian, which was a sweet way to connect her big day to beloved family members. And it was a lovely match to her classic diamond engagement ring (which we discussed in our engagement ring series), too.

    Video: The press conference
    As it turns out, the dress was actually quite a tip off to what her wedding dress would ultimately look like. The open neckline and the wide waistband would both feature prominently in her wedding gown, and the purple dress was made by Pär Engsheden, which ended up being an early hint at the wedding gown designer. No surprise I enjoyed her selection, then, since the wedding dress (and the wedding itself) are personal favorites.

    Photos: Pool via Getty Images

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Royal Flashback of the Day: February 25


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Royal Wedding of the Week: February 6

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Royal Wedding of the Week: February 6


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Royal Wedding of the Week: January 27

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    Princess Astrid of Norway, daughter of King Olav V and sister of the current king, married Johan Martin Ferner on January 12, 1961. As I mentioned in Sunday's post, Mr. Ferner passed away on January 24th, not long after the couple marked 54 years of marriage. Today, a look back at their Norwegian winter wedding.
    Princess Astrid's older sister Princess Ragnhild caused her share of controversy in 1953 by marrying a commoner, and Astrid then doubled up by marrying a commoner who also happened to be divorced. The couple shared a social circle and bonded over their love of sailing (Ferner was an Olympic medalist in the sport) but they had to wait to make things official. When they finally did, they got married in Asker with a recently retired bishop presiding, as there were many in the church that refused to marry a divorced person.
    It was a cold and snowy winter wedding, and the bride arrived and left with a short fur coat to keep her warm. The dress underneath featured a skirt with wide bands of silver embroidered lace and a lace top with long sleeves. A fingertip veil in tulle was topped with a small crown headpiece that appears to have been made from the same style lace. The bride also wore a pair of pearl earrings and a triple strand pearl necklace.

    The dress seems very much of its time, and is lacking in many of the grand features that usually set a royal wedding gown apart, like a big train or a long veil. This was a more practical choice, and Princess Astrid later took advantage of that practicality by removing the long sleeves and reusing it as a gala dress. (An exhibit in 2011 showed the dress in its final design alongside the wedding gowns of Queen Sonja, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and Princess Märtha Louise.)
    The groom's entrance into the family may have come with some fuss over his first marriage, but soon enough the controversy faded away. In the end, Johan Martin Ferner was not a well known member of the Norwegian royal family by choice. He focused on running his family's business, a department store in Oslo, while his wife carried on with her royal duties. He seems to have been the model of discretion, a quality in today's world that's well worth a little initial controversy.


    Photos: Ray Bellisario/Popperfoto via Getty Images, NRK video, Kongehuset

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Royal Wedding of the Week: January 27


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Year in Review: 2014's Royal Happenings

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    Now is the time when I look around and wonder when I forgot how to use a calendar, because once again the end of the year has snuck up on me. But here we are, with many of the royal families beginning to wind things down for Christmas holidays, and it is indeed time for our annual year in review posts. Today, a look at some of the year's main events.

    I always look first for those events that bring together big groups of international royals, and as I tried to remember what happened this year (always a struggle), I had one thought: We have been so spoiled by the past few years. Seriously, 2013 capped a run of years packed with the kind of events - weddings! jubilees! inaugurations! - that bring us big fat royal gatherings. In comparison, 2014 has felt much quieter on the international royal front.

    From the centenary of World War I to the 70th anniversary of D-Day (pictured above), this has been a year of remembrance. And when I thought back to occasions where royals from different countries came together, it was often for these memorials. So often a somber duty, but one they do particularly well.
     
    Also tops on the list of Important Royal Events of 2014: King Juan Carlos abdicating in favor of his son Felipe, continuing the trend of throne swaps from 2013 and keeping us well stocked with introductory visits to chat about.

    The past few years have been full of weddings, so I suppose it only follows that we are now in the years of BABIES. Prince George's first tour, Princess Leonore's birth and christening, twins for Monaco, a second baby on the way for the Cambridges, and more. Tiny humans, everywhere, running the show.

    We did have a few weddings on our radar this year, though: in Monaco (well, actually in Switzerland, but you know what I mean), in Germany, in Japan, in Morocco. But the one that tops my list for Royal Wedding of the Year was that of Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este and Elisabetta (Lili) Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein. Even in a sparse wedding year, we still get our share of Valentino couture gowns. And 2014 leaves us with the promise of at least one big royal event for 2015 in the nuptials of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist.

    Stay tuned in the coming days, as we revisit the year's tiara moments and some of our favorite looks from our regulars. Until then:

    What was your favorite 2014 royal moment?

    Photos: Samir Hussein/Wire Image via Getty Images, RTVE video, Anna-Lena Ahlström/Kungahuset.se, Elisabetta Villa via Getty Images 

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Year in Review: 2014's Royal Happenings


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Royal Wedding Anniversary of the Day: December 5

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    Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz married the Duke of Brabant on December 4, 1999.
    These two royal lovebirds celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary yesterday!

    More video: Part 2, Part 3
    We refreshed our look at Mathilde's Natan wedding gown last year, before Philippe took the throne. So today, in addition to some video, we have a sampling of some of the guests at this wedding.

    The cozy December affair brought a number of classy winter wedding ensembles from the royal guests - not about the flash, but about rich materials and hats. With brims and everything. Kind of a nice change every now and then from the more, uh, inventive stuff we see these days.

    Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, the King and Queen of the Belgians
    Like Queen Paola, for example. That's a queen's outfit, right there. Not a particularly fun color, but elegant to the end. And showing off the true advantage of a wide brim hat, allowing those that missed the hat trend to hide behind (yes, that's the rather hat-allergic Queen Sofia back there).

    Princess Astrid of Belgium and husband Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este
    The abundance of fabulous materials has me saying something I usually don't get to say: I think Princess Astrid, sister of the groom, might be my best dressed guest. I'm all about that fur draped over that suit and the jaunty contrasting angle on the hat. All about it.

    The then-Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
    Maria Teresa got the memo. She looks cozy and chic.

    Queen Silvia of Sweden
    Silvia's hat is veering a little close to summer material, I'd say, but she pulls it off.

    The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Queen Fabiola of Belgium
    Joséphine-Charlotte makes neutrals into a little something extra with her choice of fabric, and Fabiola makes hats into a little something extra with her addition of a baby blue Big Bird right on top. Fabiola knows we need someone to bring the feathery goodness, otherwise it just wouldn't be a royal wedding. (Update: Hours after this was posted, it was announced that Fabiola passed away today at the age of 86.)

    You know who also would never let us down on the feather front?
    The Queen of Denmark
    Ah, Daisy. It takes a proper queen to pull off the smushed up raven headdress. Gotta love her!

    Photos: Via Getty Images, as indicated

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Royal Wedding Anniversary of the Day: December 5


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Royal Wedding of the Week: November 28

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    A little treat today, for the end of a holiday week. (Or a regular week, as your case may be. Either way, FRIDAY.)

    One of the first royal wedding gowns covered here was that of Marie-Chantal Miller at her 1995 wedding to Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece. 
    At that time, I wrote about my desire to see it on video once again, having seen it many years ago. So you can imagine the jumpy claps that occurred when, while searching around YouTube back in September for the golden wedding of Pavlos' parents, King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie, I stumbled across a huge portion of the wedding broadcast.
    Video, above
    This is some goooood royal wedding watching, friends. Not only is Marie-Chantal's wedding look incredibly royal (it is a Valentino couture gown, with no expense spared, worn with the Antique Corsage Tiara borrowed from Queen Anne-Marie), this wedding was attended by pretty much everybody. It even features a rare appearance by Queen Elizabeth II, who seldom personally attends such foreign royal events (the wedding was in London and her ties to the Greek royal family are strong, hence the appearance).
    The discussion back in that first entry centered on whether this heavily embellished dress was a bit too overwhelming for this particular bride, but seeing it motion once again is renewing my appreciation for the gown. It certainly is heavy, but it in the midst of that ornate wedding setting and ceremony, it seems to fit right in. In the years since we first covered the dress, it has been displayed - the photos in this entry are from the Valentino: Master of Couture exhibit at Somerset House in 2012 - and I've heard from some of you that saw it in person. So let's revisit my original question: too much dress or no?

    Photos: Peter Macdiarmid via Getty Images

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Royal Wedding of the Week: November 28


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