British Royal Weddings
Take a minute to read our piece on the history and influence of British Royal Weddings….
British Royal Weddings
From the iconic white wedding dress to the long veils and trains, the British Royal family have had a lasting effect on bridal fashion trends worldwide that cover not just the inspiration for many peoples wedding dresses, but the inspiration for weddings within popular TV and film culture too! In a world that has grown up reading fairy tales and watching happily ever after in film, we have grown inspired to find our own happily ever after and our own fairy tale weddings and this a reason why no one can resist a Royal Wedding. With so much of wedding tradition and fashion ingrained into us from old movies and stories, there is no wonder we cannot feel a sudden rush of excitement when a Royal wedding is announced and why we are so influenced by their weddings. They have everything we have grown to adore from the horse drawn golden carriages, the groom in military dress and the beautiful wedding gown, we feel captivated by the grandeur and fairy-tale like world.

Prince William’s wedding to Catherine, Princess of Wales was viewed by over 2 billion people worldwide. Catherine, the Princess of Wales wedding dress was one of the most talked about wedding dresses of the 2010s. Not only did she spark wedding dress trends globally, but she also had an second wedding dress for the evening which sparked the trend within the wedding fashion industry. Other royal weddings also followed suit with Princess Eugenie and The Duchess of Sussex also changing into a second dress after the formal ceremonies. Even Disney films have been inspired by the British Royal Weddings; Ariel’s wedding dress was hugely influenced to Princess Diana’s wedding dress that she wore when she married the now King Charles 3
rd in 1981 (The little Mermaid debuted in 1989), the artists drew Ariel with an off-white colour dress that styled a puffy shoulder with sleeves that flowed into a ball gown shape, with a long veil.Princess Diana’s dress was made in a vintage ivory rather than the classic white to suit her complexion better, she also had a ball gown dress with large puffy shoulders and sleeves. Designed by David and Elizabeth Emmanuel, the silk and taffeta creation took breaths away worldwide. It was hand embroidered with an estimated 10,000 mother of pearl sequins and the famous 25 foot train was adorned with lace which one belonged to Queen Mary. The dress sparked off replicas everywhere with the first design to hit department stores in just 5 hours after the ceremony.

The long train wedding trend was actually set by Queen Elizabeth 2 nd who wore a 15 foot train on her wedding day. The train and dress was adorned with stars and floral embellishments which was inspired by Botticelli’s adaptation of the Roman Goddess Flora in his painting Primavera. The Dress and train was designed to signify the end of the war and the nations rebirth. Queen Elizabeth had to purchase the fabric with ration coupons. In contrast, the late Queens sister, Princess Margaret, in 1960 wore a dress without motifs and no embroidery, just plain silk dressed with a small train. This Royal wedding was refreshingly modern and was named by life magazine as the simplest royal wedding gown in history and the wedding fashion industry began introducing beautiful plain, simple and elegant wedding dresses which even to this day look timeless and modern.
The Duchess of Sussex also chose for more of a plain wedding dress without any embroidery or motifs, opting for her veil to be the statement piece of her day. Keeping with the royal traditions of a long veil, Meghan’s had a 16 foot train and was hand embroidered with flowers and motifs to celebrate the different countries of the commonwealth. She also added a bit of blue to her veil – not seen done by any other royal – the blue fabric was taken from the dress she wore on her first date with Prince Harry. Although plain, elegant dresses are still timeless and very much fashionable, we are seeing a return of the vintage wedding dress; Dresses embellished with lace, pearls and jewels. Princess Beatrice who married in 2020, borrowed her wedding dress from a dress in her grandmother Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe, making some alterations to suit her own style by adding sleeves and altering the hem. The dress was originally made in 1960 by Norman Hartnell, the same designer who created the late Queens own wedding dress.
We as a nation have always styled our own wedding fashion from the Royals, with us still traditionally wearing a white wedding dress to walk down the isle in. This trend is 182 years old and was made fashionable by Queen Victoria, who wore a white wedding dress when she married Prince Albert. Before her, royal wedding dresses were traditionally worn in a variety of different hues with red being the most popular, white dresses were usually reserved for women who were being presented at court.
So why did Queen Victoria break tradition? It wasn’t because white signified purity which we signify as the reason for a white wedding dress. It was a simple reason, white was the perfect colour to highlight the lace on her dress. It is also known that she asked her guests not to wear white at the ceremony so that she could be the centre of attention. Although Queen Victoria was not the first to wear white on her wedding day, she was the first influential woman to make it the norm and now it is a rarity that a wedding dress breaks from the white or ivory colour. However, we are seeing hues of different colours making a reappearance, with subtle pinks being quite fashionable. Princess Eugenie’s ceremonial wedding dress has been the first royal wedding to break the tradition of wearing a veil, her dress had an open back to show her scar from an operation she had as a child. Although she chose a more plain, elegant look, she did have some subtle motifs added as a nod to her family connections in Ireland, her fondness of Balmoral Castle, references to her family name of York, and her royal residence at Kensington Palace.
