British Royal Weddings--past and present

[grandduchessella]

There is already a royal wedding thread on this Sub-Forum. Of course, that is older weddings. Are you limiting by date? If not, the 2 threads should be merged.

[Olga Bernice]

Ummm . . . No, no particular dates, but if the other thread is old and hasn't been replied to in over 120 days, etc. then we could just keep the two of them separate. But if you do merge them, no biggie!

[grandduchessella]

If a thread hasn't been updated in over 120, that's no reason to keep them separated. More to fact, it's a good reason to 'bump them up'. It helps keep Forum clutter down and makes it easier to navigate around. Also, the other thread is on the first page so it hasn't been dormant very long. If we let older threads die off from lack of use, a good deal of wonderful information is lost. I see photos repeated from older threads all the time and all the mods encourage everyone to check out older threads--there's a wealth of info there.   Also, in the Their World and Culture sub-forum there is a thread which shows many of the wedding dresses of some of the more modern royal brides from a variety of countries if anyone wants to check it out.

I have merged those 2 threads as well as the thread on William and Catherine's wedding and renamed the new thread. Everyone feel free to post. Any particular wedding that catches the interest, you may want to check out the individual thread on that person (ie Diana or Sarah Ferguson or Alexandra Ogilvy, etc).  Most of those threads include wedding photos.

[GrandDuchessIzabella]

http://www.hrp.org.uk/MediaPlayer/ViewPlaylist.aspx?PlaylistId=125
I found this link to pictures of Royal wedding dresses from the past 200 years. I think it's amazing that they have been so well preserved!

[GrandDuchessAndrea]

Amazing!! I adore royal wedding dresses and surviving historical clothing, and a combination of both is even better!

http://edition.cnn.com/video/?/video/world/2011/04/22/historical.wedding.dresses.cnn

[Alixz]

Actually, I am not surprised that these dresses are preserved better than anyone else's.  There is a whole industry devoted to preserving the history of the royals and they have the money to do the work!

Great photos and video.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Great topic!!! Thanks for sharing the video and the photos!
Any idea why the dresses of the Queen and Queen mum aren't displayed too? The one that impressed me was the dress of Princess Charlotte of Wales, on the photos that Isabelle posted, the caption said that it was a glittering dress but the photo didn't make much justice to it until I saw the video I noticed that it is true. It looks even better preserved than QV's!
The one of Queen Alexandra needs the layers of flowers on the skirt.
Anyways, amazing!

[OctoberLily]

Wow.....loved that video!  Thanks so much for sharing!  And the background music was the same as at my wedding.....lol!

[GrandDuchessIzabella]

Andrea, I can't watch the video, the site won't open for me. Can you post it again, so give me the address? Thanks!
Yelena, here are some pictures of HM's dress:
http://queenmarysdollhouse.net/microsites/royalwedding1947/object.asp?object=100019 (courtesy Royal Collection)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedding_dress_of_Princess_Elizabeth but I can't find anything on where it it. The Queen Mum's however was apparently on display at Glamis Castle until last October:
http://www.kirriemuirherald.co.uk/news/local-headlines/queen_mother_s_wedding_dress_on_display_at_glamis_1_1596902
http://www.sarahscreativeoccasions.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/elizabeth-in-her-1920s-wedding-dress.jpg

[LauraO]

Likewise i can't find anything on where HM's dress is now. i can't actually find any information for it being displayed since 2007 when it was part of the exhibition for the Queen and Prince Philip's 60th wedding anniversary, but it doesn't appear to have been displayed recently or currently???

[GrandDuchessAndrea]

Andrea, I can't watch the video, the site won't open for me. Can you post it again, so give me the address? Thanks!

Hmm, I really can't think why...Ooh, maybe it's because CNN is American and won't open in England...but that doesn't make a bit of sense at all because it was of British dresses...well, I found it on Youtube, maybe this will work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kutc_0-TFNc

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Andrea, I can't watch the video, the site won't open for me. Can you post it again, so give me the address? Thanks!
Yelena, here are some pictures of HM's dress:

First of all thank you very much for the great pictures!! I must say that I also had problems at seeing the video too, at first only displayed me some publicity about Kyocera and other about South Africa abut after trying 6 or 7 times it finally opened to me. I expect that with the new link you don't have more problems 

[grandduchessella]

A bit about the proposed dress for when May of Teck was to marry the Duke of Clarence and later her wedding dress when she married the Duke of York:

"Queen Mary's Wedding Dress

In 1891 the Duchess of Teck announced that the wedding dress of her daughter (Princess May) and those of the bridesmaids’ would be entirely of British manufacture. In 1892 Arthur Silver’s design ‘Lily of the Valley’ was woven for Princess May’s wedding dress for her intended marriage to the Duke of Clarence. When he died less than 6 weeks before the wedding the silk was never re-used.

When Princess May’s marriage to the Duke’s brother, the Duke of York, was planned for 6 July 1893, Arthur Silver’s design studio – The Silver Studio – was again approached to design the fabric.

The Silver Studio day books (archived now at MoDa) illustrate a group of 15 designs headed ‘The May Silks’ – it was one of these that was used for Princess May’s wedding dress. The design features a rose, shamrock and thistle with May blossoms and true lovers knots.

In March 1893 following a visit by the Duchess and Princess May (with Thomas Wardle, the President of the Silk Association) to Warner & Sons’ factory at Hollybush Gardens in London it was announced that the firm had been commissioned to weave the wedding dress silk; it was to be woven in the finest white silk with silver-thread by Albert Parchment. Other designs from the Silver Studio were woven for dresses for Princess May’s wedding trousseau."