4.30.2011

# England # Royalty

The Royal Wedding Recap



Now I realize by now you may be royal wedding-ed out. But I do hope you’ll indulge me for this special edition post as I dish out my observations on the big event, connoisseur-style.

It is common knowledge on this blog that I am a devoted Francophile but not many of you know that I am also a hopeless Anglophile as well (after all, I did marry an Englishman!) So of course last Friday’s royal wedding was a complete treat for me- as it was for over 2 billion people around the world.

Here are my reactions, sentiments and recaps:


The bride looked beautiful. Her wedding dress, pitch perfect- the lace sleeves were reminiscent of Princess Grace. She exuded elegance. Her bouquet was a lesson in restraint. She purportedly did her own makeup which boggles my mind- she opted for a slightly heightened variation of le no makeup look. Her hair, simple and unfussy. She is a class act.

Prince William- dapper and doting and very handsome.
I will admit, I always wanted to marry Prince William, but as you have probably already figured out, that didn’t happen and as I tell my husband, I got the next best thing! (It’s always good to tell one’s husband things like that).

Prince Harry’s cheekiness was refreshing and very attractive.

I loved the hats! I hope seeing all of those gorgeous hats that were burgeoning on art pieces brings back the fashion of wearing hats to more than just special occasions. I must say that the most alluring hats were the ones that complimented the ladies’ outfit and did not overtake their face. There were a few questionable choices made. I will not name names but you probably know who I am referring to.

As a side note, A few years ago I attended a beautiful English wedding in Stoke Poges at the Stoke Park Club and got to wear a hat for the first time (pictured above). Wearing a hat really adds a heightened sense of drama to an outfit. I sadly had to leave my hat in England as it did not fit in my luggage, and I long to be reunited with it again!

Pippa Middleton, sister of the bride / maid of honor, looked stunning
in her alluring cowl neck white dress. What a figure! The fact that she wore white was also very fresh and modern, although I hope it does not spark a trend across the world for wedding guests to wear white!

The only reading in the ceremony, done by Catherine’s younger brother James, astonished me.
His public speaking skills were excellent! I can’t imagine doing a reading in Westminster Abbey for all of those esteemed guests and 2 billion people watching all over the world. At my good friend Juliana’s wedding in Miami a few years ago I was asked to read a Shakespearean sonnet during the ceremony and out of nowhere broke into tears halfway through the reading. They were tears of joy for my good friends, of course, but no matter what the reason, it is not pleasant to break into the ‘ugly cry’ in front of a hundred guests, so I can only imagine what would happen if I were to do a reading at a Royal Wedding. I suppose it’s best I wasn’t asked.

The procession, the uniforms, the horses, the carriages, the tradition, the pomp and circumstance of it all enchanted me… we don’t have that in America and it is thrilling to see.

And, of course, the Queen looked lovely in her daffodil yellow ensemble

To celebrate the royal wedding I threw a tea party for 10 of my girlfriends. I had it catered by the Tudor House Tea Room in Santa Monica as I did not have time to make the food myself (although if I had had the time I would loved to have done so). We served five different kinds of tea sandwiches (cucumber, smoked salmon, turkey cranberry, chicken curry and cream cheese herb and walnut), currant scones with clotted cream and farmer’s market raspberry jam, various confections and mini tarts (including apricot, chocolate, and lemon), fresh strawberries with cream and a large sponge cake with buttercream frosting. Yum.



To drink I decided to go with Mr. Connoisseur’s suggestion of Pimm’s cocktails (a splash of Pimm’s gin with lemon soda, ice and a twist of lemon rind), and French berry lemonade for the ladies who did not want Pimm’s. I gave away commemorative tea towels (pictured above) as presents to each guest.

Oddly enough, at the end of the party I realized we didn’t have a drop of tea! Oops! (I did ask, but everyone seemed contented with their Pimm’s!)

All in all it was a lovely day spent with friends to celebrate a lovely occasion. Cheers to Prince William and Catherine Middleton the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. May they have a very happy life together.

** Please note, this special Sunday post will take the place of the regular Monday evening post. Join me again this Thursday for a special skin care review.

** I would like to send my prayers to the families that have lost loved ones on 9/11 and send a thank you to our troops. God Bless America!

What a week!




My Royal Tea Party table is pictured above...

The picture of the Duchess of Cambridge is courtesy of Access Hollywood.

The Daily Connoisseur is now on YouTube and is available on Amazon Kindle

17 comments:

Admin said...

lovely post. What a lovely idea to give away teatowels. Really nice.
x

Nicky said...

I really enjoyed hearing your take on the wedding. Thank you for this post.

I also felt so much better after reading your experience reading at a wedding because that same thing happened to me at my brother's wedding! Now I know I'm not alone.

Lacey R said...

I absolutely loved the wedding. I got up early to watch it live, and watched the recaps during the day. It was such a lovely wedding, the ceremony was beautiful. I am still blown away by the MUSIC. Being a musician, I was particularly interested to hear the music choices and it did not disappoint. Prince Charles did well selecting the music (apparently Wills and Kate asked him to pick out most of the music). Ubi Caritas was my absolutely favorite - it was stunning. It brought tears to my eyes. I immediately downloaded the Royal Wedding Album from Itunes as soon as it was available.

My favorite wedding moments:

1. Seeing Kate in her dress. She looked absolutely exquisite. That dress suited her to a T. I hope she helps to reverse the strapless wedding dress trend that has been prevalent for over 10 years now.

2. Seeing the Princes in their uniforms, and when Prince Harry snuck a peek at Kate coming down the aisle and he said to Prince William "Right, here she comes now".

3. The loving glances and little smiles that Wills and Kate gave each other throughout the ceremony, you could tell at times that Wills was trying to suppress the biggest smile!

4. My favorite moment, though, was when Wills and Kate came driving out of Buckingham Palace in the Astin Martin. That was so cool, they totally pulled a fast one on everyone! lol

What a great occasion! Glad your party went well! :)

p.s. I could not resist buying two fascinators from ebay last night after seeing all the splendid hats and fascinators at the wedding. I will wear them somewhere! lol

Sandra Sallin said...

I was absolutely obsessed with this wedding. Do glad you were also. i agreed with everthing you said. I'm also following the British newspapers on line, and British journalists etc and twitter. Altogether obsessed and no one to share it with. (G)

Pug1 said...

The wedding was awesome!!!! Catherine was stunning and William looked so handsome in his crimson uniform.
The pic of your table with all the goodies on it looks WONDERFUL! I wanted to have a wedding celebration too....but couldn't get anyone up that early to partake!
So happy you had a good time! CHEERS! Michele

Anonymous said...

Great recap! It was so interesting to watch all the coverage! Loved the history and traditions behind the wedding.

Panna said...

Believe it or not, I had forgotten the wedding was taking place on Friday and had to play catch up via the Royal Wedding Channel on youtube. :) My favorite parts were seeing Harry take a peek at the bride and "report back" to his brother (although I couldn't figure out why William wouldn't be facing the aisle?) and when the couple stepped out onto the balcony and Kate said "Oh wow." upon seeing the crowd assembled there.

Beautiful ceremony and I pray they have a wonderful married life together.

Anonymous said...

I'm English, live in London and watched the wedding plonked in front of the telly. Wish I had made more effort. I did put on a nice frock. Does this count?

Anonymous said...

I for one think that Kate's dress certainly will affect the strapless wedding dress trend that has been so popular the last several years. It's a refreshing change!

Reese said...

I appreciate your end note about the 9/11 families and thanks to the troops; a dental appointment saved my sister from dying at the Pentagon. Her office was blown to bits; she lost friends, neighbors and co-workers that day. Truly spectacular news last night; thanks indeed to the troops and their families, and prayers for 9/11 families and the families and friends of those we have lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. I imagine those who were injured and/or lost loved ones in London, Madrid and Bali are also feeling better today.

RomiAndJaredAreMarried said...

Your party looked BEAUTIFUL! I wish I had been there. Especially when I got home, watched the wedding I had dvr'd, and desperately wanted to hat bash (privately amongst girlfriends, of course). :)

The Daily Connoisseur said...

Thank you everyone! I'm glad to hear I was not alone in being obsessed with the wedding :)

George's Mum- Thank you! The tea towels were a hit :)

Nicky- Glad to hear I am not the only one this happened to! How embarrassing!

LR- the music was incredible. I forgot to add that to my post. It just made the event so magical. I am thinking of buying it on iTunes too. Although today I bought my bone china commemorative tea cup so I could be going a bit overboard :) I also loved your highlights- thank you for sharing them with us!

Sandy- you are not alone :) I have been reading The Daily Mail a bit more than normal (ok a lot more than normal)! xo

Michele- Thank you! I actually had my party at 11:30 am which was still pretty early- but not so early I couldn't arrange a nice table :)

Michael- Thank you! I loved the traditional aspect of it too... so thrilling

Panna- The two princes standing up there together were adorable. I love them together and Harry is so cheeky! I wonder who he will end up marrying... Some people are speculating Pippa- can you imagine?

Anon- putting on a nice frock absolutely counts :)

Anon- I bet her wedding dress will spark major trends and the great thing about it is it's timeless

Reese- thank you for your note. I am so happy to read that your sister was OK and avoided the attacks- how lucky you all are! My heart really goes out to her though for losing so many friends and colleagues. What a dark time in our history- one that we will never forget and one that never fails to move me. I hope that she is experiencing peace today. Thank you so much for reaching out x

Romi- you missed a good party! And we missed you!! xx

Shelley said...

It was a happy day here in England - loads of street parties and gatherings (we went to one at Bill's cousin's house). I had the sense that Brits were very proud to be British on that day. She really is a class act. Look forward to watching her for years to come.

Ruth in LA said...

Love the Tudor House... miss it now that I'm not in WLA.

Your table looks amazing.

BigLittleWolf said...

Love love love your recap! (And I'm so glad that I woke early to enjoy it all.)

Sometimes we need good news. It isn't so much about a "fairy tale" (as many men I know seem to think it is) - but about something genuinely joyful and at the same time, with elements of history, continuity, and spectacle that allow us all to feel a little less fragile in a chaotic world.

Loved your take on it!

Rose said...

Pimms was much more apt for that day! I was on champagne by the time they said their vows! I actually didn't write about this time as it was really such a big holiday here that I didn't have time but it was a lovely day and I love that you had a party over there and that it was so exactly correct!

Josephine Tale Peddler said...

Hello, I loved it all! I thought Carole Middleton looked stunning as well. It was such a joyous event and the world really needed that right now. Totally agree with everything you wrote (I do admire the certain princess who has since auctioned her hat for charity). She sounds like a good sport. Hope all is well. I am just catching up on your Blog and very excited to see you are doing videos! You looked and sounded stunning in the one I watched. I'll catch up with them all. xx