We love a celebrity wedding, and typically the biggest ones of all are the Royal Weddings! Royal Wedding Fever was in full effect when Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbanks walked down the aisle. Sadly, because of Covid, the Queen’s latest granddaughter to get married – Princess Beatrice (9^th in line to the throne) – couldn’t have the usual public pomp that would have accompanied their original London wedding scheduled for May 2020. Instead though, her and her now husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi were able to have a – slightly delayed – intimate ceremony with just 20 guests made up of friends, family, and of course the Monarch, on July 17^th 2020. From the dress, to the tiara, the flowers, and the secret insider tips, we can’t wait to break it all down for you!

First off, the dress! As a nod to her illustrious grandmother, Beatrice borrowed one of her dresses, previously worn by the Queen for the movie premiere of “Lawrence of Arabia” in 1962. The vintage Norman Hartnell dress is an ivory taffeta gown and encrusted with diamantés (Hartnell also designed the Queen’s wedding dress in 1947). Princes Eugenie did have the Queen’s senior dresser Angela Kelly, and designer Stewart Parvin make some adjustments to the dress though, both to modernize it and better fit it to the bride. They added sheer organza poof sleeves to the previous thick straps and unpinned the bubble skirt to add a wide satin hem.

The tiara is also a huge element of the wedding attire, as Princesses cannot wear one until they are married. Princess Beatrice borrowed the stunning Queen Mary’s Fringe, which the Queen also wore on her wedding day, as did Princess Anne (the Queen’s only daughter). The Queen Mary’s Fringe tiara was made in 1919 for Garrard and is made of 47 diamond bars set in gold and silver, with silver diamond spikes. Originally the diamonds were part of a necklace, given by Queen Victoria to Queen Mary as a wedding gift in 1893. It’s very regal and has looked stunning on all 3 royal brides.

Due to the small guest count and intimacy of the wedding, we couldn’t see inside the chapel for the ceremony. All we know is that the service was performed by and included readings of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, and two of the couple’s favourite poems: Sonnet 116 by William Shakespeare and “I carry you in my heart” by E E Cummings.

We did however get to see the absolutely stunning floral arch that decorated the doorway of the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor. Designed by Dutch florists Patrice and Rob Van Helden — a favourite of Elton John – the incredible display was made of peach, pink, and ivory roses, pale pink hydrangeas, jasmine, pink astilbe, and foliage collected from Windsor Great Park. We especially love the tiniest batch of poppies tucked into the bottom left corner.

Along with the arch flowers, Princess Beatrice took a bit of a departure with her bouquet. Normally, royal brides carry all-white bouquets of myrtle – said to bring luck and fidelity – and is a tradition started by Queen Victoria’s daughter. The myrtle always comes from a specific bush growth at Osborne House in the Isle of Wight, originally given to Queen Victoria by her husband’s grandmother in the 1800’s. Princess Beatrice’s bouquet however was a colourful mix of flowers, which all have specific meanings: trailing jasmine (for amiability), pale pink and cream sweet peas (blissful love), royal porcelain ivory spray roses (roses have many meanings dependent on the colour, but the ivory denotes innocence as well as secrecy which is fitting for this unexpected and private wedding), pink o’hara garden roses (pink roses are for perfect happiness), pink wax flower (long lasting success) and baby pink astilbe (dedication to a loved one), from Savill Garden in Windsor Great Park, along with the myrtle. Following tradition, Princess Beatrice’s bouquet was sent to the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey after the ceremony took place.

Princess Beatrice’s wedding might be one of our favourites, from the beautiful flowers, to the recycled vintage dress (Beatrice really did a great job on the “something borrowed” tradition), and the sheer surprise of it – no one knew it was happening until it was done! We can’t wait to see what trends it inspires for our Luxe brides.