Whilst Kate shone out on her wedding day, her little bridesmaids following her down the aisle of Westminster Abbey looked super cute and classic in their gowns which stood out for their beautiful simplicity and high quality finish and fabrics.

Little Bevan, London’s top children’s couturiers, make made-to-measure childrenswear for special occasions but also make a ready-to-wear collection, Little Bevan Star, which is now available online. Although they are ready-to-wear, customers are still able to choose their fabric, colour and finishing touches, making the finished piece a very special and personal one.

The Alice dress perfectly captures the look of Kate Middleton’s little Bridesmaids for a fraction of the real cost. The ballerina length, fully lined, Silk Dupion dress with full gathered skirt and short puffed sleeves is a favourite design in their current collection.

Whilst it may cost less than the real thing, Little Bevan’s attention to detail and quality means that you will still receive the highest quality silk and hand finish to the dress. They are also able to create the gowns in a multitude of colours so your little ones can match any colour theme you have in mind.

“How did Prince William’s mother not only change weddings for the generations that followed her own glittering wedding spectacle, but also made it possible for William to marry Kate, the beautiful ‘commoner’? The world would have never heard of Catherine Elizabeth Middleton without Princess Diana’s “palace revolution” that began 30 years ago; however, the future Princess Catherine is not Diana’s only legacy.”

Kate Middleton and Prince William’s wedding has sparked renewed interest in the future King of England’s late mother, Princess Diana. In her latest book, “THE END OF THE FAIRY-TALE BRIDE:

How Princess Diana Exposed the ‘Princess Myth’ for All Women” best selling author Cornelia Powell will be re-examining Diana’s life, love and lore, and how they impacted girls’ ideas and dreams about love, romance and marriage.

In the book Powell intends to discuss wedding traditions set and broken by the world’s most popular Princess, as well stereotypical ideals and expectations. “Breaking apart the “Princess Myth” that has stifled women’s self-esteem and personal growth for years,” says Powell, “may indeed be Diana’s most powerful contribution in reframing how women and girls see themselves.”

She also says that she is concerned about the “ the current pink-tinted, girly-girl princess that’s taken over a generation of little girl’s self-image” and poses the question: “Could [Kate Middleton] set the pace for a whole new paradigm of women’s equality and being a true partner in relationships?”

The new blog ‘End of the Fairy-Tale’ has been launched as a companion to the book, and will cover news about the royal wedding, exerpts and “irresistible insights into bridal mythology, weddingfolklore and what’s really behind those fairy tales!”

Cornelia Powell’s other wedding related book “The Bride’s Ritual Guide: Look Inside to Find Yourself” is an Amazon best seller and her blog “Letters to a Bride” is hugely popular with the bride-to-be community.

Helen Rochfort Handbags (HRH) have introduced a limited edition bag especially for the Royal wedding. This kitcsh bag is a spin on their popular ‘Mr+Mrs’ bag with ‘HRH’ embroidered on one side and ‘Miss. M’ on the other.

The beautiful silver framed bag is part of the designer’s range of quirky, vintage styled bags. It is available to buy now at: www.helenrochfort.com and is priced at £69.

I have to admit that while we are not fanatic Royalists at Wedding Fashion Files, we do love a lavish, romantic wedding, and this one is gearing up to be a really stylish affair.

We love the simple silver bling of this royal wedding bag, and the HRH is certainly a clever little tie in from Helen Rochfort Handbags.

The curvy shape  is unmistakably HRH, and the bag fits in nicely with their quirky range of designs.

As with all HRH bags, each comes with a numbered and signed certificate of authenticity.

So this time around, you don’t have to buy a china mug to commemorate the royal occasion, you can do it the stylish way with the help of HRH!

Suzanne Neville and Kate Middleton’s Wedding Dress

Top British Bridal Designer (and winner of Best British Bridal Designer last year), Suzanne Neville is one of the favourite British designers in the running for the job of creating THAT wedding dress for the Royal wedding between Kate Middleton and Prince William.
Suzanne Neville are a proud British label, who uniquely, hand make all of their gowns in London. Suzanne Neville started out 20 years ago with the help of a business support course from the Prince’s Trust, Prince Charles’s very own charity, making her couture gowns a fitting choice for the Royal wedding.

Suzanne said of Kate Middleton’s wedding gown:

“There will be a lot of speculation as to what the chosen designer will make for Kate, but the most important thing will be to hear what Kate wants – the dress needs to reflect Kate’s personal style and personality. If we were selected to create the gown, I would sit down with Kate, as I do with many of our clients, to find out exactly what she imagines her dream wedding gown to be and together we would create something completely incredible for her day. Whilst the gown would have the handwriting of our shaping and be perfectly crafted to show off Kate’s figure, the gown would need to be a complete, one off, something incredibly special and unique. Of course, the very best fabrics, hand beading and detailing would be used to finish it. It is incredibly important to make the gown fresh and modern but, more over, something timeless – the images will be referred back to for a long time to come.”

Suzanne Neville recently launched their latest collection, L’Amour, at the Saatchi gallery. Please find a selection of images attached from this collection – Fairytale, Amour and Enchanting (as modelled by Kirsty Gallacher).

English actress Sophie Winkleman married her royal husband, Lord Freddie Windsor, in a beautiful ceremony at Hampton Court Palace on 12th September. The ceremony is reported to have been an emotional one with Sophie- best known for her role as Big Suze in comedy Peep Show- weeping as she said her vows.

She walked down the aisle of the 16th century Chapel Royal in a stunning dress designed by Russian designer Anna- Roza Bistroff. It reportedly cost £5000- not a particularly massive cost for a Lady and she even allegedly managed to blag a discount as Anna- Roza is a family friend. Not bad going! Made of a whopping 80ft on duchesse silk satin and 36ft of taffeta, the beautiful ivory dress had a full skirt with delicate floral embroidery and a sweetheart neckline to the bodice. The long lacy sleeves perhaps looked a little dated, but Sophie looked radiant nonetheless. This dress was the stuff little girls dream of with a huge 10ft detachable train! She accessorised with a long two-layered veil and a simple diamond tiara to match her beautiful pearl and diamond drop earrings. Her hair followed the latest natural trend- flowing loose in gentle waves and her make up followed suit with a radiant natural look.

Sophie arrived in a silver Rolls- Royce with a police escort. As she walked down the aisle to Laudate Dominum by Mozart with a teardrop bouquet of white and pink roses with jasmine garlands by Annabel Lewis of VV Rouleaux florists, she was accompanied by no less than six young bridesmaids. They included her niece, Freddie’s family members and family friends of the couple. Each bridesmaid wore a white flower hairband also by Annabel Lewis.

Lord Freddie, an investment banker who is 31st in line to the throne, looked dapper in a grey suit with tails designed by Hardy Amies and a pale blue tie. A white rose to match his wife’s bouquet was used as a buttonhole. If you thought the bride had a lot of attendants, wait for this- Lord Freddie had a huge 15 groomsmen! His best man was good friend and singer Henry Morton.

The chapel was decorated beautifully with white candles and fabric butterflies decorating the trees outside which the 400 guests had to pass to reach the chapel. Guests included musician Bryan Adams, writer Julian Fellowes and Sophie’s television presenter half sister Claudia Winkleman. Of course there were several royals in attendance, the most prominent of whom was Princess Eugenie- one of the Queen’s grandchildren and sixth in line to the throne.

After the ceremony, the guests attended a reception in the palace’s Great Hall where they were served Champagne, canapes and cake. They then travelled to the nearby home of Lady Annabel Goldsmith for a party with a buffet and music provided by a band fronted by best man Henry Morton. With barely a day to recover, Lord and Lady Frederick set of to Los Angeles where Sophie is filming her new TV series.

A lovely, emotional royal ceremony in the most beautiful of locations- who wouldn’t want to marry in a real palace? The home of Henry VIII no less, let’s hope they have more luck than the infamous king did with marriage!

Congratulations Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor!

July 25th saw Prince Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe and Lena Giese wed in a religious ceremony at Castle Glücksburg in Germany.

It was a colorful affair with almost all the guests  dressed in bright colors, and dashings of yellow and green throughout the wedding party outfits.

The bride wore a simple white gown and jacket with a long, laced veil trailing behind. Her hair was pulled back and she wore a single necklace around her neck. The wedding colors were green and gold and seen in the flower girls’ gold dresses with green sashes and the groom, who was oddly suited in a diagonal striped tie and vertical striped trousers. Yellow and green was seen also in the bride’s bouquet, the groom’s boutonniere and gracing the flower girls’ baskets.

Sleeves seemed to be another theme at this royal gathering of under two-hundred guests. I thought the bolero jacket worn by the bride was befitting of royalty but the puffy sleeves on the adorable girls were less than flattering. But I guess little girls can get away with anything.

Among the royal guests were Queen Margarethe of Denmark who wore a pink and blue floral dress with matching hat. Princess Elisabeth of Ysenburg who also attended wore a vibrant colored dress with pinks, blues, purples and blacks and had an interesting black feather and pink flower atop her head. I thought Ilona Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe, the mother of the groom, was smartly dressed with a simple blue dress, hat, and black clutch. Her pumps, however, were an interesting blend of colors found also in Princess Elisabeth of Ysenburg’s outfit.

All in all, it was quite an interesting wedding, if not a traditional affair, then one certainly befitting of royalty.

If there was any doubt about the new craze for ruffles taking hold of the couture world, it has been swept aside this week, as they pranced around in all their fluffiness at the Royal wedding last weekend
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Even worse, I have been seeing them swan up and down the catwalks at the Barcelona Bridal Week. More on that to come. . .

The recent Royal Spanish wedding of Prince Felipe and Letizia Ortiz offered some truly great examples of classic elegance. The bride herself chose award winning Spanish designer Manuel Pertegaz to create her gown. The Queen Sofía also wore a dress designed by Pertegaz for the wedding banquet. Pertegaz has a long (he’s 87!) and illustrious career as a designer, having created outfits for such legendary leading ladies as Eva Gardener, Jackie Kennedy and Joan Crawford.

The off-white silk gown was inspired by the ‘princess’ style outline, which comprised of a fitted bodice and flowing skirt that skimmed out from the waist, and ended in the 4.5m train, embroidered with heraldry representations of the fleur-de-lis, lily, wheat and clover. The embroidery, in silver and black threads, is also on the unusual high collar and sleeves. The modesty of the overall design shows that you don´t have to bare flesh to be beautiful on your wedding day.

After the ceremony, the bride changed into a sophisticated silver dress by Lorenzo Caprile, one of Span’s leading designers of bridal wear. My favourite fashion pick from the guests would be another silver gown, this one by Givenchy, which was worn by Queen Rania of Jordan.

You would think that having an unlimited budget and the best designers at your disposal would guarantee you a free pass from the fashion-police, but experience (and Hollywood) have shown us that this is not the case, and this wedding was no exception. The two most notable culprits to be thrown in the sin bin have to be. . .

Miriam Ungria, in a blue frilly number that can only have been inspired by one of those toilet roll cover dolls that used to adorn every grandmother´s bathroom.

and

Ágatha Ruiz who, as a designer for Prada, should really have something better in her wardrobe.