You may have heard that there’s a royal wedding this weekend in the U.K.
I’m very curious about Meghan’s wedding dress. Her style is classic. She wears the clothes, not the other way around. Meghan’s not jumping on every random trend and clearly knows what works for her figure. The only look I didn’t love was her dress for her official engagement photos. The dress was stunning but I wasn’t sure why she was wearing it during a day shoot and Prince Harry’s suit was too casual for the dress.
Below are three royal wedding dresses that I adore. They all have beautiful silhouettes, the brides look comfortable, and the styles are not dated. I watched Princess Diana’s wedding and remember even as a kid thinking her dress was (to reference one of my favorite movies of all time) too meringue. Perhaps it because she was younger than the bridges below, had a very sheltered life, and it was the early 80s. Princess Diana was drowning in her dress.
Princess Grace was married in 1956 and this dress is still influencing wedding and formal dress designers. It was designed by Helen Rose who was a costume designer for MGM Studios. She designed two dresses, which were gifts from the studio to their star. Helen was the CD on four of Princess Grace’s MGM movies.
Gorgeous and timeless.
Princess Catherine 2011. Designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. Sarah took over as Creative Director of the house in 2010 after McQueen’s death. I don’t know if it’s rule that shoulders must covered for church wedding in the UK but this dress definitely helped bring back sleeves for wedding dresses.
The sleeveless wedding dress had dominated for years. It didn’t matter that the style was hard to pull off and not universally flattering. Bridal dress manufactures are happy to make this style because it’s cheaper to make. Many American brides complained about the difficulty of finding wedding dresses with any kind of sleeve that wasn’t dowdy and/or dated. That changed after 2011.
This dress is modern and fresh.
Princess Mabel 2004. The Princess married the late Dutch Prince Johan Frisco in a custom Viktor & Rolf dress. Instead of buttons, the fashion forward Dutch designers used bows. The cut on this dress is beyond. The bows add a bit of whimsy.
The bride turned down their more conventional designs and asked for something memorable. It’s unique without being a costume.
Arlene Gibbs Décor 
I saw an exhibition of royal wedding dresses at the V&A in London a few years ago and it was so much fun! I agree with you : Princess Diana’s dress was a sartorial mistake. Both Catherine’s and Meghan’s were wonderful (and as much as I love Sarah Burton I might like Meghan’s dress more or, maybe, it’s more my style). It’s interesting to know that the custom of wearing white is pretty recent – late 1700s I believe.
I agree with you. I really like Catherine’s dressed but Meghan’s is more my style too. I also feel like I have to defend her dress against all the people who said it was too plain!
I understand the discussions about the fit of the dress but to say the dress was boring? Cannot agree. Like with Cacio e Pepe, the things that may appear simple are often the most difficult things to execute.
I heard this criticism mostly from Americans. I’m sorry but a 36 year old woman getting married for the second time into THE Royal Family, doesn’t need a blinged out dress or a dumb princessy get up. I wonder, have they not seen Meghan’s style? She sticks to the classics but with a modern twist. This dress was so her and she looked very comfortable. Also, she’s gorgeous. She was wearing the dress not the other way around. The veil and tiara were spectacular. If her dress had a lot going on, we wouldn’t have noticed them as much.
I have quite a few thoughts on this. 🙂
The practice of wearing white goes back to Queen Victoria’s 1840 wedding: she chose to wear white so she would stand out in the crowd – difficult at only 4′ 11″/ 1.52m.
Royal wedding dresses have sleeves because the ceremony is always in a church where it is not only inappropriate to be sleeveless (strapless even worse) but because these stone buildings are cold!
Be warned: there are many British churches where a bride will be made to cover-up if her dress is too revealing – most churches have an “emergency” garment for this purpose if brides arrive in a dress that is unseemly.
Yes, same with church weddings here in Italy. Shoulders must be covered (even when just visiting). Some churches don’t enforce this rule but others are very strict about it.