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Wedding Planning


| ROYAL WEDDING William & Kate
Royal Wedding
Prince William & Kate Middleton
Wedding Date, Friday, April 29, 2011, 11:00 a.m. local time
Westminster Abbey, London, England
updates by Joyce Barslow

The Engagement

The Planning 
Bride - Kate Middleton
Groom - Prince William
Charitable Gift Fund
Souvenirs, Mementoes & Gifts

The Wedding
Kate's Wedding Gown
Pippa & The Wedding Party
Kate's reception dress

The Royal Newlyweds
Wedding Website
Wedding Trivia


The newly ennobled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leaving the Abbey on their wedding day April 29, 2011

The Royal Wedding
Kate's theme: quite traditional with a modern twist really
Beginning at 8:15 a.m., London time (3:15 a.m. in the Eastern United States), general guests started showing up at Westminster Abbey that took approximately an hour and a half, as guests came by foot and car, and then entered the church through the Great North Door. Guests were told that cellphones and cameras are not allowed in the Abbey. Click here to download Royal Wedding Official Programme pdf

Guests were ushered to their pews by a ten-member group of Gentlemen Ushers, a tradition that dates back to the 15th century. (Ushers were originally assigned to staff the door of any room in which the monarch was present. Nowadays, the men – drawn from the three branches of the Armed Forces who will be wearing their services' uniforms – are paid a small allowance to be on hand at ceremonies held by Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, State Banquets and, crucially, weddings).

At 10:20 a.m., Groom Prince William and his Best Man, Prince Harry, departed from  Clarence House at 10:10 a.m. Their drive to the Abbey took five minutes. Members of foreign royal families had arrived at the church.

At 10:20 a.m., Mother of the Bride, Carole Middleton, and James Middleton, brother of the bride, departed from the Goring Hotel where they were staying. The bride, along with her sister and mother stayed in one of the hotel's premiere suites. It took seven minutes for Carole and James to travel from the hotel to Westminster Abbey.

At 10:40 a.m., the members of the royal family will began to pour in. Uncle to the Groom, Prince Andrew, and his daughters Beatrice (who wore the hat that went viral) and Eugenie; Aunt to the groom, Princess Anne, and her husband; and Aunt and Uncle to the Groom the Earl and Countess of Wessex all entered the front of the church through the Great West door.

At 10:42 a.m., Prince Charles and William's stepmother arrived. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were the last guests to arrive at Westminster Abbey, at 10:45 a.m.

At 10:48 a.m., Kate's sister Pippa, left, was her maid of honor – whose job was to make sure the bridal gown is displayed properly and the young wedding party, Kate's bridesmaids and William's pageboys, is kept in line, all gathered at the Goring Hotel to depart. The wedding party arrived at the church five minutes before the ceremony began at 11:00 a.m.(London local time).

Service at Westminster Abbey
The Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev. Dr. John Hall, will conduct the service, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, will marry the couple, the palace confirmed. The Bishop of London Dr. Richard Chartres, a friend of Prince Charles and his sons, will give the address.

Kate breaks tradition getting to the church on time
Kate rode to Westminister Abbey in the Rolls Royce Phantom VI, with her father, pictured left, Mews, that was given to the Queen on her Silver Jubilee in 1977. The route to the service took her past some of London's most famous sites: The Mall (before Buckingham Palace), the Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall and Parliament Square. The vehicle has a raised roof, which will allow crowds a view of the bride on her way to become the Duchess of Cambridge.

The Kiss
The newly ennobled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge – at London's Westminster Abbey exited to cheering crowds and took the "Processional Route in a carriage procession" to Buckingham Palace in the open-topped 1902 State Landau, pictured above, that was used by his parents following their marriage in 1981. Adorned with gold leaf and upholstered in crimson satin, the Landau is normally drawn by six horses but four was used for the wedding. The newlyweds were escorted by captains from the Household Cavalry – William's former regiment.

Two more coaches followed William and his bride containing Prince Harry, the best man, and Pippa Middleton, the maid of honour, plus the bridesmaids and pageboys.

The next carriage carried Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, Prince Philip, followed by a carriage with Prince Charles, Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall, and Michael and Carole Middleton, the bride's parents.

The Kiss by the couple on the Palace balcony was upstaged by Prince William's goddaughter, 3-year-old Grace van Cutsem, above, who was one of the official bridesmaids as she stole the show.    

The Receptions
Six-hundred of the 1,900 guests received an invited by the Queen to a reception that she hosted immediately after the ceremony. Later, around 300 of those 600 guests were invited to a dinner hosted by William's father, Prince Charles, in the evening at Buckingham Palace. For the evening reception, Kate changed into a white dress by Alexander McQueen.

Prince William ordered a Groom's cake
Prince William broke tradition and personally requested a groom's cake
made of cookies and chocolate, topper shown left, to be served alongside the couple’s official wedding cake. “It was literally covered in chocolate decoration,” Paul Courtney, the cake head chef at cookie-makers McVitie Cake Company who made the cake using a secret recipe given to them by royal insiders. The cake contained 17 kilos of chocolate and some 1700 of the company’s “Rich Tea” brand cookies enough to feed all guests.

Kate ordered the Main Wedding Cake
Kate ordered the main wedding cake, commissioning luxury cake designer Fiona Cairns, shown left, to make a gigantic multi-tiered fruit cake decorated with cream and white floral decorations. It is a British tradition to choose fruitcake for weddings and Cairns is famous for these types of cakes.

Each tier was made exclusive by slight, handmade decorations that had been personally requested by Kate. The metaphorical features of Buckingham Palace were reflected on the cake including the couples initials, right. "Most of the decorations were flowers that each has a meaning," said Cairns. "For example, the bridal rose symbolizes happiness, the oak and the acorn symbolize endurance … and Sweet William - Grant me one smile."

Wedding Night
The couple stayed in London on their Wedding night. The following day they boarded an helicopter to a destination unknown but close to London to spend a long weekend. William reported back to work for two weeks before they left on their 10-day honeymoon at the Indian Ocean resort on the Seychelles Isands.

William & Kate's Wedding Invitation
On February 16th & 17th, a stiff white 10x6 card invitation, left, went out to 1,900 people, from kings to charity leaders, to close family and university friends, old schoolmates and prime ministers around the world, and selected celebrities.

The simple wording reads that the Lord Chamberlain has been "commanded by the Queen" to invite the holder to the marriage at Westminster Abbey at 11 a.m. on April 29. As for the dress code, gentlemen guests are asked to wear military uniform, a tailcoat or a business suit.

William & Kate's official wedding website
The couple's Royal Wedding website launched March 2, 2011, was designed to be the official information service for anyone interested in the Royal Wedding. The home page headings include: The Service, The Procession, The Reception and Background.

The palace noted that the website was being hosted by Google App Engine, which is designed to handle large, global peaks in web traffic. Visit officialroyalwedding2011.org.

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WeddingsHoneymoons.com | Royals William & Kate | January 20, 2012
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