A Royal Affair

My Mom, Brittany, and even Steve got up to watch the Royal Wedding this morning and I'm so glad we did. Of course we could have watched it later on DVR, but I really wanted to see it live and not have to read about it later.
I thought Kate looked spectacular. The dress was traditional enough to be appropriate for the occasion, but youthful and romantic at the same time. I loved her hair, I wore my hair in a similar fashion for my wedding (minus the Cartier tiara of course!). She definitely looked like a fairytale princess, I hope she was happy with the final product. I was intrigued that she chose Alexander McQueen's current designer, Sarah Burton. Alexander McQueen is known for whimsical, over-the-top designs. But also exceptional tailoring.
Here are a few details about the dress and jewelry from the official royal wedding site:

The design
The lace appliqué for the bodice and skirt was hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace.  The lace design was hand-engineered (appliquéd) using the Carrickmacross lace-making technique, which originated in Ireland in the 1820s.  Individual flowers have been hand-cut from lace and hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle to create a unique and organic design, which incorporates the rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock.
Hand-cut English lace and French Chantilly lace has been used throughout the bodice and skirt, and has been used for the underskirt trim.  With laces coming from different sources, much care was taken to ensure that each flower was the same colour.  The whole process was overseen and put together by hand by Ms Burton and her team.
The dress is made with ivory and white satin gazar.  The skirt echoes an opening flower, with white satin gazar arches and pleats.  The train measures two metres 70 centimetres.  The ivory satin bodice, which is narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips, draws on the Victorian tradition of corsetry and is a hallmark of Alexander McQueen’s designs.  The back is finished with 58 gazar and organza covered buttons fastened by Rouleau loops.  The underskirt is made of silk tulle trimmed with Cluny lace.

The veil is made of layers of soft, ivory silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers, which was embroidered by the Royal School of Needlework.  The veil is held in place by a Cartier ‘halo’ tiara, lent to Miss Middleton by The Queen.  The ‘halo’ tiara was made by Cartier in 1936 and was purchased by The Duke of York (later King George VI) for his Duchess (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) three weeks before he succeeded his brother as King.  The tiara was presented to Princess Elizabeth (now The Queen) by her mother on the occasion of her 18th birthday.

I loved the design of Kate's sister Pippa's dress. The dress was so flattering and elegant. I can't wait to see pictures of the dresses from the rest of the day! I hope you all enjoyed watching the wedding as much as I did. Let's work to bring fascinators into fashion in the US:)