The Get-Away Car!

The new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge left Buckingham Palace for Clarence House in style on Friday, after their reception.

They drove an Aston Martin Volante DB6 MKII convertible covered in ribbons and balloons. It belongs to the Prince of Wales, who has owned the car since 1969.

Kate's Second Wedding Dress

Kate switched into a new dress for her intimate 300 guest wedding reception that was thrown by Prince Charles and Camilla. The stunning dress was also created by Sarah Burton who designed her first wedding gown.

The second dress was a strapless white satin gazar evening dress with a circle skirt and diamante embroidered detail round the waist. She topped it off with an angora sweater shrug.

She kept the look simple, with no necklace or bracelet, and wore her shiny brown hair down with big loose curls.

The Royal Wedding Cakes

The Brides' Cake

The 'Brides Cake' designed by Fiona Cairns is A confectionery masterpiece covered in cream and white icing using the Joseph Lambeth technique.

It is made from 17 individual fruit cakes (12 of which form the base) and has eight tiers. It is decorated with up to 900 delicate sugar-paste flowers as well as leaves of 17 different varieties. A garland design around the middle of the cake matches the architectural garlands decorated around the top of the Picture Gallery in Buckingham Palace, the room in which the cake will be displayed.

Speaking at Buckingham Palace, Ms. Cairns said

 'The picture gallery has high ceilings and is an imposing room so I wanted the cake to have presence but not to be imposing and I think it worked.Catherine did not want it to be seven feet tall, she didn't want it to be towering and thin, and I think we succeeded.'

Each of the 17 different flower designs on the official wedding cake has their own individual meaning according to the Language of Flowers. They include:

 •White Rose - National symbol of England
 •Daffodil – National symbol of Wales, new beginnings
 •Shamrock – National symbol of Ireland
 •Thistle – National symbol of Scotland
 •Acorns, Oak Leaf – Strength, endurance
 •Myrtle – Love
 •Ivy – Wedded Love, Marriage
 •Lily-of-the-Valley – Sweetness, Humility
 •Rose (Bridal) – Happiness, Love.
 •Sweet William – Grant me one smile
 •Honeysuckle – The Bond of Love
 •Apple Blossom – Preference, Good Fortune
 •White Heather – Protection, Wishes will come true
 •Jasmine (White) – Amiability
 •Daisy – Innocence, Beauty, Simplicity
 •Orange Blossom – Marriage, Eternal Love, Fruitfulness
 •Lavender – ardent attachment, devotion, success, and luck.

The Grooms' Cake

The chocolate biscuit cake was created by Mcvitie’s Cake Company using a Royal Family recipe at the special request of Prince William.

Young Bridesmaids' Dresses

Nicki Macfarlane (http://www.nickimacfarlanebridesmaids.com/) created the bridesmaids’ dresses worn at Kate's Wedding. 

Nicki Macfarlane has designed childrenswear for over thirty years become renowned for her exquisite outfits for bridesmaids and pageboys.

The four bridesmaids, Lady Louise Windsor, The Hon. Margarita Armstrong Jones, Grace Van Cutsem and Eliza Lopes wore ballerina length, box pleated full dresses made of ivory silk satin gazar, layered over organza, wild silk and a generous four layers of net petticoats. The edges are hand finished with an English Cluny lace trim. A wild silk gold sashwhich is tucked at the front and tied in a sumptuous bow at the back. Beautiful pleated, lace trimmed puff sleeves complete the look.

As a special memento, the Bridesmaid’s name and the date of the wedding have been hand-embroidered onto the lining of each dress.

Pippa's Dress

The Maid-of-Honor, Pippa Middleton also wore a dress that was designed and created by Sarah Burton. It is made of a heavy, ivory satin-based crepe, with a cowl front and with the same button detail and lace trims as Kate’s dress.  The slinky dress showed off her slender figure and the capp sleeves kept it fresh.

The Bouquet

The bouquet is an understated shield-shaped wired bouquet of myrtle, lily-of-the-valley, sweet William and hyacinth.  It was designed by Shane Connolly and draws on the traditions of flowers of significance for the Royal Family, the Middleton family and on the Language of Flowers.

The flowers’ meanings in the bouquet are:
Lily-of-the-valley – Return of happiness
Sweet William – Gallantry
Hyacinth – Constancy of love
Ivy: Fidelity; marriage; wedded love; friendship; affection
Myrtle: the emblem of marriage; love.

The bouquet contains stems from a myrtle planted at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, by Queen Victoria in 1845, and a sprig from a plant grown from the myrtle used in The Queen’s wedding bouquet of 1947.

The tradition of carrying myrtle begun after Queen Victoria was given a nosegay containing myrtle by Prince Albert’s grandmother during a visit to Gotha in Germany. In the same year, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert bought Osborne House as a family retreat, and a sprig from the posy was planted against the terrace walls, where it continues to thrive today.

The Veil & Jewelry

The sheer veil is made of layers of soft, ivory silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers - again by the Royal School of Needlework.

The veil was held in place by the stunning Cartier “halo” tiara which was on loan to Kate from The Queen. The tiara was made in 1936 and originally purchased by the Duke of York for his Duchess, who would later become King George VI and Queen Elizabeth.

The tiara was presented to Princess Elizabeth (now The Queen) by her mother on the occasion of her 18th birthday.

Kate’s earrings, custom-made by Robinson Pelham to match her tiara, were a present from her parents. The earrings, diamond-set oak leaves with a pear-shaped diamond set drop and a pave set diamond acorn suspended from the center were inspired by the Middleton family's new coat of arms.

Kate's wedding ring is a band of 18 carat Welsh gold by Wartski, who also crafted Welsh-gold wedding bands for Prince Charles and Camilla. Welsh gold is six times more valuable than other types of gold and 18 carat means that the ring will be three quarters pure.

The First Wedding Dress

The best kept secret has been revealed!

On Friday, April 29th, 2011 Kate stepped out in a timeless, lace floral dress, designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. Kate worked closely with Sarah Burton to design the dress. Her main goal was to combine tradition and modernity.

No detail was overlooked.

The hand-made lace appliqué for the bodice and skirt was done by the Royal School of Needlework. During the process they washed their hands every 30 minutes to keep it clean and the needles were changed every three hours to keep them sharp.

A technique called Carrickmacross was utilized to create each and every flower. This originated in Ireland in the 1820s. Four types of flowers were appliquéd on to the ivory silk tulle. The rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock were all incorporated.

Hand-cut English lace and French Chantilly lace has been used throughout the bodice and skirt, as well as the underskirt trim. The whole process was carefully overseen by Sarah Burton.

The long lace sleeves, sweetheart neckline and cinched in waist were reminiscent of Grace Kelly's 1956 wedding dress for her marriage to Prince Rainier III.

The dress is made with ivory and white satin gazar. From the beautiful, full skirt to the ivory satin bodice, it is meticulously constructed. The back is finished with 58 gazar and organza covered buttons and fastened by Rouleau loops.

The train measures almost nine feet long.

Last Minute Rehearsal at Westminster Abbey

This morning Kate arrived at Westminster Abbey for a last minute run through of the wedding ceremony. She looked stylish in a black and white Issa bird print tea dress, a ruffled-front cream-colored BCBG Max Azria jacket and LK Bennett 'Greta' platform wedges.

Update 6/22/11

Kate's white jacket has FINALLY been identified!!!! It is a BCBGMAXAZRIA white woven twill ruffle front jacket $238.

Kate arrives at Clarence House

Kate arrives at Clarence House on Wednesday looking very relaxed and chic. She wore blue jeans, a light pink cowl-neck sweater, topped with a cream-colored blazer and black sling-back platform wedges. In her hand, she held her Prada 'Bowler' bag.

 

Update 10/26/2013

 

 

Kate's jacket has been ID'ed! Thanks to 'Copy Kate' on Ebay, we now know that Kate is wearing an Ecru jacket from Zara.

 

 

Additional Info from Copy Kate:

'SMART-CASUAL

STAND-UP COLLAR

DISTINCTIVE ANGLED CURVE DETAIL FROM COLLAR TO TOP BUTTON (SEE PHOTO)

LIGHTLY SHOULDER-PADDED

SINGLE-BREASTED

3-BUTTON FASTENING

2 ANGLED FRONT POCKETS WITH FLAP

3-BUTTON DETAIL TO ARM CUFFS

VERTICAL SEAM-PANEL DETAILING THROUGHOUT

FULLY LINED

HIP LENGTH

45% WOOL 55% RAYON

VERY EARLY / VINTAGE 'ZARA WOMAN'

COLOUR: ECRU / CREAM / IVORY