Friday 29 April 2011

London Yesterday, Home and a Wedding Today

Sorry for the delay since my last post, it's been all go here after Easter and I haven't quite finished my dress - normal service will be resumed next week!

As if you didn't know, today was an important day for us here in the UK and yesterday my sister and I were lucky enough to be in London for a full day.  A day we planned back in September last year, before the announcement was made, and one we wanted to keep.

We decided to hit Regent Street and Liberty in particular.  Wow, did Regent Street look great! 

Regent Street, flags, buses and taxis!



Liberty of London


Liberty window display

The window displays were not only good, but very clever.  7 For All Mankind had a wedding dress and tails displayed all made from white and black jeans, but you didn't  realise it until you took a very close look.  Liberty had the back end of an old mini filled with wedding presents, Gola had a Union Jack made out of red, white and blue trainers and there were so many others....

The main purpose of our trip was to see the new musical, The Wizard of Oz.  It was BRILLIANT and I thoroughly recommend it to everyone.  A tad scary in places for children, but that's what theatre is all about - imagination!

We went to the evening performance so didn't arrive home until 1.15 this morning, so today was just about watching the Royal Wedding, eating some of our newly purchased hand-made chocolates and talking about very important wedding related girly things (my sister married two years ago).  The boys organised a bbq and we've had a lovely couple of days.



Here's a few photo's from the Wedding which I particularly like:  I've avoided discussion re the dress - everyone else is doing that!

Hello!

Oh dear Mr Beckham - shouldn't that OBE be worn on the left?
You look very, very nice Mrs B, but those shoes - ouch!

A few moments alone on the 300yard drive to Clarence House

We Brits do major events so well - here's the Mall before the crowds
were allowed down.
And here are some interesting facts:

The bride's earrings were a wedding day gift from her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton.  The earrings were the bride's "something new". For her "something blue", a blue ribbon was sewn into the interior of her dress, while her "something old" was the traditional Carrickmacross craftsmanship used to create the bridal gown.
Made by Cartier in 1936, the tiara was purchased by the Queen's father, the Duke of York (later King George VI) for his Duchess (later Queen Elizabeth and 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 her 18th birthday.
The bride's bouquet was a shield-shaped wired bouquet of myrtle, lily-of-the-valley, sweet William and hyacinth. It was designed by Shane Connolly.
Maid of Honour Philippa Middleton's dress was also designed and created by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen. A heavy, ivory satin-based crepe, it had a a cowl front with the same button detail and lace trims as the bride's dress.
The four young bridesmaids' dresses were designed by childrenswear designer Nicki Macfarlane and hand-made by Ms Macfarlane and her daughter Charlotte Macfarlane at their homes in Wiltshire and Kent -

these dresses were a nod to Diana as her bridesmaids wore very similar dresses

The mother-of-the bride Carole Middleton wore a sky blue silk dress with short pleated sleeves and pleated pockets by Catherine Walker - a favourite designer of Princess Diana.  Over that Mrs Middleton had a sky-blue wool crepe coatdress. Her hat was by Berkshire-based Jane Corbett. (ERM, NO, she is based in Wiltshire!)
The groom's stepmother, the Duchess of Cornwall, wore a champagne silk dress with matching duck egg blue and champagne hand-embroidered coat, both by the designer Anna Valentine.

Stunning. 
The two young women look elegant, posed, polished not to mention beautiful!

Oh and, of course, I couldn't go into Liberty without making a fabric purchase - more later!

2 comments:

Debi said...

fabulous! Glad you were in London...can't wait to hear about your liberty of london purchase ;)

sew vala said...

tedious link, i have been asked to make a dennis the mennis jumper by my man, he had one as a much younger punk, made by a friend, who later on worked on the veil for princess Diana.
i did say tedious....