8 Essential Style Takeaways From The Royal Wedding

5.24.2018

Harry & Meghan's Official Wedding PhotosMeghan Markle and Prince Harry’s nuptials will surely go down in history as one of the most joyous royal weddings of all time. From the moment the adoring couple announced their engagement we knew it was going to be special, but when the big day came it exceeded our wildest expectations. It was a moving and inclusive celebration of the couple’s authentic selves. The dress, the flowers, the performers, that carriage ride: Meghan and Harry’s nuptials are a game-changer. At Elūm we wondered how we can incorporate the best of the couple’s classic yet informal style into planning our own weddings and celebrations so we’ve come up with eight essential style takeaways from Meghan & Harry’s big day.

Harry & Meghan's Wedding Invitations1.The invitations. Meghan and Harry’s wedding invitations are timeless and elegant, consisting of black cursive type on white cardstock with gilded edges and a gilded crest. Custom-printed in small batches, they perfectly combine the formal and informal. By declaring His Royal Highness will be married “with” Ms Meghan Markle—not “to”—they instantly confer freshness and relevance on this traditional English form. And proving they’re a thoroughly modern couple, Meghan and Harry broke with royal tradition by allowing guests to RSVP by email.

2. The engagement photos. I think we can all agree Meghan and Prince Harry blew it out of the water with their engagement photos. Meghan’s couture gown and movie star beauty were perfectly matched by her fiancee’s rugged good looks and on-point navy suit. What really holds our gaze though is the off-the-charts chemistry between the couple. Meghan and Harry have declared overly posed engagement photos, over. Dress well, pick a beautiful setting and then show us your true selves.

3. The flowers. Meghan’s florist Philippa Craddock decorated St.George’s Chapel at Windsor and also designed the bride’s bouquet. Festooning the chapel entrance with white roses, peonies and foxgloves, Craddock created a classic romantic backdrop for the couple’s first kiss. Meghan chose a simple bouquet of sweet pea and myrtle fastened with raw silk for her bouquet. The deal-changer here is that Harry handpicked some of the flowers in the bouquet from the couple’s private garden at Kensington Palace. This is a style note every couple can get behind: create unique intimate moments between you and your partner.

Meghan Markle Wedding Dress by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy4. Dress #1. Meghan’s wedding dress, designed by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy, is a masterclass in timeless elegance. Channeling Audrey Hepburn with its boatneck, clean lines and three-quarter sleeves, the dress provides a blueprint for reinventing a classic for a thoroughly modern bride. By choosing this simple but sumptuous design Meghan reminds us that our wedding gowns are immortalized in photographs, and borrowing too heavily from current trends can risk those photos dating quickly.

5. The service. Meghan and Prince Harry brought their A-Game to the ceremony emphasizing what weddings are all about: two individuals joining with one another to form a couple. By choosing multicultural performers and speakers from both the US and Great Britain, they created a joyful and moving celebration of who they are. We may never be married in a chapel owned by the Queen, but we can recreate the spirit of inclusiveness and authenticity championed by Meghan and Harry.

6. The reception. After the wedding the Queen hosted a lunchtime reception for the newly-minted couple, and what’s interesting to us is that it wasn’t a formal sit down affair. The Queen has been hosting weddings for over half a century so when Her Majesty decides a stand up reception is in order, we pay attention. It’s less stuffy than a sit down affair and encourages guests to mingle. Exquisite bites of food such as langoustine rolled in salmon accompanied by flutes of bubbly keep things delightfully festive. And no, we have it on good authority Her Majesty did not serve a full bar.

Meghan Markle evening reception gown by Stella McCartney7. The slippers. This is one detail we love here at Elūm. Meghan made sure her guests would be comfortable at the reception by providing fluffy ivory slippers for everyone who wanted to kick off their heels and relax. This sweet and charming gesture is one we can all learn from. In any celebration, the comfort of our guests should be our number one priority.

8. Dress #2. Meghan brought sexy back exactly when it was appropriate. This sashay-ready silk halter by Stella McCartney revealed Meghan’s swoon-worthy bare back. By saving her more daring, fashion-forward choice for the intimate evening reception, the world’s newest duchess showed us how to do traditional modern just right.

We can’t get enough of the royal wedding around here. What was your favorite part of the day?

RECEPTION AND EVENT DECOR  |  CUSTOM LETTERPRESS INVITATIONS

 

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