Crown Prince Haakon of Norway & Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby: 25 August 2001


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Wow!! Thank's so very, very much Alexandria:)
 
Thanks Alexandria! I love her bouquet (sp?), its so different and unique and i love the colour! So many royal brides have mainly white bouquets.
 
Alexandria, thanks a lot for the wonderful pictures!
 
It is so nice to re-live this fairy tale wedding.
Thank you Alexandria for bring it back again.

Regards.
 
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You're very welcome everybody! :) I'm glad that everyone has enjoyed them!

I absolutely fell in love with the pictures, too, when I saw them! (My book is going to have to be laminated so that I don't damage it when I drool all over it!)

I have to say that while I like Mette-Marit a lot, I never cared for her dress. I thought it was too plain and simple (surprising since I prefer plain and simple), especially for a Crown Princess. I pictured a more grand gown for Mette-Marit, something more along the line of what Maxima or Mary wore. And while I admire the historical reasons and inspiration for Mette-Marit's gown, I can't say that I liked it any better.

... But then I saw the Silkehuset pictures Larzen posted and I started to look at it in a new light, and the pictures from this book confirmed it. Mette-Marit's dress, while not grand in the way Maxima's was with its strong presence of a full skirt and regal quality, is grand in its simplicity and the dreamy quality of it. You can see in some of the pictures from Silkehuset and the ones from Det Kongelige Bryllup that the dress (especially the train) has a floating, surreal, cloud-like quality to it. Rather fitting I think, particularly in Mette-Marit's case, who was the ultimate fantasy bride in that she went from working as a waitress and raising a son alone to being a royal bride.
 
hippiesheep said:
Oh.My.God.
Has there ever been a more beautiful bride?
I don't think so.
Thank you for these wonderful pictures!
You are so right, I think MM beauty is in her simplicity, and that she doesn't put on airs and graces. At first I really couldn't understand why th CP fell for her, yet over the years it has been evident.:)
 
I have to say that while I like Mette-Marit a lot, I never cared for her dress. I thought it was too plain and simple (surprising since I prefer plain and simple), especially for a Crown Princess. I pictured a more grand gown for Mette-Marit, something more along the line of what Maxima or Mary wore. And while I admire the historical reasons and inspiration for Mette-Marit's gown, I can't say that I liked it any better.


Alexandria, maybe you can tell me, what were the historical reasons and inspiration for Mette-Marit's gown? Whatever they were, the gown was fantastic, a stroke of genius.
 
Smilla said:
Alexandria, maybe you can tell me, what were the historical reasons and inspiration for Mette-Marit's gown? Whatever they were, the gown was fantastic, a stroke of genius.

The inspiration for Mette-Marit's wedding dress came from Queen Maud of Norway's daily wear and evening gowns.
 
any backstage photos of any other royal wedding?

the dress was absolutely marvellous. i'm not a big fan of the front part but the back and train are gorgeous. it looks as if flowing....
 
I have to agree with some of the posters regarding MM's dress.

At first I didn't like it, but as time goes by I adore the dress. It's classic yet simple -- not over the top; this dress will stand the test of time unlike some of the dresses when have seen of late and in the past. In other word, MM's dress won't look dated nor ostentatious.
 
I wish I coudl have seen the wedding. I wonder is there a way I can.
 
Alexandria said:
You're very welcome everybody! :) I'm glad that everyone has enjoyed them!

I absolutely fell in love with the pictures, too, when I saw them! (My book is going to have to be laminated so that I don't damage it when I drool all over it!)

I have to say that while I like Mette-Marit a lot, I never cared for her dress. I thought it was too plain and simple (surprising since I prefer plain and simple), especially for a Crown Princess. I pictured a more grand gown for Mette-Marit, something more along the line of what Maxima or Mary wore. And while I admire the historical reasons and inspiration for Mette-Marit's gown, I can't say that I liked it any better.

... But then I saw the Silkehuset pictures Larzen posted and I started to look at it in a new light, and the pictures from this book confirmed it. Mette-Marit's dress, while not grand in the way Maxima's was with its strong presence of a full skirt and regal quality, is grand in its simplicity and the dreamy quality of it. You can see in some of the pictures from Silkehuset and the ones from Det Kongelige Bryllup that the dress (especially the train) has a floating, surreal, cloud-like quality to it. Rather fitting I think, particularly in Mette-Marit's case, who was the ultimate fantasy bride in that she went from working as a waitress and raising a son alone to being a royal bride.
Thank you very much for all of the beautiful photos you have posted. I felt the same way about the dress too. At first I didn't like it very much. It was plain and well, I thought it was ugly. :eek: But after looking at more photos and learning more about Mette-Marit, I started to like it more and more and realised it suited her personality. As you said, it was dreamy and simple, but not too simple. Actually, sometimes when I look at it I think of jellyfish in the water. I know that sounds strange but they're creatures that float around so gracefully and elegantly. (I hope this isn't taken as an offence to her dress.) It's just a beautiful gown and M-M was an equally beautiful bride.
 
Wonderful pictures, Alexandria!

I have actually always really liked her dress. I liked how original it was. I agree that I'm not sure if it's "princessy" enough, but if I saw it on a bride here, I would love it. I don't think I've ever seen any photos that show close up the train or the bottom of her dress. It's very pretty.

I must say, I do not like her bouquet at all and never have. I love the colors in it, but it just looks like a big long vine to me that was pulled off of someone's trellis. I was looking at one of the pictures and you could see it up close, and now I really don't like it. She wins points for originality though. :)
 
THANK YOU for the great new pictures.

I have always liked MM's dress, but not the bouquet. Close-up it is ok, but from a distance it looks strange, I think like an eel. Perhaps how it would appear to most people (from far away, on tv, etc.) wasn't thought out too well. The lack of beauty in her bouquet is made up by her physical beauty and lovely gown, though.
 
I read a comment somewhere (think it was Dagbladet, where people can write in their own opinions on strange stuff and win CDs...) that said: I loved Mette-Marit's wedding gown, but why did she feel the need to carry that old washing-mop around with her.

Personally I wasn't too fond of the bouquet at first, but the more I look at it, close, the more I like it. I don't think I'd choose something like that, though.
 
The bouquet is very unusual, that's true. But it makes sense in a way as it accentuates the vertical lines: that's what the gown does, too. It makes Mette-Marit appear very tall and "willowy". I wish I could wear a gown like that and not look like a dumpling in disguise!
 
Thanks for the new pics Alexandria! It was some nice decorations.:rolleyes:
 
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Mette-Marit with whom I presume are the designers and seamstress of her wedding dress. (I can't read Norwegian, so it's only a guess. A clarification would be much appreciated!)
The dark haired woman is Wenche Djønne Koch who did her hair and makeup, the blond woman I belive is the Queens seemstress Anna Bratland who did help Finseth saw the dress, and the man is the designer Ove Harder Finseth, you can see if the names correspond with the book


One of the formal portraits.

Now this portrait is much better than the official one they chose and released too the press in which Haakon looks a little sick and is just overly posed, this is much nicer IMO

Thanks for the beautiful pictures Alexandria

A sketch of the wedding dress I saved long time ago and cant remember the source:confused:
 

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from NRK

Mette-Marit with Eva Sannum, then-time girlfriend of Felipe:
 
More pictures of the wedding:
NRK
1. With Kjell Magngne Bondevik (I think he is Norways Primeminister now)
2. The King and Queen durring the wedding
 

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LaMinka said:
from NRK

Mette-Marit with Eva Sannum, then-time girlfriend of Felipe:

I wonder what Eva Sannum thought when she talket to MM. Something along the lines of "This could be me in a couple of years' time" or "Phew, I'm sooo glad I don't have to become a princess yet". Must have been a weird situation.
 
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I completely agree with you all about the dress. My first thoughts had been, "how plain" when I saw pictures, but the cloud like quality everyone's alluding to is absolutely true and now I see that too.

What's also interesting is the sketch of the dress. The dress came out <exactly> looking like the image on the sketch!! So what, you might say.

Well, look at the sketch of CP MAry's gown (sorry I can't find a pic at the moment). On that sketch, Mary's gown looked quite beautiful and classy and timeless. But the real-life result was....decidedly mixed I think, or in any case, <not> as gorgeous as it had looked on the sketch! (at least not in the pictures I've seen).

But Mette Marit's sketch of the dress and the real-life version of the dress are one and the same, I am soo impressed!
 
This is the interview that Haakon and Mette-Marit did right after their wedding and which was in the official book about their wedding “Det Kongelige Bryllup” which Alexandria has bought and scanned the Norwegian pages for me to translate. It is not word by word, and to make it easier for me I have written Q from Question from the interviewer Frederik Skavland and MM and H for Haakon and Mette-Marit, although the actual text is not written this way but like a whole text. Skavland has edited the interview so not everything that they said are in this finished interview, he is also the “voice” of the interview when there are not actual questions and answer. I have also left out some smal parts which I did not manage to translate properly

Since it was quite a lot of text to translate I would appreciate if it was not posted elsewhere.

We were not better than that we shared another exotic Mette-Marit rumour where we stood, one Friday night a couple of months before the wedding. Someone had a colleague who had a brother whose friend had met Mette-Marit at a get together sometimes in the 90s, but suddenly she was in the room. She was surrounded by the couple’s friends, but he was not there, she stood be the stairs in a striped top. However the clientele at this coffee shop was not the kind who stared, not even if she had worn a crown.

With what I thought was a good excuse I went over to her to tell her that NRK (Norwegian broadcasting channel) had asked me to lead the national broadcast of the wedding, she did not seem to impressed so to give her something to think about I asked in proper “royal reporter mode” if Ms Høiby was looking forward to the wedding. Then she looked at me and smiled broadly and said. “About the TV coverage in church; please no close ups, because I will cry, I have put my foot down and will not have a camera in my face during the church ceremony”

After the wedding

Q: But close-ups it was?

MM: Yes. It was a strange day, quite the opposite of expected. Everyone had told me that I would get some distance to it all, but I had decided that this day I would be myself, relax and take all in. And there was close ups

She smiles, its one month since the wedding and there is a calmness resting over the palace. We are in her office, the Crown Prince couple, one of their staff and me. As always when royals are being interviewed, every word has to be tough trough. The honey moon is over, they are at work now. She is wearing a simple buttoned dress; he has grown a beard and wears a velvet suit and a couple of cuff links you have to be born to wear

At the table there is a tray with cookies, the CP continues.

H: the camera was so far away that it did not disturb my experience of the wedding that was the main point of course. But we did go over it many times with the camera team about such things I have to say. One goal with the day was that we would be present in the moment, and that went surprisingly well. What you often do is you plan for the next step the whole time, “then this will happen, and so will that happen and so on….” And then you have to do A and then B. We decided at on the day we would let all the capable people around us take care of when A and B was going to happen, because there were a lot of big impressions to take in that day.

MM: On Friday I was not sure of the program at the palace on Saturday, it would not have helped me, there was already enough in my head

H: But the strongest memory from that day now when we look back is the kindness of all the people who turned up to share our day.

He never speaks without thinking, he even scratched his beard and often starts his sentences with “it is obvious that “ (Det er klart at…)

H: It is obvious that when we came out of church and drove up to the palace, it was extremely nice that so many people were lining the streets to share in our wedding day. And in the evening the thousands of candles outside the palace, I don’t know how it looked on TV but from the balcony it was overwhelming, I believe that and the fireworks was the highlight of the day for Marius.

MM Yes, but he was very tired at the end of the day. He had geared himself up a lot for church but the fireworks of course were very special for a 4 year old.

H: The CPss and I had much of our attention directed other places that day, but he did liven up when the fireworks started.

The meeting at the palace is a continuing of the TV interview I did at Skaugum two moths earlier. It was one of the warmest days in July and we were supposed to record the interview in two parts, on at the terrace and one in the garden. I suggested that it maybe it would be better if we removed our jackets. The Crown Prince did not think that was a good idea. He had imagined we could take it of when we went for a walk in the gardens; it was in every way a warm interview. We talked about the first meeting, that they did not really remember, about parents-in-law, children, step children cooking, good conversations tiny arguing and dancing. In the break after an hour it the baking sun while we were waiting for the cameraman to get on good terms with his camera again, I again brought up the jacket, but the crown Prince had decided we would just keep it on ….

Q: Last time we met you told me that the ceremony in church was the most important, did it live up to your expectations.

H: Yes of course, we could perhaps talk true it from the beginning to the end?

What he really means is that he wants to thank his way trough the whole wedding and everyone involved, and the whole public register for that matter. Every loophole in the conversation the couple uses to direct a warm thank you to someone like the amazing florists, everyone in the church, the incredible staff at the palace and everyone of the thousands from the public that turned up that day, and not to forget the government for its wonderful dinner at Akershus, and who was in charge of the amazing fireworks? They know it is not good reading and they know I will not use it, but they feel like they have to say it, maybe because they really mean it?
To be continued
 
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We said before that the actual wedding and what happened in church was what we used most time on in the preparation and we were very happy that Jan Garbarek (ME: Played saxophone during the ceremony and when they walked out) and Mari Boine (Sang a sami song) would take part. Together with the music that was composed specially for the wedding it gave the ceremonial part an extra dimension. It was so many that helped make the wedding a good experience for us and everyone who watched it at TV.

H: We are very thankful.


But it all started with the press conference the Wednesday before the wedding, if we are going to start with A. over 50 journalists from Norway and abroad was gathered and drank Farris (sparkling water) and chocolate in the Palace ball room. Everyone had a note with a thought out question about if the dress fit, if they wanted children or if they were planning to go to Finland anytime soon (Me: and a lot of other very stupid and trivial questions.) In front of them sat the Crown Prince and the Bride to be with a silk pillow behind their backs, she also had a note, she wanted to talk about her past.

MM: The press conference was the most nervous moment for me; it was the difficult part about the wedding. Afterwards I thought that when I managed to give that opening in front of that crowd the rest of the wedding would be easy. So at the actual wedding day I was very calm, especially compared to everyone who helped me to get dressed, and did my hair and makeup, but I felt very calm, very relaxed and I read the paper and ate a little. I was over the difficult part, but I do believe the Crown Prince was a little nervous (ME: in a documentary about the staff that worked with the wedding one of the staff said Haakon spent the last hours with his best man CP Frederik and they walked around in their uniform pants and shirts and looked at some of the gifts they had received)

H: Yes I was nervous, I think it is useful because you pull you self together when it really counts, but even if this was a very special day it was not that much different than some other occasions I have attended.

Q: The bishop gave a speech where he talks about starting with clean sheets, it seemed like the CPss words at the press conference and the bishop’s speech almost was synchronized?

MM: It might seem like that, like it was planned but it was not.

Q: It could seem like after the press conference you could both lower your shoulders

H: It was good for us talk a little about MMs life in a interview at NRK in 2000, and that she also said a little about it that Wednesday, it felt right, and we could meet these days with true happiness, everything fell into place.

Like a speechless choir the press witnessed that Ms Høiby open the door to her past life a little just to lock it seconds later. The reaction at the moment was stunned, then they were moved, and in the end they were impressed.

Q: But the press conference also opened for a new terminology in the media, meaning that the journalists started to look in to what this past really was. Was it a calculate risk?

H: For us it felt like the right time to do it before the wedding

More elaborate answers comes when they talk about the speeches

Q: How did the Cpss experience the groom’s speech?

MM: I was already in trouble after the Kings speech, when I look at the video now it is easy for me to interperate my feelings, already in church you can see me lower lip shivering, and when we came here after the Kings speech it was a little to much. During my mother’s speech and the Haakons I really just wanted to sit under the table and cry in private, it was very emotional, and it was how I felt it, really you want to keep on to, it was a strong speech, stronger than I imagined it would be.

H: there were a lot of other good speeches also, it was especially nice that your mother stood up and gave a speech in an audience so much bigger than what she is used to

Q: Can the Crown Prince tell anything about the work with the speech

H: Do you mean if I wrote it myself, he laughs

If I work with a material it takes time to write it out, I let the thought go trough my head and then I write down something here and there with pencil, I think better with pencil than PC, When I first started writing it took my not much more than half an hour [….]

We talk about the wedding waltz
H&MM: what do you think, did we do well?


Skavland: Surly, it was more than cute

MM: I think we did well, in such a context the bridal waltz does not seem that important

H: It did last longer than we had planned, it was our fault we had not given the band the right message, but someone could have entered the floor and helped us out, we danced and danced and the guests just stood there and smiled

I ask them about the getaway from the royal yacht, they don’t want to say much about it, not about their honey moon either

Q: Now you are in the peculiar situation that you never have to take your own vacation pictures since there is other that does ha for you, but on their trip even the paparazzi had little to send home

H: We did hope to have a honeymoon where we could relax and not relate to the media and we are happy we succeeded

Q: Was it well planned?

H: I think the thing is not to plan too much, and then you leave to many clues behind you.

MM: The first two days after the wedding we where very tired and overwhelmed, I do remember the royal yacht but not where it sailed precisely, It was wonderful to come home and be able to talk trough everything with our friends and family, we just left in the middle of the night

Q: In the Norwegian memory the Gulf War and King Olav’s death happened about the same time in 1991, and in 2001 We had a royal wedding and terror attack on NY, and as everyone felt worried about their friends in USA, there was also public concern for you who was in US at the time, how was the security around you.

H: That is a question for the police but we were far from the World Trade Centre, it is not about us but about the people who were affected

MM: We called Norway at once because the last our family had heard from us we were in NY, and then there was the plane trip home, my brother who is a captain in SAS came and flew home with us which I’m thankful for.

[...]

Q: Do you ever wake up and think about the extraordinary situation you are in?

MM Well of course, yesterday I was sitting on the sofa and thought about everything that has happened, but I guess you adapt to your life

H: I think it is natural to have those thoughts now right after the wedding. I think we dare say it was a soul marking experience (terrible translation that last word)
 
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wow. thanks for the translation! I never thought I'd actually be able to read this!
 
Larzen, I love the words "soul-marking experience". Even if it's not used in English (I haven't got a clue how to express it differently), it's an expression that ought to exist - it's great!

...and thank you for translating the interview! :)
 
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princess olga said:
I completely agree with you all about the dress. My first thoughts had been, "how plain" when I saw pictures, but the cloud like quality everyone's alluding to is absolutely true and now I see that too.

What's also interesting is the sketch of the dress. The dress came out <exactly> looking like the image on the sketch!! So what, you might say.

Well, look at the sketch of CP MAry's gown (sorry I can't find a pic at the moment). On that sketch, Mary's gown looked quite beautiful and classy and timeless. But the real-life result was....decidedly mixed I think, or in any case, <not> as gorgeous as it had looked on the sketch! (at least not in the pictures I've seen).

But Mette Marit's sketch of the dress and the real-life version of the dress are one and the same, I am soo impressed!

i agree. mary's sketch was far better than the actual wedding dress. i think it was the lower part the one that didn't look good. the hairdo wasn't the best one either: that middle line didn't look good in my opinion.

mette marit was definetely one of the loveliest royal brides. at first i didn't like her dress at all: thought it wasn't enough for a queen to be. however, the more i see new pics i just can look at it with a big opened mouth and think for myself 'i want one of those for my big day!'. it looked timeless and that's the most important thing in a wedding dress. not only timeless but classy and elegant.
however, i have always liked the bouquet. it was original...
 
the sketch of her bridal bouquet also looked very different from the finished product.
 
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