Prince William and Catherine Middleton: Evening Wedding Reception - April 29, 2011


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Do we know what time the foegien royals ended up ging back to their hotels?
 
Do we know what time the foegien royals ended up ging back to their hotels?

I would imagine not too much longer after William and Kate left in the Aston Martin from the palace to rest for a while before the evening reception. I don't think the majority of the foreign royals were invited to the evening reception as that was primarily for friends and family of the bride and groom.
 
Has it already been noted that not even distant members of the BRF were invited to the evening reception? For example, Prince/ss Michael and their children were at the Greek party instead of the evening reception.
 
I have read an article about Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie dancing alone at the evening party because they were not allowed to bring dates...but Pippa Middleton was allowed to bring her boyfriend Alex Loudon??

I find that rather sad and unfair...for crying out loud they are William's FIRST COUSINS...and Royal princesses to boot!:ermm:

Does anyone have any info on who made this decision and why?
 
I think Kate is a beautiful girl but I am always stunned by people's comments that Pippa is the better looking of the two. Pippa is more cute than beautiful, but the dress she wore at the wedding was gorgeous. I liked both of Kate's gowns, I'd accept both of them graciously if she offered. :D
I prefer Pippa's wedding gown to her evening gown; and I think Beatrice and Eugenie are growing to be beautiful women.
 
I think Kate is a beautiful girl but I am always stunned by people's comments that Pippa is the better looking of the two. Pippa is more cute than beautiful, but the dress she wore at the wedding was gorgeous. I liked both of Kate's gowns, I'd accept both of them graciously if she offered. :D
I prefer Pippa's wedding gown to her evening gown; and I think Beatrice and Eugenie are growing to be beautiful women.

I think if you put Kate and Pippa on either side of the mother, you see where the looks come from. There's a bit of the dad in both of them too when you look for it but they both resemble their mom a lot.

What is funny is.. the more fuss that was made about Beatrice's hat and the more pictures that have come out over the past few weeks, the more I look at it, the more I realize I was laughing at the hat so hard that I totally ignored the outfit. The hat and the outfit do go together.. but not in a million years would I have worn it.

I didn't like the angora sweater at all with Kate's evening gown. A pashima shawl or even a lace shawl I think would have been better. the sweater she did wear kinda looked to me like an "oops.. wasn't supposed to put that in the dryer eh?"
 
I think Kate is a beautiful girl but I am always stunned by people's comments that Pippa is the better looking of the two. Pippa is more cute than beautiful, but the dress she wore at the wedding was gorgeous. I liked both of Kate's gowns, I'd accept both of them graciously if she offered. :D
I prefer Pippa's wedding gown to her evening gown; and I think Beatrice and Eugenie are growing to be beautiful women.

I am not among those who think Pippa is beautiful. I think she is cute, with a great figure.

Catherine is very pretty of course, and she CAN look beautiful on occasion(her wedding day) but she is not my idea of truly beautiful either.
 
I thought it was embarrasing that foreign Royals were given some canapes and champagne and then more or less told to beat it at 4.00pm. Whenever the Europeans have a wedding their guests are always treated much better than that enjoying dinner and dancing into the night. I also thought ferrying them to the church in mini buses wasn't exactly classy either. It mystifies me when I hear people saying that Britain does these kinds of events better than anyone else. It dosn't anymore, if you really want to see a spectacle you can't beat the European Royal Families.
 
I thought it was embarrasing that foreign Royals were given some canapes and champagne and then more or less told to beat it at 4.00pm. Whenever the Europeans have a wedding their guests are always treated much better than that enjoying dinner and dancing into the night. I also thought ferrying them to the church in mini buses wasn't exactly classy either. It mystifies me when I hear people saying that Britain does these kinds of events better than anyone else. It dosn't anymore, if you really want to see a spectacle you can't beat the European Royal Families.

1. Are you aware that Prince William is the heir to the heir, right? therefore to compared his wedding w/ CPs couple is invalid.
2. I remember buses being used at Victoria and Daniel' wedding.
3. Aren't England, Scotland, Wales and NI in Europe?

Not only other Royals Houses arrived by bus, Princess Anne and Prince Edward, The Kents, The Gloucester also did. No doubt it would look marvelous to see all of them arriving each by car, but, take into account the money spend. remember, Britain is going trough a recession right now and anything they could do to save a few, they did.
 
I thought it was embarrasing that foreign Royals were given some canapes and champagne and then more or less told to beat it at 4.00pm. Whenever the Europeans have a wedding their guests are always treated much better than that enjoying dinner and dancing into the night. I also thought ferrying them to the church in mini buses wasn't exactly classy either. It mystifies me when I hear people saying that Britain does these kinds of events better than anyone else. It dosn't anymore, if you really want to see a spectacle you can't beat the European Royal Families.

The European royal families are certainly more lavish in their spending when it comes to royal weddings than the British. Also, most European weddings seem to take place later in the day, and lead on to dinner / dance tiara events.

This was a tricky wedding to organise. Firstly, the groom is not the heir to the throne, but in the direct line of succession. Secondly, there is also a pretty severe economic climate, and the government is slashing its spending very aggressively. Thirdly, the couple are probably not close to any of the European royals, and were keen on having a smaller, more intimate dinner-dance celebration with their close friends and family. Fourthly, the couple had to include people from the dipmotic corps, the government and opposition and charitable interests in the celebration.

In view of all these conflicting pressures, I thought the compromise solution was quite a good one. It is a pity the European royals never got to spend much time with the couple, but the Queen did host a nice dinner for them the evening before the wedding at the Mandarin Oriental and invited all the extended royal family there.

The Queen has always been very cconscience of public opinion, and never has very public displays of her wealth, or celebrations with other royals. She rarely attends events held by other European royals, and will rarely be seen in much jewellery unless really required.
 
If we are already comparing let's not forget the pressure the BRF has to take. Sorry, but no other Royal House has that kind of scrutinize and attention that they have to deal with.
if you do need the Hollywood feeling, the Monaco' wedding is just around the corner. There I'm sure people won't moan about the money expand and you will have all your hopes fulfilled.
 
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I thought it was embarrasing that foreign Royals were given some canapes and champagne and then more or less told to beat it at 4.00pm. Whenever the Europeans have a wedding their guests are always treated much better than that enjoying dinner and dancing into the night. I also thought ferrying them to the church in mini buses wasn't exactly classy either. It mystifies me when I hear people saying that Britain does these kinds of events better than anyone else. It dosn't anymore, if you really want to see a spectacle you can't beat the European Royal Families.


It seems to be 'par-for-the-course' traditionally for the BRF not to entertain all their guests to receptions! At the wedding breakfast [as it was known] for The Prince and Princess of Wales [ a sit-down meal, not the buffet style reception that William and Catherine had] only a very few guests were present.

As for the use of minibuses, I am sure that it was a deliberate decision to avoid the impression of spending too much money. Something that I keep on having to remind myself is that whilst there are many, many British people who love, admire and respect the RF, in these recessionary times, it would help fuel the animosity of the 'antis' to have too much of a lavish display. The security cost of the wedding - which did have to be picked up by the British Taxpayer - was £30m. Apart from the fact that minibuses do not look 'too lavish', at least if you have royal guests travelling together, even that cuts down on the cost as well.

With regard to the fact that some guests were not allowed to bring their 'dates', it was actually pretty settled practice at ALL royal events in the past that so far as the BRF is concerned, 'dates' have no status. Generally, the classic BRF rule is that until a formal engagement has been announced, your 'other half' is not relevent. [One very classic example is the Royal Family's 'Church Parade' each Sunday - particularly during holidays at Sandringham and Windsor. If certain young members of the family have their significant other back at the Castle etc, the S.O. by custom and practice always remains 'back at base' unseen during the service]

Certainly things have been changing very much with William and Catherine, as the latter was certainly enjoying a pre-engagement 'level of acceptability' previously unknown with royal 'other halves', but even then, there were still various occasions when protocol was adhered to: think back to William's graduation from Sandhurst - Catherine and her parents were there as guests of William, but even then, it was not deemed proper for any the Middleton family [not even Catherine] to meet the Queen, who was also present....

Hope some of this helps,

Alex
 
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As others have stated, William is not the heir, he is the heir's heir because it seems this family now has the fountain of youth in their blood and they don't bow out until they reach the triple digits. At first I was upset about the guest list, but then I realized that this isnt the same event like in 198_(what yr was it again?):ermm: Anyway, it is somewhere between CnD's wedding and AnS's wedding in 1986.
 
Oops my comment was intended merely to highlight that the evening reception was limited to very close family and friends.

The Duke and Duchess of ....(I forget but will look it up when I get home) welcomed the foreign royals with a lunch party attended by government members. That night they attended a fancy party. The next day they were seated in a place of honor at the Abbey (better seats than the PM). They were also transported back to BP for a reception from which even celeb guests were excluded. Honestly, how were the foreign royals mistreated and snubbed by the BRF?? I'm missing something.
 
I thought it was embarrasing that foreign Royals were given some canapes and champagne and then more or less told to beat it at 4.00pm. Whenever the Europeans have a wedding their guests are always treated much better than that enjoying dinner and dancing into the night. I also thought ferrying them to the church in mini buses wasn't exactly classy either. It mystifies me when I hear people saying that Britain does these kinds of events better than anyone else. It dosn't anymore, if you really want to see a spectacle you can't beat the European Royal Families.


I was embarrassed for them as well...if they could pay all that $$ to lug TREES into Westminster Abbey, couldn't they have used the money to properly transport their Royal guests instead??

I am certain everyone was very gracious about it(except the Prince of Wales who straight up REFUSED to travel that way and I can't say I blame him!)

And why were poor Beatrice and Eugenie not allowed to bring dates, and forced to dance alone...while several other guests (cough* PIPPA! cough) were escorted??

The ceremony itself was beautiful, and the bride was a dream. But I would not say that overall it was one of the more impressive Royal weddings of the last decade or so.
 
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I seem to recall buses being used in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. In Stockholm buses were used the night of the concert but on the wedding day guests walked to the Church.
 
I was embarrassed for them as well...if they could pay all that $$ to lug TREES into Westminster Abbey, couldn't they have used the money to properly transport their Royal guests instead??

I am certain everyone was very gracious about it(except the Prince of Wales who straight up REFUSED to travel that way and I can't say I blame him!)

And why were poor Beatrice and Eugenie not allowed to bring dates, and forced to dance alone...while several other guests (cough* PIPPA! cough) were escorted??

The ceremony itself was beautiful, and the bride was a dream. But I would not say that overall it was one of the more impressive Royal weddings of the last decade or so.

I really do not see any problem in the use of coaches to transport royals to and from the wedding. These were private coaches used exclusively to transport members of the BRF and other foreign royals - its not as if they were expected to hot foot it to HydePark Corner and get the number 19 bus!
 
I think we have to look at it from the foreign royals guests' point of view. You get an invitation to a wedding and see that you are invited to the ceremony and afterwards to a lunch-time buffet. You are advised on modes of transport etc and being royal you simply accept the situation graciously and enjoy the day. It's not a big deal if you are a royal because a wedding is just as much an official engagement representing your country as it is a wedding. Being royal, you don't complain about not being invited to the evening event and if you were really bothered about arriving by rolls-royce, you get your palace staff to make the necessary arrangements.

Although we shouldn't compare one wedding against another, I have to say that I thought Victoria and Daniel's wedding was the best one especially in terms of the reception. Drinks on the sunny palace terrace waiting for the couple to arrive by barge, then dinner, dancing and cake! I'd have loved it!!
 
I think we have to look at it from the foreign royals guests' point of view. You get an invitation to a wedding and see that you are invited to the ceremony and afterwards to a lunch-time buffet. You are advised on modes of transport etc and being royal you simply accept the situation graciously and enjoy the day. It's not a big deal if you are a royal because a wedding is just as much an official engagement representing your country as it is a wedding. Being royal, you don't complain about not being invited to the evening event and if you were really bothered about arriving by rolls-royce, you get your palace staff to make the necessary arrangements.

Lets also not forget, HM herself did not attend the party in the evening.


Although we shouldn't compare one wedding against another, I have to say that I thought Victoria and Daniel's wedding was the best one especially in terms of the reception. Drinks on the sunny palace terrace waiting for the couple to arrive by barge, then dinner, dancing and cake! I'd have loved it!!

V&D did have a lovely wedding, and I am sure all the invitees had a wonderful time. That said, we just do not do things in that grand a style here in the UK.
 
I don't think that William being the heir to the heir had anything to do with it or the recession. If I'm not mistaken it's a worldwide recession but it didn't stop the Swedes. Plus it's not just about the transport etc, there is a reluctance within the BRF IMO to mix with the European Royals and become friendly with them in the same way that those other Royal families are friendly with each other.
 
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well angela, if it's true that's a very unwise attitude for the BRF to have, imo.

For sure, their Monarchy is one of the oldest and most secure but these are VERY republican times we are living in, and things can change almost overnight.

Just ask the Royal Families of Nepal and Iran. :sad:

The way I see it, all the Royals of the 21st century are in the same boat...with their subjects questioning their relevancy more than ever.
 
I still think the big deal was that William isn't the sovereigns son but the sovereigns grandson. If Victoria did it better (isn't she first in line?) then good for her. It's about time other royal houses get some attention.
 
I really wish they filmed this! I wonder what Harry said in his speech!

Sigh,why does the BRF have to do most events in private!
 
Of course, his speech probably would have been different had it been for public consumption.
 
If you missed seeing the menu from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding when it was available back in February, it's just been put up on the "Woman's Day" facebook page.
 
Isn't the menu on auction somewhere? I thought I read it today! Maybe it has something to do with that!
 
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