Harry and Meghan: Wedding Suggestions and Musings

[wbenson]

Anything is possible but my base assumption would be that everyone stays within the castle while going to the chapel. At Edward and Sophie's, I think all the main family except for the Queen, Queen Mother, and Duke of Edinburgh walked down the hill.

 

[Countessmeout]

No on the same route.

Westminster/Buckingham it is for practical purposes. The family has to travel that route to get to the church. There is really little way to avoid it.

Windsor the family will be staying at the palace. Well except those like Andrew and Edward with homes there of their own.No need to head out into Windsor and make a show of it, to get to the church. It is about the couple after all.

The route after the wedding is for the couple, and the couple alone. To ride together and have the people celebrate with them.

 

[Curryong]

I'm so happy that we have some more details of this wedding . It all sounds absolutely stunning. Just imagine the high points of this couple's day. A wedding in arguably the most beautiful of the Royal Chapels, wedding breakfast in the magnificent Waterloo Chamber and that to be followed by a dinner organised and hosted by Charles. Oh to be a fly on the wall!!

 

[Mbruno]

[-][/-]

Daily Mail is giving more details about the wedding. A map of the two mile procession route for the carriage ride. Archbishop of Cantebury is officiating for the vows. Kensington Palace is pushing for Barack and Michelle Obama to be invited. Donald Trump is confirmed not to be invited.

Whom would Kensington Palace be pushing for Barack and Michelle Obama to be invited ? If the wedding is just a "private event" as most posters here believe, then there is no point in "pushing" anybody; it suffices that Harry and Meghan make a personal decision to invite the Obamas. If, however, as I think, the guest list is subject to some level of vetting (by Clarence House, Buckingham Palace, or even the British government), then the need for some kind of "pushing" to have the Obamas invited would make sense.

 

[wbenson]

Regarding the procession, this map is my best guess as to what the route will be, based on what has been released so far. The solid yellow line is the route that Edward and Sophie took back in 1999, which comports with what was just released. The dotted yellow line with a question mark is a hypothetical shorter route from the chapel out into Castle Hill.

The magenta line is the path that I'd assume arriving family members will take.

The red lines across the assumed route are the castle gates. We haven't gotten any information about how the areas inside the gates will work this time, but in 1999, the area between the Chapel and the gate in Castle Hill was open to around 8,000 members of the public who applied for tickets in advance (similar to the Garter procession); the picture I found of the Long Walk that year shows no crowds in that area. In 2005, I have a fuzzy memory of the crowds inside the castle being associated with the Prince of Wales's charities.

 

[Pranter]

https://madaboutmeghan.blogspot.com/2018/02/royal-wedding-details-confirmed-wedding.html

This link has info and shows a (carriage ride) route for them.



LaRae

 

[wbenson]

That's two papers with the extra-long procession, then. I guess they might have a reason to expect that.

If so, it might be a good choice, as the route I was expecting really only gives about half a mile of narrow pavements/sidewalks for crowds to stand on.

 

[Rudolph]

In the press release it says there will be two receptions. An evening party hosted by Charles and one right after the wedding for members of the congregation.

Are we to assume the Queen isn’t hosting the earlier one?

 

[SapphireParure]

It is a shame The Chapel Royal, St James's Palace or Chapel Royal, Hampton Court are not seen as first choice for Royal Weddings?

 

[Pranter]

I understood it was the Queen hosting the first reception....I read that somewhere but may not be accurate.



LaRae

It is a shame The Chapel Royal, St James's Palace or Chapel Royal, Hampton Court are not seen as first choice for Royal Weddings?

How many guests can they hold?



LaRae

 

[wyevale]

How many guests can they hold?

Both are TINY.. i'd estimate 100 people MAX, they were intended as essentially private devotional Chapels for the Sovereign and his/her immediate Family,not for larger occasions of any size.

Add to that the heat and intrusion of Television lights [and the attendant discomfort caused to the participants] those two venues aren't feasible except for small, private ceremonies such as Christenings.

 

[wbenson]

How many guests can they hold?

The chapel at St. James's Palace is very small. Something like 50 seats.

 

[Pranter]

I suspected as much..hence the reason so rarely used for members of the BRF to marry.


LaRae

 

[csw]

I apologize if this has been answered already. Has there been an announcement whether the ceremony will be televised? Was Edward and Sophie's televised inside the chapel?

 

[wbenson]

I apologize if this has been answered already. Has there been an announcement whether the ceremony will be televised? Was Edward and Sophie's televised inside the chapel?

I don't think it's been announced, but I can't imagine that it won't be. Edward and Sophie's was, as was Charles and Camilla's blessing service.

 

[ACO]

I apologize if this has been answered already. Has there been an announcement whether the ceremony will be televised? Was Edward and Sophie's televised inside the chapel?

The royal reporters (also BBC, CNN, and most major news stations) have all confirmed that KP stated it will be televised. I am sure also streamed too.

And yes Edward's wedding was televised as well.

 

[Biri]

I am sure it will be; Harry is, after all, the son of the Heir.

 

[muriel]

It is a shame The Chapel Royal, St James's Palace or Chapel Royal, Hampton Court are not seen as first choice for Royal Weddings?

Apart from size, it is clear that St George's means a lot more to the family than the other chapels. Their link with Hampton Court is tenueus, at the Chapel at St James' is just not used that much.

 

[FashionMaven]

When Edward married, Charles, Andrew and Edward all walked down the street to the Chapel.
https://us.hellomagazine.com/images/stories/1/2016/06/16/000/191/381/gallery_5_3.jpg

I know - I'm hoping that doesn't happen. I want to see a long processional to build up suspense leading to the wedding.

That's one of my favorite parts of these royal weddings. The arrivals are everything.

 

[Osipi]

I'm among the crowd of people that want to see everything as well and have it be long and drawn out. The more we see, the better. This is going to be a beautiful wedding that is not to be missed.

Of course, the more I get to know Harry and Meghan as a couple, I think they would be perfectly happy marrying wherever. They'd be just as happy marrying in my backyard among the pine trees and with squirrels as attendants as they will be with this grand royal wedding. That's what is making this wedding so very special.

 

[Stefan]

The chapel at St. James's Palace is very small. Something like 50 seats.

And still the Wedding of a reigning Queen was held there. And the ione of a future King (George V.) too.

 

[Biri]

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert also married there.

 

[loonytick]

And still the Wedding of a reigning Queen was held there. And the ione of a future King (George V.) too.

The chapel at St. James was the primary venue for royal weddings for quite a long time, as I understand it. But they weren't big, public affairs then. Still, I love the idea of a modern royal wedding being there. Thanks to cameras they could conceivably both invite the whole world in and also limit the actual guest list to close friends and family.

I wouldn't say the BRF has a tenuous connection to the place these days, but it is used for private things rather than public ones. Diana laid in rest there, as I recall, and George's baptism was held there.

 

[FashionMaven]

No on the same route.

Westminster/Buckingham it is for practical purposes. The family has to travel that route to get to the church. There is really little way to avoid it.

Windsor the family will be staying at the palace. Well except those like Andrew and Edward with homes there of their own.No need to head out into Windsor and make a show of it, to get to the church. It is about the couple after all.

The route after the wedding is for the couple, and the couple alone. To ride together and have the people celebrate with them.

My hope is that they open the grounds up for people to cheer along the road ways even if Harry & Co walk and while Meghan rides to the chapel.

I don't see how they would have no one there for that part since folks are going to have to line up for hours and hours before the ceremony anyway.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but for me the most exciting parts of these royal weddings in my lifetime have always been the processional TO the church. Maybe it's just part of the awesome build up and excitement leading up to the wedding - but that part is just so awesome. We don't get that here in the US really and I've always been awed by it.

I think it's because we get to experience the last moments of their single lives and for Meghan, it will be seeing her experience the last moments of her normal, non-royal life and all of the awe, wonder and craziness of that moment. I just really wanted the chance to experience that with Meghan so to speak, just like we did with Kate. That's one of my favorite parts of Wil and Kate's wedding - seeing her in the car on the way to the Abbey... trying to get glimpses of her gown, etc... seeing the fans outside going nuts and cheering for no reason, lol.

I just love the spectacle of it all.

 

[Osipi]

And still the Wedding of a reigning Queen was held there. And the ione of a future King (George V.) too.

That was during an era too where they married pretty much in a very private ceremony with only close family attending. Marriages just weren't as much of a grand celebration as they are now. Especially with the development of radio and television broadcasts. Royal weddings became as much of a public event with great interest as any of the grand British traditions.

 

[FashionMaven]

Regarding the procession, this map is my best guess as to what the route will be, based on what has been released so far. The solid yellow line is the route that Edward and Sophie took back in 1999, which comports with what was just released. The dotted yellow line with a question mark is a hypothetical shorter route from the chapel out into Castle Hill.

The magenta line is the path that I'd assume arriving family members will take.

The red lines across the assumed route are the castle gates. We haven't gotten any information about how the areas inside the gates will work this time, but in 1999, the area between the Chapel and the gate in Castle Hill was open to around 8,000 members of the public who applied for tickets in advance (similar to the Garter procession); the picture I found of the Long Walk that year shows no crowds in that area. In 2005, I have a fuzzy memory of the crowds inside the castle being associated with the Prince of Wales's charities.

Thank you so much for drawing this out like that.

IIRC, didn't Sophie and HMQ take the route using The Long Walk in their cars on the way to the chapel? I remember there were a few fans along the Long Walk - or maybe it was just outside of the gates - waving at Sophie as she went by - but it was a miniscule number of people. Maybe they worked at WC and weren't general public?

 

[Stefan]

That was during an era too where they married pretty much in a very private ceremony with only close family attending. Marriages just weren't as much of a grand celebration as they are now. Especially with the development of radio and television broadcasts. Royal weddings became as much of a public event with great interest as any of the grand British traditions.

I know but several Weddings of Queen Victoria's children took palce at St. Georgs Chapel at Windsor which has much more space

 

[Osipi]

Then again, we can look back at Jane Seymour who married Henry VIII in the Queen's Closet at Whitehall Palace.

Can we imagine all the uproar and scratching of heads if Harry and Meghan had followed suit? I can see it now. A closet???? C'mon! This is a royal wedding!! A CLOSET?

 

[wyevale]

A CLOSET?

I bet you know that 'Closet' meant something rather different in the 16th Century, a Private room, but not necessarily TINY ! Henry 'had good reason' [having beheaded the previous incumbent just days before].

But I get your point, today even 'ordinary' weddings are expected to be impressive in scale, and Royal Weddings the more so !

 

[Princess Larisa]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but for me the most exciting parts of these royal weddings in my lifetime have always been the processional TO the church.
I just love the spectacle of it all.

Funny, this is my least favorite part of the whole thing.
My favorite is the bride walking up the aisle toward the groom and the exchange of the vows.