Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress

Specific details regarding Kate Middleton's wedding dress have been kept under tight wraps…until now.

While the soon-to-be-newlywed has managed to keep her dress design a secret, London's Daily Mail is reporting she designed the gown herself, drawing on the fashions of the Renaissance period for inspiration.

So, what will the highly anticipated design look like?

The reportedly ivory, satin and lace frock will include a "nod" to the Emanuel wedding dress donned by Prince William's mother, Princess Diana, along with pearl button detail and a 10-foot-train, according to the newspaper.

Libelula label creator Sophie Cranston, who has dressed the likes of Emma Watson and Jerry Hall, is reported to be the designer who turned Middleton's designs into her dream wedding gown.

As for her jewelry, the 29-year-old fashionista will likely wear pearl and diamond earrings, and other borrowed jewelry from Queen Elizabeth.

Source: eonline.com

Royal Wedding Souvenirs

Details of Ceremonnial Timing of Royal Wedding

Ceremonial Timings

The following timings have been confirmed for the Wedding Day:

Between 8.15am and 9.45am: The general congregation will arrive at the Great North Door of Westminster Abbey.

From 9.50am: Governors-General and Prime Ministers of Realm Countries,the Diplomatic Corps, and other distinguished guests arrive at the Abbey.

10.10am The Bridegroom and Prince Henry of Wales leave Clarence House for Westminster Abbey. They arrive at the Abbey at 10.15am.

10.20am Members of Foreign Royal Families arrive at Westminster Abbey from Buckingham Palace.

Titles Upon Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton

There is only one case of the oldest surviving son of the Prince of Wales marrying before his father succeeded to the throne: the future George V who married Mary of Teck in 1893. He had already been created Duke of York a year earlier, shortly after the death of his older brother brought him directly in line of succession to the throne.

In recent years, several royal princes who did not already have a title were given one upon marriage, including Prince Andrew, who was created Duke of York when he married in 1986. In a break with precedent Prince Edward was created Earl of Wessex; at the same time it was announced that he will be given the title Duke of Edinburgh when that title, currently held by his father, reverts to the Crown.

The Royal Wedding Rings

Middleton will have a wedding ring, which will be made from Welsh gold. Since 1923, it is a tradition in the royal family to use Welsh gold for the wedding ring of the bride. This ring will be made from a small amount of gold that has been kept in the royal vaults since it was originally presented to Queen Elizabeth II. It was once mined from the Clogau Gold Mine in the Welsh mountains, not far away from Anglesey, where the couple live. The Clogau Gold Mine has been closed since the previous century.

Other royals such as Queen Elizabeth II wear wedding rings made from that gold. The Queen has "given a piece of the gold that has been in the family for many years to Prince William as a gift," a palace source says. An expert craftsman, unnamed by the palace but likely to be the Crown Jeweller Harry Collins, has been tasked with fashioning the nugget into a piece for Middleton.

Unlike Middleton, Prince William will not wear a wedding ring. He will not receive a ring from Middleton when the pair exchange vows during the wedding. The prince expressed his wish that only the bride's ring be presented on the day. Married males who stay ringless are not uncommon in royal families. For example, Prince Philip does not wear a wedding ring. Prince Charles wore his wedding ring on the 4th finger of his left hand under his signet ring when he was married to Diana, Princess of Wales, and with his current marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, his wedding ring is under the signet ring on his 4th finger of his left hand as well.

Royal Wedding Souvenir

Broadcast of The Royal Wedding

It has been estimated that the wedding will be watched on television and Internet streaming by some two billion people. ITV have picked Julie Etchingham and Philip Schofield for their coverage. On the day of the wedding Daybreak will be broascast from outside Buckingham Palace. BBC coverage will be hosted by Huw Edwards. CNN is to dispatch a crew of 125 to cover the ceremony.

In the United States, which in the Eastern Time Zone is five hours behind British Summer Time, the wedding will occur within the time usually taken up by network breakfast television programmes. NBC will fold in coverage of the wedding into a special seven-hour edition of Today hosted by that programme's presenters, which will start at 4 am Eastern Time on the 29th and will be carried live across all time zones, and will use footage from ITV, which partners with NBC for UK news coverage.

Official Residence of Prince William and Princess-to-be Kate After The Royal Wedding

Her Majesty The Queen has invited Prince William and Kate Middleton to share Buckingham Palace with her, as their official London residence, to ensure that the Royal couple have a safe and private place to stay after they are married.

If Prince William and Kate Middleton accept the offer they will have a large self-contained section within Buckingham Palace.

Prince Charles has also offered to let William and Kate renovate one of his apartments at St James’s Palace in London.

Royal Wedding Cars and Carriages

Prince William and Catherine Middleton will travel separately to their wedding service using State Cars from the Royal Mews.

Prince William will travel in a Bentley, accompanied by Prince Harry and Catherine will travel in a Rolls Royce, accompanied by her father. Members of the Royal Family and the Middleton family will travel to Westminster Abbey in cars and motor coaches organised by the Royal Mews.

After their wedding service William and Catherine will travel in the 1902 State Landau from Westminster Abbey, along the Processional Route, to Buckingham Palace. In the event of wet weather, the couple will travel in The Glass Coach.

Guest Lists of the Royal Wedding

On 16 and 17 February, three sets of guest lists were sent out in the name of the Queen. As William is not the heir apparent, protocol has dictated that many guests (or their successors in office) who were invited to the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer in 1981 need not be invited to William's wedding.

More than half of the guests will be family and friends of the couple, though there will be a significant number of Commonwealth leaders

Reception and Private of The Royal Wedding

The Queen will host a lunchtime reception at Buckingham Palace. The reception will start after the arrival carriage with the married couple. It will be a private gathering for guests drawn from the congregation who will represent the couple’s official and private lives. During the Reception, the couple will give an appearance on the Buckingham Palace Balcony. The East front of the palace contains this well-known balcony on which the Royal Family traditionally congregate to greet crowds outside. Guests will be served with canapés at the Reception. The Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales, the well-known Claire Jones, will perform at the reception. The Reception is expected to finish in the mid-afternoon.

In the evening, The Prince of Wales will give a private dinner, followed by dancing, at Buckingham Palace for the couple and their close friends and family.

Wedding Service Plans ForThe Royal Wedding

St James's Palace announced on 5 January that the ceremony is to start at 11:00 and that Middleton will arrive at the abbey by car rather than by carriage, which is the traditional transport for royal brides. The planned route is along The Mall, through the Horse Guards Parade and down Whitehall to the abbey. After the ceremony, the bridal couple will return along the same route by carriage to a reception hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The Prince of Wales is to host a private dinner that evening.

More On The Royal Wedding of Will and Kate

The wedding of Prince William of Wales and Kate Middleton is scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey on 29 April 2011. Prince William, who is second in the line of succession to Queen Elizabeth II, first met Middleton in 2001, while he and Middleton were studying at the University of St Andrews. Their engagement, on 20 October 2010, was announced on 16 November 2010. After the wedding, the couple intends to continue residing on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, where Prince William is based as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot.

Engagement and Wedding Made Public

On 16 November 2010 it was announced by Clarence House that William and Middleton are to marry. On 23 November 2010, after much speculation, it was announced the wedding will take place on 29 April 2011 in Westminster Abbey, London and will be a bank holiday in the UK. The engagement ring given to Middleton was the 18 carat sapphire engagement ring of Diana, Princess of Wales. Clarence House, the official residence of Charles and his sons William and Harry, announced on the same day that the couple became engaged in Kenya in October, a fact that Prince William confirmed in a widely circulated television interview beamed from London.

Middleton was formally introduced to public life by William on 24 February 2011, some two and a half months before the wedding when she and William attended a lifeboat naming ceremony in Trearddur, North Wales.

Relationship Between William and Kate

During his years in university, William participated in typical university life, going to bars and socialising with his friends; of himself he said: "I'm not a party animal, despite what some people might think." Like his father before him, William's private life became the subject of tabloid speculation and gossip, especially around his relationship with Kate Middleton, who had been one of William's university flatmates and whom William began dating in 2003.
Middleton attended the Prince's passing-out parade at Sandhurst, marking the first high-profile event that she attended as William's guest. The relationship between Prince William and Middleton was followed so closely that bookmakers took bets on the possibility of a Royal Wedding and the retail chain Woolworths produced memorabilia bearing the likenesses of the two.
Media attention became so intense that William had to make a specific request to the paparazzi that they keep their distance from Middleton and him. In March 2007, Middleton complained of media harassment by the Daily Mirror. It was reported in April 2007 that the couple had split, though in June, Middleton attended a party at Lulworth Army Barracks as the guest of Prince William, and in July the Concert for Diana, which had been organised by Princes William and Harry.
In August, she accompanied William on holiday in the island of Des Roches in the Seychelles, and in October she joined Prince Charles and Prince Harry for a shooting party at Balmoral. In June 2008, along with the Royal Family, Middleton attended William's investiture into the Order of the Garter.

On 19 October 2010, on a trip to Kenya, the 28-year-old prince proposed to Middleton at Lewa game reserve, a favourite spot for Prince William.

The Bride- Catherine Elizabeth Middleton

Catherine Elizabeth "Kate" Middleton (born 9 January 1982) is the fiancée of Prince William of Wales. Their wedding is to take place on 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey with the day declared a bank holiday in the UK. Middleton grew up in Chapel Row at Bucklebury, Berkshire, and after attending Marlborough College, studied at the University of St Andrews, where she met Prince William in 2001. They started a relationship, followed by media attention, triggering complaints by Middleton that the media were harassing her. In April 2007, the press reported that William and Middleton had split up.

They continued to be friends and later in 2007 they reunited. Since then, Middleton has attended many high-profile royal events. She has been admired for her fashion sense and has been placed on numerous "best dressed" lists. Since her relationship with Prince William began, Middleton has received widespread media attention and there was much speculation that they would eventually marry. On 16 November 2010, the office of the Prince of Wales at Clarence House announced their engagement. The date and location of the wedding were announced one week later.

The Prince and His Sport

William plays polo for charitable causes and is a fan of football, supporting Aston Villa F.C. In May 2006, he became President of England's Football Association and vice royal patron of the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) in February 2007 (supporting the Queen as patron of the WRU). The same year, the WRU's decision to name a new cup for test matches between Wales and South Africa the Prince William Cup caused controversy, with some believing it would have been more fitting to name the trophy after Ray Gravell.

Also in 2006, the Prince, along with other Sandhurst officers, took part in running one mile to support the charity Sport Relief, as he had done in 2004 with a team from Clarence House. In May 2007, William became patron of the English Schools' Swimming Association.

William is a noted follower of various packs of foxhounds throughout England and Wales, including the Duke of Beaufort's Hunt, with his father and brother since he was a very young child.