Three of the Best Royal Wedding Dresses You've Never Heard of
- Monet Brewerton-Palmer
- Sep 8, 2024
- 3 min read
I love Princess Diana and Grace Kelly’s wedding dresses as much as anyone, but there are so many other royal wedding dresses you can turn to for inspiration for your bridal look. Here are three of my favorites.
Lady Sarah Chatto (nee Armstrong-Jones), 1994
Sarah Armstrong-Jones, the daughter of Princess Margaret*, married artist/actor Daniel Chatto in July 1994. Sarah had served as one of Diana’s bridesmaids, bearing one-third of the responsibility for Diana’s record-breaking 25-foot-long train, at Diana and Charles’s July 1981 wedding.
*For those not addicted to The Crown, Margaret was Queen Elizabeth's sister.
For her own wedding 13 years later, Sarah chose an understated, elegant wedding dress by British designer Jasper Conran. The gown was constructed from silk georgette and silk chiffon, and it featured a heavily ruched bodice, a Basque waist, and delicate long chiffon sleeves. Sarah completed her bridal look with the Snowdon tiara and a simple cathedral-length veil.
Sarah’s bridesmaids wore coordinating ivory floor-length dresses with lace-up backs, also by Jasper Conran. (Contrary to popular belief, white bridesmaids dresses have been A Thing for a very long time.)
Many historians of bridal fashion consider Sarah Chatto’s bridal gown to be one of the most beautiful royal wedding dresses of all time. It’s not difficult to see why. It was a truly lovely choice, and it feels surprisingly fresh and modern even thirty years later.
Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, 2002
Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti married the Prince of Orange, future King of the Netherlands, in February 2002. In the months leading up to her wedding, Maxima was spotted in Valentino’s atelier, leading to speculation that Valentino was designing her dress. The rumors turned out to be true.
Maxima’s stunning Valentino wedding dress was constructed of dense silk mikado, and it featured an empire waist, cowl neck, panels of embroidered lace, and a 16-foot train.
Her veil was the showpiece of her bridal look. It was as long as the dress itself. The veil was constructed from point d’esprit (in layman’s terms, polka dot) tulle, and it was embroidered by hand with tendril and flower motifs. I haven't been able to locate a precise accounting of the number of hours that went into embroidering the veil, but a figure in the thousands wouldn't be surprising, given the level of detail.
If this doesn't convince you to wear a veil, I don't know what will.
Mary Donaldson to Danish Crown Prince Frederick (2004)
Mary Donaldson selected a hometown girl, Danish designer Uffe Frank, to create her gown for her wedding to Danish Crown Prince Frederik in 2004. Her bridal ensemble was very thoughtful, containing many sentimental and heirloom elements.
The main body of the dress was constructed of silk duchesse satin. It contained eight panels of heirloom Irish lace that had originally been a gift to Frederik’s great-grandmother, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden. The lace adorned the underlayer of the skirt.
Mary had her mother’s engagement ring sewn into the lining over the heart of her dress. Her mother had passed away seven years earlier.
Mary's detachable train was nearly 20 feet long.
Thoughts?
Both Mary and Maxima were criticized for being too conservative in their bridal attire, but I think they are lovely. With a few exceptions, it’s not as if royals are known for their avant-garde bridal looks. In fact, a surprising number of royals have chosen the exact same neckline for their wedding dresses (as I'll discuss in a later post).
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