Society loves a wedding. The bride, the dress, the groom, the cake, the bridal carriage, and the footmen, and the tiara! The world has been watching with anticipation for the Royal Wedding of HRH Prince Harry, and Megan Markle, American actress and humanitarian. She is to become a member of the British royal family upon marriage to Prince Harry on May 19, 2018. The world will be watching as the love birds tie the knot at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.
If you don’t make Harry and Meghan’s guest list cut, that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate their nuptials in style. Exchange St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle for your own living room, a bottle of champagne, friends, and a front row seat for one of the events of the year. You can host a Royal Wedding Viewing Party that will rival the main event itself. And, it is way more convenient than making a trip over the pond.
Invitations
While your invitation to attend in person may not have arrived as you secretly dreamed, hosting a Royal Wedding Viewing Party is the next best thing. Below is a look at the official invitation. Simply envision your name beautifully written in calligraphy. You are picturing it now, it’s OK. Go ahead, print out the page and write your name on the dotted lines. You are right… it does look good.
Photograph courtesy of Buckingham Palace.
Venue
St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle is the site for the royal nuptials. There is much speculation on what the former Suits actress will be wearing as she walks down the aisle. What we do know is that St. George’s Chapel is stunning.
The chapel is a smaller venue that holds fewer people than other past sites of royal weddings. St. George’s Chapel only holds 800 people. Westminster Abbey holds 2,000 people, the site of Prince William and Katherine’s wedding in 2011. And, St. Pauls’s Cathedral has a capacity of 3,500, which was standing room only for the Wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana in 1981.
Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones were married in 1999 at St. George’s Chapel, as was Queen Elizabeth’s eldest grandson, Peter Phillips, who married Autumn Kelly at St. George’s Chapel in 2008. The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be one of two to be held at the chapel this year.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank will wed there on Oct. 12th, 2018.
Prince Harry and Meghan will marry at midday and at 1pm they will travel through Windsor in a carriage. For those of us on the US side of the pond in the eastern time zone, the wedding will begin at 7a.m.
The carriage procession will travel along a route including Castle Hill, High Street, Sheet Street, Kings Road, Albert Road, Long Walk and back to Windsor Castle. Harry and Meghan will then return to a luncheon reception, call a wedding breakfast, for guests at St George’s Hall.
In the evening, Prince Charles will also give a private evening reception for the couple, family and close friends.
Photograph courtesy of Getty Images.
Wedding Breakfast
It’s difficult to predict exactly what will be on the Royal Wedding Breakfast menu. Certainly it will be sophisticated with an innovative menu. Harry and Meghan are very well travelled, which should influence the cuisine on the menu. It has been well documented the couple’s favorite destination is Botswana so this could influence the offerings. And while a lot has been written in the past months about the couple requesting a banana flavor wedding cake. However, Food Network recently confirmed Markle and Prince Harry have commissioned Claire Ptak, owner of London-based Violet Bakery, to make a lemon elderflower cake with buttercream frosting and decorated with fresh flowers for their big day.
Prince Harry and Meghan wedding will be a special occasion. Everyone loves a royal wedding, and while many of us will not be able to see the royal wedding menu firsthand or taste the food that’s on offer, it’s hard not to feel that excitement kick up a notch just reading through the details of what could be served.
Host a Royal Wedding Watch Party
Over the next few weeks, Kimball Kensington Lifestyle will share with you in a series of posts covering how to host your very own Royal Wedding Viewing Party. Your first assignment is to pull together a list of guests to include. The Kimball Kensington party will include mothers and children. Invite your guests, and determine the arrival time. And while it will be an early morning, it is worth it to watch a wedding that will be in the history books.
Celebrate with us!
