hitched.co.uk looks back to the 1940’s as the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 62 years of marriage
Glamorous wedding dresses, grooms in their service uniforms and vintage style bouquets all sound familiar when looking back at weddings that took place 60 odd years ago. As the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 62 years of marriage this week, hitched.co.uk explores royal marriage celebrations and wedding trends from the 1940's.
Ration cards meant that food was limited for any wedding party, and in July 1940 there was even a ban on the creation and sale of iced cakes. Sounds very different to the average £20,000 budget and endless choices that we have when it comes to wedding planning today.
The Queen wore a silk, A-line gown on November 20th, 1947 designed by Norman Hartnell. The ivory gown was embroidered with crystals and 10,000 seed pearls was followed by a 13 foot train. A V-neck style front with long sleeves was quite traditional in the 1940's where as today brides-to-be have endless choices when it comes to making that all important decision on their wedding dress. White or ivory, halter neck or sweetheart, mermaid, ballgown, silk, chiffon, every style for every bride is available today. Princess Diana donned a £9000 wedding dress in 1981 designed by David Emanuel. The taffeta and antique lace gown was followed by a 25ft long train and was hand embroidered with sequins and 100,000 pearls. And in June 99' Sophie Rhys Jones had 325,000 cut-glass and pearl beads sewn onto her ivory silk and organza dress coat which was designed by Samantha Shaw. The wedding dress has always been one of the most important decisions that a bride makes during her wedding planning and a large portion of the wedding budget is usually set aside for this once in a life time gown.
1940's wedding receptions were filled with music from the likes of Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald to name a few. Vintage style wedding cars were the norm, and are still available from various wedding transportation providers today.
If you are looking for wedding inspiration, a wedding dress, wedding planning advice, a wedding car or a DJ in your area head to hitched.co.uk.
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