Prince William and Catherine Middleton: Church Service - April 29, 2011


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I have a strange question. The only time I have seen such young bridesmaids and attendants are at royal weddings. Is it an English thing? Or a Royal thing?

Most weddings I've been to, or been in, have a maid of honor and best man, as well as 2-3 bridesmaids and groomsmen who are friends/family of the bride and groom, and almost always over 18. The couple might include a "jr" bridesmaid in an effort to include a teenage family member, and it is common to have a flower girl and ring bearer that is a bit younger, but they would be the only young member of the bridal party. Here it seems the bridal party is mostly small children, and one "adult". Is that common?
 
MellyG said:
I have a strange question. The only time I have seen such young bridesmaids and attendants are at royal weddings. Is it an English thing? Or a Royal thing?

Most weddings I've been to, or been in, have a maid of honor and best man, as well as 2-3 bridesmaids and groomsmen who are friends/family of the bride and groom, and almost always over 18. The couple might include a "jr" bridesmaid in an effort to include a teenage family member, and it is common to have a flower girl and ring bearer that is a bit younger, but they would be the only young member of the bridal party. Here it seems the bridal party is mostly small children, and one "adult". Is that common?
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I think it's very common in the UK. Usually there's no maid of honour, and bridesmaids are usually young.
 
Mariana Pazza said:
For me, Lady Kitty Spencer and her sisters Lady Eliza and Lady Amelia Spencer were the most beautiful girls in royal Wedding, except Kate, of course, cause that was HER day! Wills and Kate: !

Lady Kitty Spencer arriving the Abbey:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gPs45XHYGn0/Tb7Tfg67w5I/AAAAAAAAANo/v7xOwPz2XtA/s1600/Lady-Kitty-Spencer-Royal-Wedding2.jpg
Lady Kitty Spencer (details of the best hat of the day):
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fF3pJ5CIWk0/Tb7STZyETcI/AAAAAAAAANk/SsknQcbeI_M/s1600/Lady-Kitty-Spencer-Royal-Wedding1.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/04/29/article-1381892-0BD310FB00000578-794_634x444.jpg
Lady Kitty Spencer and the incredible Lady Eliza and Amelia Spencer waiting for the ceremony:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9v5yzIIZZCA/Tb7VQLF6v-I/AAAAAAAAANs/5NoOLf5LPMk/s1600/Lady-Kitty-Spencer-Royal-Wedding3.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/04/29/article-1381892-0BD4D53500000578-435_634x433.jpg
Lady Kitty Spencer showing the most perfect profile of this world:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r1feJxsV3dI/Tb8H5RaozBI/AAAAAAAAANw/Ifd6xkukmhw/s1600/Lady-Kitty-Spencer-Royal-Wedding4.jpg

Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp is turning in a handsome young man, considering his picture in Westminster Abbey above, and the pic below:
http://img19.imageshack.us/i/113277762.jpg/
Another pic of Lady Amelia Spencer:
http://img200.imageshack.us/i/113277759.jpg/
Simply stunning!
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That's the girl I was talking about! Lady Kitty Spencer. I thought her hat was the best in the entire church. I agree they were the prettiest girls there.

So are they Diana's nieces ?
 
CrownPrincess5 said:
That's the girl I was talking about! Lady Kitty Spencer. I thought her hat was the best in the entire church. I agree they were the prettiest girls there.

So are they Diana's nieces ?
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Yes, they are Earl Spencer's (Diana's brother) daughters
 
KittyAtlanta said:
I think this occurred while a hymn was being sung and the cameras were on Elton John for the ninth time in 10 minutes.
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It was VERY annoying, wasn't it? I watched the BBC coverage because frankly the American commentators talk too much, and display an almost embarrassing naivete and lack of knowledge regarding European royalty, history, traditions, etc.

The BBC got it just right, but the obsession with Sir Elton and his partner David Furnish was a major disappointment...I was left scratching my head and wonder how and when the bride had turned her veil back from her face. :bang:

Mariana Pazza, thank your for the photo of young Viscount Spencer...it's the first photo I have seen of him and I was beginning to wonder if he was even at the wedding!

The Three Graces(the Spencer girls) are indeed stunning, but I was surprised at how tight and....inappropriate their dresses were in church....
 
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snowhite said:
I think it's very common in the UK. Usually there's no maid of honour, and bridesmaids are usually young.
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I'd say it's entirely dependent on the individuals involved: their preferences, and the ages represented in their friends and family. Often the sister/s of the bride and/or groom may be attendants, as well as close friends.

I was a bridesmaid twice as a child, and both times there were several adult bridesmaids and several little girls. No pageboys though (there may not have been any suitable little boys in the families at the time).
 
The Spencer girls are truly gorgeous, just wish their dresses had been one or two sizes larger. No matter how lovely or nice the figure I do not find that attractive. Unfortunately it looks very cheap. It must be the style these days as I see many young women in clothes that are just too small.
 
The Spencer girls don't stand out for me. They look just like your typical privileged blonde south africans. You see girls that look like them everywhere. Louis Spencer is quite handsome though.
 
about the whole wedding, i was really excited, but somewhat i wasnt expecting for it to be like Victoria's. but it was nice to see a great wedding of the heir of the heir.


I don´t think it was like the CP of Sweden´s wedding! Just think of the pre-wedding events in Stockholm, the trip in the royal boat after the ceremony, the dresses, jewllery etc. etc.
I think Will. and Kates wedding was o.k. - but for royal standards nothing spectacular. What was special about it was the public interest because this was a wedding in the world´s best known royal family. But I liked the scandinavian weddings or the dutch wedding much more.
I was also surprised about the way the bridal couple communicated with each other! Knowing the prince as a very down-to-earth and relaxed person I really expected him to show his feelings more clearly! Just remember the affectionate kisses of the Prince of Orange to Máxima on the balcony, CP Frederik of Denmark weeping for joy and excitement as his bride approached the altar, both CP Haakon and Princess Victoria hardly able to resist petting and touching their respective spouses during the day!

Don´t get me wrong: I liked the british wedding - but this was not the wedding of the decade, it wasrather the media coverage of the decade/ century.
 
We must remember that the British do things differently.

To them it was all about the church service and the rest of it was extra.

William and Kate are more reserved than some people and frankly I think they were very affectionate within a church setting.

The other royal weddings were more showy but that is because they are celebrities and putting on a show for the public that just happened to be a wedding.

To the British this was about two people committing to each other and two people who would have preferred to do this in a small church somewhere - even the way the Abbey was set up allowed for that small family affair to be there as most of the people in the Abbey had to watch the ceremony on TV or they wouldn't have seen anything.

I much preferred the British way of doing things as they have tried not to buy into the celebrity circus side of the royal wedding thing that the Scandinavians did. At times with those weddings I couldn't tell the difference between a concert and a wedding ceremony. With this one it was easy to tell that this was a church service of two people getting married.
 
wartenberg7 said:
about the whole wedding, i was really excited, but somewhat i wasnt expecting for it to be like Victoria's. but it was nice to see a great wedding of the heir of the heir.


I don´t think it was like the CP of Sweden´s wedding! Just think of the pre-wedding events in Stockholm, the trip in the royal boat after the ceremony, the dresses, jewllery etc. etc.
I think Will. and Kates wedding was o.k. - but for royal standards nothing spectacular. What was special about it was the public interest because this was a wedding in the world´s best known royal family. But I liked the scandinavian weddings or the dutch wedding much more.
I was also surprised about the way the bridal couple communicated with each other! Knowing the prince as a very down-to-earth and relaxed person I really expected him to show his feelings more clearly! Just remember the affectionate kisses of the Prince of Orange to Máxima on the balcony, CP Frederik of Denmark weeping for joy and excitement as his bride approached the altar, both CP Haakon and Princess Victoria hardly able to resist petting and touching their respective spouses during the day!

Don´t get me wrong: I liked the british wedding - but this was not the wedding of the decade, it wasrather the media coverage of the decade/ century.
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William and Catherine don't do PDA. Meaning, they're not going to sit there and basically fondle one another, or coo at one another, or make kissy-faces at one another, or do any of that stuff. That's not in their nature, it's not in their personalities. The balcony kiss, while tradition now, I'm sure was very hard for them since making out in public isn't exactly something they've ever been keen on doing.

They aren't other people. They are themselves. I don't understand this need to want their wedding to be just like all the other royal weddings we've seen or talked about.
 
Sister Morphine said:
William and Catherine don't do PDA. Meaning, they're not going to sit there and basically fondle one another, or coo at one another, or make kissy-faces at one another, or do any of that stuff. That's not in their nature, it's not in their personalities. The balcony kiss, while tradition now, I'm sure was very hard for them since making out in public isn't exactly something they've ever been keen on doing.

They aren't other people. They are themselves. I don't understand this need to want their wedding to be just like all the other royal weddings we've seen or talked about.
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Well said!

If I were to be honest, I prefer William and Catherine's conduct to that of let's say, Victoria and Daniel. While it's great to see that two people are in love, it's a bit awkward to watch them engage in some sort of display of affection. I'm a believer that less is more, and to me, William and Catherine come off as more genuine with less exuberance in terms of PDAs.
 
What did Victoria and Daniel do to make people so disgusted with their behavior? Good gracious, I don't remember them fondling each other! I do remember them giving each other a loving glance...I don't see how that could be too much.
 
I was tahter impressed with the way Kate handled the whole day. She seemed a little nervoous which was understandable, but she never lost her coole, was poised and elegant the whole way through. I loved how William told her she was beautiful when she came down the aisle.

And did anyone else love that Harry looked over his shoulder all micheveously and handsome and then smiled as he whispered to his brother? I thought that was such a great moment. A few seconds later Wills looks over his shoullder too! It was such a a great day. I'll be watching this a few times over the next months. Perfect -pre-birthday present.

Now I'm off to go celebrate cino de mayo and the b-day. Wish me a happy recovery fro the alcoholic beverages I intend to drink. LOL
 
CrownPrincess5 said:
What did Victoria and Daniel do to make people so disgusted with their behavior? Good gracious, I don't remember them fondling each other! I do remember them giving each other a loving glance...I don't see how that could be too much.
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If you can get through a soap opera, the Titanic or any movie these days then one should be able to handle the chasteness that was CP Victoria and the Duke as far as I'm concerned. I thought it was refreshing and wonderful for their personalities and country. I liked the Swedish wedding because they include the people who, after all, pay a portion of the service (don't they?) as they are still considered heads of state. Why not let them in on a public reception and have a private one later? I mean if I'm footing a portion of the bill with no physical invite, shouldn't I be able to at least watch from my own home? It's a grand occasion and they had concerts and all kinds of things for the public to be involived in stead of just watching on the day of.

However, that's the Continent. This is Britain! And personally, I do not hold the rules of one country to another, for that's perposterous in itself and a little ethnocentric. In Egland PDA is not that big of thing anyway. I'm not say it's not done, especially with the younger crowd, but I've never seen people my age (@27) or older making out all willy nilly in the streets of London or in Sheffield where some of my family is from. The fact that they did a double kiss was satisfying enough for me and gave me lots of thrills! It was so sweet that they came out of themselves and let the public enjoy their affection just for a few seconds.

However, I don't think we need to villify or say that other royal weddings are just for show. In a way they are all for show, as none of them really need to have all the pomp and circumstance that they do. It's just tradition. And people like tradition believe it or not. I'm all for it. I like the idea of celebrating-hopefully-the continuity of a monarchy, that will keep us royal watching for years to come.

And finally it's a cultural thing for sure. In India, people have three day wedding events which includes "celebrity" like attentions paid the bride and groom. it's more about the community joining in and bringing a new family into the fold. Different strokes for different folks, but if I ever get married, I''m incoporating a bunch of cultural traditions so I can be gaudy all around.
 
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Photo at Countess of Burma and Lady Hicks? We was attending at royal wedding or not? Countess Patricia of Mountbatten and Lady Hicks is cousin at Prince Philip? Photo at family Mountbatten? Lady Sarah and Lady Janes children was attending and photo?
 
For god's sake why must one be better then another? Each couple's wedding day was different and unique in it's own way. And really who cares if one couple showed more affection then the other as long as deep down inside and away from the cameras the 2 of them are happy and truly love each other then that's all that really matters. I know this is a message board and we're allowed to discuss different opinions but really some of this is getting ridiculous.
 
Some people liked Victorias wedding, some people liked Williams wedding. Not everyone can agree on what we like in a wedding. I don't see any issue. And I haven't read anyone say that one wedding has to be better than the other? Each to their own I say. No need to get stressed over peoples opinions.
 
I'm not it's just and not just on this board but other boards too so many people said they were let down no emotion was shown bla bla I just kinda feel like people are forgetting the carriage ride and balcony appearance where they looked so happy so many people seem to be focusing on their actions in church and it may just be me but I've been raised that while in church we don't talk we don't make goo goo eyes nothing we're just very solemn which what the Duke and Duchess did. Also there were many instances when they looked over at each other and smiled or whispered something or William helped Kate with her dress or just whatever so it's not like they were totally lifeless. My god I understand if they were bored at parts heck even I sometimes get bored during church.
 
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Jose said:
Photo at Countess of Burma and Lady Hicks? We was attending at royal wedding or not? Countess Patricia of Mountbatten and Lady Hicks is cousin at Prince Philip? Photo at family Mountbatten? Lady Sarah and Lady Janes children was attending and photo?
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Jose, the Countess Patricia and Lady Pamela were invited, but I could not find a photo of either of them at the wedding.

I don't know about Lady Sarah and Lady Jane's children.
 
Exactly! IMO the fact we got 2 kisses shocked me to the core cause William is so so not fond of showing PDA in public
 
ah, that wedding. So beautiful!!! I wish I could have been there but I had to watch it in TV.;) Wills and Kate, I wish you the best for the future. Diana would have been thrilled and proud. The wedding dress was dreamy.
 
They might not show PDA. But during the ceremony at church they made a lot glances at each other like they were talking with their eyes. You can sense they knew what they were saying to each other without them saying anything which i thought was so cute.

When you have couples like that, they have found their soulmate. Kate is William's soul mate and William is Kate's soulmate.
 
swe3t23 said:
They might not show PDA. But during the ceremony at church they made a lot glances at each other like they were talking with their eyes. You can sense they knew what they were saying to each other without them saying anything which i thought was so cute.

When you have couples like that, they have found their soulmate. Kate is William's soul mate and William is Kate's soulmate.
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Your post made me think of a song by Alison Krause called 'When You Say Nothing At All'. I'd post the lyrics, but really don't want to do a thread-nap.

So, on that note, carry on.
 
This particular thread is so annoying. You can't post your opinions without someone biting your head off. I love the fact that we all have different opinions. That shows how unique humanity is.

Some people liked Will and Kate's wedding and some didn't. Some people people liked the Swedish wedding more. Some people didn't think the British wedding was that grand. Let's not make everything a big deal. Opinions are just opinions.
 
I wasn't saying you can't have your opinion, you can I was more or less venting my frustration in what I've read from various boards. It's just I enjoyed both weddings equally for me they were both different yet beautiful in their own way which is what I was trying to express in my post but must have worded incorrectly in the midst of my frustration.
 
Ghost Night: I'm not personally targeting you. I'm just saying in general people in this thread can't seem to let others have there opinion.
 
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