For those who don't know, royal wedding dresses are beautiful, and they never fail to impress — even the ones that don't leave us all starry-eyed and gasping in wonder. We love them, but a big part of the reason why goes beyond our favorite gowns' luxurious fabric, impressive tailoring, or delicate, modern design.
Many royal wedding dresses go beyond looks — way beyond. Brides often make sure that they are as meaningful and symbolic as they are memorable. They use wedding dresses to communicate love, respect, admiration, and a sense of belonging to the public, to the monarch, and to their grooms. For those born outside of royalty, they pay homage to their own families, as well as the royal one they're about to join. They pay tribute to their own love stories — and why not? It's why everyone is gathered in the church in the first place!
Royal brides didn't always do this. There was a time when wedding gowns simply served to communicate money and power. They were just expensive dresses dyed in expensive colors and decorated to the max. In fact, in the 1800s, one British princess was so weighed down with sparking jewels that she couldn't walk in her dress and had to be carried into the church. No inspiring symbolism there.
But then one queen changed all that (read on to find out who she was!), and the rest have followed suit with a few (boring) exceptions. Nowadays, symbolism is imbued in many royal wedding gowns, whether it's done subtly or overtly. In fact, once we're done openly gawking at a just-revealed wedding dress, we're scrutinizing it on TV, or in pictures to find the meaning behind the silk. We expect it now, and royal families know that and play it up with post-wedding fact sheets and press releases.
So which royal brides and which royal wedding dresses have done a particularly great job of communicating symbolism and meaning? Here are nine that immediately come to mind. We think these ladies did a great job, and we still admire what they had to say through their gorgeous gowns.
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Princess Eugenie
Leave it to fashion-forward Princess Eugenie to find a way to create a wedding dress with a ballgown feel but an extremely modern cut. She did just that in picking Peter Pilotto to design the dress for her big day. It was impeccably fitted and so flattering and simple, but with a generous and beautiful train. It was perfect with her stunning emerald and diamond tiara, which blew away both Kate and Meghan's head accessories.
Showing Off Her Battle Scar
When we saw the pictures and video from Princess Eugenie's wedding, we immediately noticed that she was wearing no veil at all, something else that set her apart from Meghan — who chose a long veil, and Kate, who chose a shortish one. That was purposeful, as was the V-cut of the back of her dress. Both were meant to show off Eugenie's back-long scar she got when she had surgery for scoliosis.
Kate Middleton
Kate and her team managed to keep her wedding dress designer and details a secret right up to the wedding day. When Kate Middleton stepped out of the car with her father, we were told that the designer was Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, and we were wowed at its mix of tradition and modernity — and its simplicity despite the expert tailoring and rigorous architecture.
It was one for the ages.
A Tribute to the UK
The delicate and intricate embroidery on Kate's glorious dress was definitely not random. The bodice was adorned with roses, daffodils, thistles, and shamrock — the national flowers of the four countries in the United Kingdom: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland — using an ancient technique that had not been seen on a royal bride in a long time. We think it's pretty smart of Kate to include this detail to make people feel included.
Meghan Markle
Meghan's dress choice was also a big secret, though at some point, People confirmed that the palace had asked Israeli designer Insbal Dror for sketch ideas. As Meghan Markle climbed the steps of St. George's Chapel in the full light of the sun, we could see she had chosen a pure white, simple, and modern dress by Claire Waight Keller of Givenchy. It was a refreshing and gorgeous take on the royal wedding dress.
A Tribute of Her Own
Like Kate, Meghan chose embroidery to send a message — but unlike Kate, who paid tribute to the four member countries of the UK, Meghan cast a much wider net. Her stunning cathedral-length veil featured the flowers that represent each of the 53 member countries of the Commonwealth, a touching way to make the wedding truly inclusive.
Queen Elizabeth II
Princess Elizabeth married the man of her dreams in 1947, and it was a big deal — not just because she was royalty, but because Britain was recovering from the ravages of World War II, and the wedding provided a morale boost. Elizabeth famously used ration coupons to buy her dress material, a gorgeous shiny Chinese silk embroidered with star-shaped flowers.
Rebirth & Fertility
Princess Elizabeth's wedding dress and veil included embroidery of flowers, which were inspired by a Renaissance painting and meant to symbolize the rebirth of Britain as it moved forward after the war. But the veil also included wheat fronds, which were meant to represent fertility. Well, Britain thrived after the war, and Elizabeth had four kids, so it seems the dress successfully worked its magic!
Sarah Ferguson
Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew's wedding was so memorable, and it had a lot to do with how clearly in love the couple was — as opposed to Prince Charles and Diana's loveless match. Sarah looked stunning in her gorgeous dress, which was made of sumptuous duchesse silk in ivory, had a flattering scoop neck, and was filled with many amazing details.
All About the Symbolism
Sarah's outfit had so many lovely and meaningful details. When Sarah stepped out of her car at Westminster Abbey, she was wearing a flower crown. What no one watching knew was that underneath was a glittering new tiara gifted to her by the Queen. Sarah later unvelied after she signed the marriage certificate. The move was meant to symbolize her transformation from commoner to royal, but it wasn't the only detail with symbolism in her wedding look. The embroidery on her bodice was inspired by her family coat of arms and included bees and thistles, and the dress's train had Sarah and Andrew's initials.
So well thought-out.
Lady Diana Spencer
Lady Diana Spencer's grand, fluffy, fairy tale confection of a dress in ivory silk taffeta was a classic. As soon she appeared in it for the first time, everyone present and watching on TV worldwide gasped. (It was like watching her glide into St. Paul's Cathedral on a cloud.) Diana wore such a dreamy dress, even if it's not something that anyone would wear today.
A Historic Piece of Fabric
Lady Diana really piled on the details and embellishments on her wedding dress — including blows, puffy sleeves, and huge train and veil — but she also included a historic piece of royal fabric: a piece of lace that lined the front of the bodice that once belonged Queen Mary, Prince Charles' great-grandmother. While there is no word on whether that lace had a particular meaning for Diana, it seems like it was simply a way to add something special to the dress.
Even More Details
Here's two other symbolic but unseen details of Diana's wedding day look, according to a sketch later released: There was a tiny, diamond-encrusted horseshoe sewn into her dress for good luck, and her and Charles' initials were on her kitten heel shoes. Want another? Diana had an elaborate umbrella made in case of rain. She was determined to get married come heck or high water.
Queen Victoria
Royal brides have always been dressed to the nines, but their clothes used to be much more elaborate and weighed down with jewels. Queen Victoria changed all that when she showed up to her wedding to Prince Albert, wearing a relatively simple white dress with a lace overlay. The guests — expecting a grand dress and jewels — may have been underwhelmed, but by modern standards, she must have looked radiant.
A Symbolic Game-Changer
Though now faded, Queen Victoria's dress is still magnificent, and when she wore it in 1840, it was loaded with meaning that the general populace could easily understand — making Victoria the first royal bride to do so. Victoria used lace from a little town to boost the declining lace trade as she thought that white would be the best color to show it off. Despite having her pick of priceless jewels and expensive dyed fabrics, she opted for simple white gown, and a sapphire brooch from Albert as a way to show that she was making vows to him as a woman, not a queen. Her choice of dress became so famous that brides usually wear white because of her.
Queen Letizia
When she married then-Prince Felipe of Spain — who later ascended the throne, making her a queen — Letizia chose a somewhat divisive wedding gown. Some thought it was elegant, and others thought it was, well, a bit witchy with its upturned collar accentuating the sharp chin of a woman who wasn't exactly a beloved figure at the time. Nevertheless, it is a distinctive dress, and Letizia added some interesting details.
Groom's Golden Mark
Letizia's 2004 wedding gown, which was designed by couturier Manuel Pertegaz, had a 14-foot train, and included embroidery in real gold from end to end. But the symbolic part of it was the fleur de lys design on the popped up collar — in gold thread, of course — and was a symbol of the Prince of Asturias, her groom's title at the time.
Crown Princess Mary
Australian advertising executive Mary Donaldson married Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik in 2004 after meeting him during the Sydney Olympics. (She was a breath of fresh air for a royal house that doesn't get much publicity.) Mary wore a lovely ivory silk gown with a dramatic off-the-shoulder neckline that ended in tulip-shaped three-quarter sleeves.
Personal Meaning
For her big day, Mary made sure she had some meaningful additions to her dress. Her dress's skirt opened to reveal a piece of lace that once belonged to her groom's great-grandmother. Mary also had her late mother's wedding ring sewn into the waist of her dress as a tribute, and she wore a veil that had been in the groom's family since 1905. Her bouquet also included a sprig of eucalyptus, a plant native to Australia.
