The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle definitely kept the world in suspense. They were married in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on 19 May 2018. Years later, the royal couple is still making waves.
Not just for the gossip or the release of Prince Harry’s memoir book “Spare”, but everyone remembers their fairytale wedding.Now tell me brides, if you didn’t fall in love with Markle’s incredible Clare Waight Keller wedding dress, or that the beautiful moment when the gospel choir sang “Stand By Me” during the ceremony didn’t move you.Not to mention the wedding cake, unique in flavour and design. Far from the royal wedding cakes of the past.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry first met in 2016; in November 2017 Prince Harry proposed to her with a unique three-stone engagement ring, which included diamonds from Princess Diana’s collection.Their wedding has gone down in history as the most awaited and followed royal wedding.
Let’s take a look at the best moments and details of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding.
The ceremony in the magnificent St. George’s Chapel
The St. George Chapel in Windsor Castle needs no introduction. It is uniquely beautiful. Meghan Markle, as an independent woman, walked down part of the aisle alone. Then she was joined halfway up by Prince Charles, who took her by the arm and finally handed her over to his son Harry.
The wedding lunch and the special guests
After the ceremony in St George’s Chapel, Harry and Meghan and the 600 guests headed to the Grand Reception Room for the reception lunch.Besides the royals, there were also many celebrities: the bride’s friends Serena Williams and Priyanka Chopra, Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney, Victoria and David Beckham. Elton John performed during the day’s lunch.After the day lunch, Prince Charles organised a more private and intimate event for the couple and their 200 closest friends at Frogmore House. The newlyweds arrived at the evening reception in a vintage blue Jaguar E-type convertible, adorned with a special wedding date plaque.
Meghan’s veil and tiara
Meghan’s silk tulle veil had a special border embroidered with flowers from all 53 Commonwealth countries, as well as Kensington Palace meadowsweet and California poppy to represent her home state. Embroidered on the front of the veil were grains of wheat, symbolising love and charity. The tiara was borrowed from the Queen’s jewellery vault.
Flower arrangement and wedding bouquet
Prince Harry and Meghan honoured his mother by including her favourite flower, forget-me-nots, in Meghan’s wedding bouquet. The bouquet was tied with a raw silk ribbon. The floral arrangement consisted of sprigs of myrtle, scented peas, lily of the valley and jasmine. Some of these flowers were picked by Prince Harry from the couple’s garden at Kensington Palace. What could be more romantic?
In St. George’s Chapel, however, the foliage came from the Crown Estate and Windsor Great Park, along with seasonal plants such as beech, birch and hornbeam. Combined with white garden roses, peonies and foxgloves, the floral arrangement was in line with Meghan and Harry’s focus on seasonality in every aspect of their wedding.
After the wedding, the flowers were shared with charitable organisations.
The wedding cake deserves a special paragraph. Curious? Read on.
Meghan Markle, in her past life, ran a lifestyle blog called The Tig. Markle had interviewed pastry chef and Californian Claire Ptak when the blog was still active. Ptak would years later bake a cake for the royal wedding of her interviewer.
Ptak owns Violet Cakes, a bakery-cafe in East London, bakes her cakes with organic ingredients and is known for her moist sponge cakes with incredible fresh fruit fillings, homemade caramel and fine chocolate.
Traditionally, the fruit cake has been chosen for royal weddings over the years. But, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, inspired by their spring wedding date, chose a lighter-flavoured cake.
The royal wedding cake was lemon and elderflower. But the special ingredient is Sandringham Elderflower Cordial. The cordial, made from flowers collected from one of Queen Elizabeth’s private homes, was used to wet the cake layers and give it an incredible floral flavour.
Ptak and his team used the kitchens of Buckingham Palace, rather than those of his own bakery, to make it.
Unlike the classic royal wedding cakes, all of which are very tall, Prince Harry and Meaghan Markle opted for a stunning display of multiple cakes, with two single-storey and one double-storey cake. Each cake was displayed on a gold stand directly from the royal family’s collection.
The cakes were composed of layers of lemon sponge cake, drizzled with elderflower syrup and topped with an Amalfi lemon cream. For the icing, the royal couple chose a delicious elderflower meringue buttercream. It is said to have taken 200 Amalfi lemons to make.
The cakes were adorned with many fresh flowers, mainly peonies and English roses. Harry and Meghan wanted a cake that incorporated the vibrant flavours of spring.
What made Harry and Meghan’s wedding cake so special (like the whole wedding after all) was the attention to the seasonality of the ingredients and the care taken over every single detail: from the choice of composition, colours, flavours and even the flowers that would adorn the cake. All perfectly in keeping with spring, the season in which they chose to get married.
If not everyone can afford a $70000 cake – yes, it seems Harry and Meghan’s wedding cake cost around that amount – we can take inspiration for choosing the perfect wedding cake for your marriage.
As a wedding planner, I know in depth how important the choice of wedding cake is. It is not just a small detail, but a central element in the conclusion of a wedding.
As for all other aspects (the location for the ceremony and reception, invitations, floral arrangements, mise en place, etc.), the wedding cake should also respect the theme chosen for the wedding, the season and the personality of the bride and groom.
If you want to get married in Tuscany and want to organise a wedding that speaks of your love through every detail, you have landed on the right page.
Write here and tell me about your wedding as you have dreamed it.
With Marry me in Tuscany, you will be able to choose from the most beautiful Tuscan locations, you will have the best suppliers in the area with whom I have been collaborating for years.
Everything, including the wedding cake, will be crazy. Promise.