The dress
WHEN British design duo David and Elizabeth Emanuel created Princess Diana's £9,000 wedding gown in 1981, they had to bring in security guards and put the dress in a safe every night. That's so it would stay a secret from reporters who, as Reuters reported, "camped out on the doorstep, gawped through the windows and rummaged through the rubbish bins looking for clues".
Fast forward 30 years and royal-wedding fashion furore is bubbling over again. Will Miss Middleton pick a McQueen, a Bruce Oldfield, or a Libelula for her nuptials? It's anyone's guess for now, but local brides aiming to appear just as royal on their wedding day may look to Singapore fashion blueblood Frederick Lee for ideas.
The designer feels that a "feminine, elegant, simple dress with a bias cut and perhaps a 40-inch train for drama" would be something "befitting of a future queen".
History, though, has shown that most royals tend to wear ensembles that are "very safe, with a high neckline and mutton sleeves", he observes. "But (Miss Middleton) is so modern, she should look relaxed and effortless on her big day. It's a question of whether she will stay with what those who have gone before her have worn, or be a bit more fashion forward. I can't wait to see how she'll look!"
The bling
THERE'S nothing like a sentimental-yet-smart investment in a good piece of bridal jewellery. Case in point: the engagement ring that Prince Charles presented to Princess Diana, and which Prince William has passed on to his fiancee. It features an oval blue sapphire surrounded by 14 brilliant diamonds, and was made in 1981 by Garrard Jewellers, the official jewellers to the British monarchy.
Costing £28,000, the ring is today estimated to be worth nearly ten times that amount.
Singaporeans after their own bit of bling should consider jewels from the Marina Bay Sands branch of Leviev, which owns over a third of the world's diamond mines and has embellished royals such as Britain's Princess Michael of Kent.
Alternatively, if you want the dazzle but don't have the dough, get a replica in sterling silver with cubic zirconias from local blogshop smoothysilk.blogspot.com - it's yours for just $25.90 with delivery thrown in.
The cake
THE saying "two is better than one" clearly applies to sweet treats too in Prince William and Miss Middleton's view. The couple will have a pair of wedding cakes at their nuptials, one of which will be a massive multi-tiered confection commissioned by the bride that's decorated with cream and white edible flowers, each of which holds a different meaning.
"For example, the bridal rose symbolises happiness, the oak and the acorn symbolise endurance...and we have a long list. We haven't made Sweet William yet but we will," the cake designer Fiona Cairns, whose clients include Paul McCartney and Bono, told CNN last month.
The other cake is a chocolate slice filled with McVities Rich Tea biscuits whose recipe comes from the palace. To be made with 17kg of chocolate and some 1,700 biscuits, it's said to be a childhood favourite of the prince.
In Singapore, where better to recreate pastries fit for a prince and princess than at the, ahem, Royal Plaza on Scotts? The hotel's pastry chef Choo Eng Tat says he would relish the challenge, and estimates that a tiered cake covered in iced flowers and crystals for 600 guests - the number that will be at the royal couple's reception - would cost $8,000 and weigh about 40kg.
The invitation
WHAT'S on the cards for the soon-to-be-wedded couple?
Well, there's fine black text, for one thing, along with the stamp "EIIR" in burnished gold. We're referring to Prince William and Miss Middleton's wedding invitation, of course - a simple and elegant white card, suitably thick, that measures 8 inches by 6 inches and has bevelled, gilded edges.
Nearly 2,000 of these hot tickets have been sent out to a variety of invitees, who include the couple's friends, about 40 crowned heads from around the world and more than 50 members of the royal family. The Duchess of York, however, was left out of the list for reasons the palace didn't disclose. (Perhaps it had something to do with the duchess being caught offering access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, for £500,000 last year, or the fact that she was photographed topless 10 years ago by a tabloid, having her toes sucked by her financial adviser.)
Even if you don't have such sassy subjects to send - or not send - those cards to, you can still get equally royal-looking invitations from local printers TDragonCards.com, which specialises in wedding cards. Embellish with your very own coat of arms or family crest, which you can whip up in a jiffy for free at www.makeyourcoatofarms.com.
The venue
IT'S hard to be beat Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace as wedding venues - for one thing, the Abbey has a host of precious artefacts dating back to the medieval ages, and the Palace its gold-painted ceilings, fancy furniture (the Blue Drawing Room, for example, has a table specially made for Napoleon) and fur-topped army of guards.
Still, Singapore does have its own piece of ye olde English in St Andrew's Cathedral, which was built in the 1800s in the early English Gothic style. This national monument comes complete with a Coronation Carpet, which is located in the Anglican church's Epiphany Chapel and is a portion of the flaxen carpet used for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 at Westminster Abbey.
The music
THERE'LL be lots of music at the royal wedding, but certainly nothing along the lines of East 17's punchy House of Love, which is the soundtrack used in the popular T-Mobile video (available on YouTube) that features impersonators of the royal family dancing down the aisle to the song.
Instead, Prince William and Miss Middleton have picked something more sedate: two children's choirs, one orchestra and two fanfare teams to serenade their special occasion.
These performances will be followed by one from harpist Claire Jones - who has the very cool title of Official Harpist to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales - at a post-wedding reception.
Those considering conducting their nuptials to a similar tune here will have plenty to pick from, because the Republic's not short on choirs, orchestras and musicians - there's the Singapore Lyric Opera Children's Choir, the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, and more.
Want a harpist too? No problem - you can pick one up as easily as you would a loaf of bread in a supermarket, thanks to online databases such as HarpGigs.com and HarpMall.com, which list several local harpists.
The transport
BECAUSE the bride-to-be isn't a royal, she'll be driven to her wedding in a limousine, not a horse-drawn carriage. But it won't be any old vehicle - the wedding car is a claret-coloured Rolls Royce that was given to the monarch on her Silver Jubilee in 1977.
Miss Middleton's journey will doubtless be a smooth one, but the car's has been bumpier - last year, it was damaged in student protests as Prince Charles and Camilla were driving to a theatre performance. It's currently being repaired and will be ready in time for the wedding.
After the ceremony, the couple will exit in an open-topped carriage drawn by four horses. This gold-and-crimson State Landau from 1902 was used by the Prince and Princess of Wales when they moved from St Paul's Cathedral to Buckingham Palace after their wedding celebration.
In Singapore, you'd be hard pressed to find such a glitzy carriage, but the Singapore Zoo does have one for rent in perfectly serviceable maroon. For the whole shebang, book a Rolls Royce as well from wedding car specialist, WeddingCars.sg.
The giveaways
OKAY, so nobody's said anything about what guests at the wedding will be getting as a souvenir. But we can't help thinking that a cute knitted doll would be just the thing.
After all, one of the bestsellers at the recently concluded London Book Fair was Fiona Goble's "Knit Your Own Royal Wedding", which is a book that shows knitters how to make a set of 10 royal wedding woollen characters ranging from Prince William and Miss Middleton, to the Queen's corgis and the Bishop of Canterbury, who will marry the couple.
In a statement released last week, Ms Goble said: "Sales have been far, far better than we expected, wildly above what we were planning to sell. They've had a far wider appeal than we've imagined. They've sold a lot to knitters and to people who want a quirky, offbeat souvenir."
If anything, a memento like this will sure to have wedding guests in stitches. "Knit Your Own Royal Wedding" is available for US$11.70 from Amazon.com.
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This article was first published in The Business Times.
