Celebrity Inspiration: Grace Kelly

When Marie Claire recently picked their top 10 iconic celebrity weddings, it was no surprise that top of the list was the marriage of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III of Monaco. The 1956 wedding, which was watched by a television audience of 30 million people, was dubbed the ‘wedding of the century’ and has been providing inspiration for brides ever since.

Grace and the Prince in fact had two weddings (following Monaco tradition): a private civil ceremony in the palace’s throne room (Grace wore a pale pink taffeta dress with cream-colored lace, white kid gloves, and a Juliet cap) and the religious ceremony the following day at St Nicholas Cathedral, attended by 600 guests. Grace’s dress was a high-neck, long sleeve gown (a gift from the MGM Studio), and was made of 25 yards of silk taffeta, 100 yards of silk net, 125-year-old rose-point lace bought from a museum, and thousands of tiny seed pearls. She again wore a Juliet cap, decorated with seed pearls, orange blossoms and yards of tulle. Flowers in the church included white lilacs, hydrangeas, snapdragons and lilies. The formal ceremony (Grace and the Prince weren’t allowed to look at one another) was followed by a lunch reception in the Palace Court of Honour where they cut their six-tier wedding cake with the Prince’s sword.

Steal Their Style…
Despite being made over fifty years ago, the classic style of Grace’s wedding dress continues to inspire designers today, including Vera Wang, who used the dress as the basis of Ivanka Trump’s 2009 dress.

Grace Kelly herself has also inspired a number of designers, including most recently the Monaco Collection by  Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Ralph Lauren, Zac Posen, Ralph Rucci and Vera Wang. And if you want something close to the original, you could give your dressmaker Vogue Pattern No. V2979:

Another lovely element from this wedding you could incorporate is Grace’s simple, classic lily of the valley bouquet (although, be warned, it doesn’t come cheap!).

Or don’t…
One detail best left in the ’50s is these dodgy yellow organdy bridesmaid dresses worn by Grace’s maid of honour and attendants. Nice hats, ladies!