ESL Blogs

Do you remember, Tara wrote a post about William and Kate's wedding which took place in London more than a month ago and asked you  your thoughts about it.

Today, i 'm going to talk about the second "Prince" wedding of the year, the one that took place 2 days ago in the Principality of Monaco.   

First, let me tell you a few things about this tiny and very rich country.

The Principality, which is a small "city-state" of about 2 square kilometers, sits along the Mediterranean sea on the French Riviera and is surrounded on 3 sides by France. It's population is close to 40.000 people, most of them are rich foreigners (only about 800 Monaco natives).

Monaco is governed under a form of constitutional monarchy with Prince Albert II as head of State. The House of Grimaldi has ruled Monaco for more than 8OO years.  

To many people, Monaco looks like a fairyland  for adults, amazing and luxurious 5 stars hotels among them, the famous "Hotel de Paris", 3 "Michelin stars" restaurants, a casino where millions of dollars are played every week, a little harbor where the most expensive yacht are moored and " boutiques de luxe" as, Cartier, Van Cleef & Arpels for jewelry, Dior, Chanel, Giorgio Armani or Valentino for "haute couture" are at every corner of the very few streets.

So, did  you get the picture ?

Needless to say that, as for the british wedding, any royalties were present on the "Rock of Monaco" for that big day. I am a dreamer, so i watched the wedding and i was not disappointed. The sun was shining on the blue sea, thousand of little "red and white" (colors of Monaco) flags fluttered in the wind and smiles were on every faces. The fairy tale could start !

I found Charlene's dress so beautiful in its simplicity. I really liked it better than Kate's. Prince Albert was also very handsome in his white uniform, they both were a perfect fit. Ce ceremony was held  in the courtyard of the castle, in front of a majestic white marble staircase decorated with white flowers. All around them sat their families and royal guests, most of them dressed in beautiful outfits and hats. It was a real rainbow of colors.

Though it was a prince's wedding, to my pleasure, i found it very simple, without that stiff english protocol we saw for Kate and William's wedding. 

So, to make it shorter, i spend 2 wonderful hours watching that program on television.

For you girls ! Here are some data about the wedding dress. They didn't talk about the price... but that's another story isn't ?   

WEDDING DRESS

Giorgio Armani Privé wedding dress with a flowing line, in off-white silk duchesse, with a long train. Crossover detail on the front and back forming a second "à l'andrienne" train. Ramage embroidery depicting flowers, crafted with stones in gold shades, and Swarovski crystals and mother of pearl teardrops in white and gold hues, embellish the front of the dress, the trim and the central main section of the train.

Long veil made from off-white silk tulle, with front tier and subtle embroidery.

UNIQUE FEATURES

2,500 hours of work

40,000 Swarovski crystals

20,000 mother of pearl teardrops

30,000 stones in gold shades

3,000 kilometres of travel for fittings in Montecarlo

700 hours of work for the embroidery

"kilometres" of embroidery thread coated in platinum

50 meters of silk duchesse

80 meters of silk organza

for the veil: 20 meters of silk tulle, 100 hours of work for the embroidery

I don't remember where I found those details about the dress, but they must be everywhere on the net.

The pictures i download up here are from