Spring brides all over Britain have been thrown for a loop by the announcement of the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Once the April 29, 2011 date was set, ordinary women who had already been planning their weddings for the last weekend of April suddenly realized that their wedding would definitely be playing second fiddle to the grand event. What’s an ordinary bride to do when she comes to find out that a royal wedding will be upstaging her big day?
While there is something kind of neat about sharing a wedding anniversary with a royal couple, there are also a lot of headaches associated with it. Brides who had previously selected the April 2011 wedding date which was chosen by Prince William and Kate Middleton are facing an uphill battle to keep their wedding in the forefront of anyone’s mind for that special date. After all, the royal wedding will be a national holiday in England – how many of other women can say that about their wedding dates? The reality is that many of the wedding guests may be wishing that they were watching the royal wedding, when they are attending the one to which they were invited. For that matter, the bride herself may be interested in seeing the royal wedding on television!
So what is an ordinary bride to do when she realizes that her wedding will be in competition with the wedding of the year? One option is to change the wedding date. That is not as crazy as it sounds, especially for brides who were planning to get married anywhere remotely near Westminster Abbey or on any of the streets in the vicinity. Remember the legions of fans who lined the route which Lady Diana Spencer’s carriage traveled to take her to her wedding to Prince Charles? Surely that kind of scene will be repeated when Kate Middleton makes her approach to her wedding site in her custom bridal gown and royal jewelry, with all of the accompanying security and traffic snarls which you would expect. The ordinary bride who is getting married on April 29, 2011 may well find that just getting to her own wedding is a major struggle.
Of course, not every bride will be able to switch her wedding date, especially if deposits have already been made on the venue and vendors, so there will be plenty of women who share the royal wedding date. In that case, there are essentially two options: to either ignore the fact that there is another, more famous, wedding taking place at the same time, or to really embrace the royal wedding and to celebrate Kate and Prince William’s marriage along with your own. Show a film of Kate and Prince William’s vows at your wedding reception. Name the reception tables after famous places in the royal couple’s life (St. Andrews, Kenya, Westminster Abbey, etc.). Rather than trying to ignore the elephant in the room, embrace it.
Brides who wish to keep the focus on their own weddings despite the shared date with the royal wedding would do well to plan an event in a very different style. Competing with any royal wedding head to head in terms of style is an impossibility for most regular folks, so don’t even try! No matter how fabulous your wedding gown and custom bridal jewelry, they will not be instantly copied around the globe. No matter how happy the bride and groom are, their radiant faces will not be put on commemorate plates or postage stamps. So instead of attempting to put together a celebration with a grand style, go a different direction. Host an ultra-modern cocktail wedding in an art gallery or throw a picnic reception on a lawn out in the country. And of course, take heart that despite all the excitement of the royal wedding taking place on the same day as your own wedding, your family and friends will still be just as happy for you.