Is someone feeling a teeny bit jealous of their sister?
Pippa Middleton will ape the customs and traditions of royalty by arriving at her wedding in a horse drawn carriage.
Her sister Kate Middleton arrived for her 2011 wedding to Prince William at Westminster Abbey in a Rolls-Royce car and departed with her husband in a carriage, but Pippa is said to be ringing the changes by doing things the other way around, arriving in a carriage but leaving by vintage car.
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Of course, any carriage-based transportation for the wedding of the year - which will see 350 of England’s most privileged youth, plus Meghan Markle, gather in specially constructed glass marquee for a Champagne marathon - is entirely weather dependent, and threatened downpours could still force a change of plans.
However the Sun reports today that as final preparations are made for the nuptials of Pippa and her boyfriend, billionaire financier James Matthews, the current plan is for Pippa to be pulled to the church in a horse-drawn carriage “just like a princess.”
Pippa and her mother, Carole, 62, yesterday went for lunch at Englefield House, a stately home just 300 yards from the church where the canape and drinks reception will be held. By some irony, the house was the location used for the US reality TV show I Wanna Marry Harry.
The guests will then make their way to Pippa’s parents home where a £100,000 glass orangery imported from Belgium has been erected for the party.
Prince Harry’s girlfriend Meghan Markle was spotted arriving in London on Tuesday is now a slam dunk to be attending the wedding. Her presence at the festivities is being taken as the clearest sign yet that she and Harry are headed for the altar themselves.
Harry-Meghan-wedding speculation was fuelled earlier this month after the pair were seen passionately embracing at a polo match, and the Church of England has now confirmed Markle and Prince Harry could wed at Westminster Abbey if they were to get married, despite the fact Meghan is a divorcee.
But, back to Pippa’s party plans for a moment, it is thought that William and Kate’s kids, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, are going to be among the bridesmaids and page boys.
No doubt the young man’s mother is getting his special silly socks ready at this moment.
Speculation is rife that the fashionable British designer Giles Deacon has created Pippa’s wedding gown, however the name of designer Emilia Wickstead is now being bandied about as a late contender among the royal fashion crowd.
The wedding planning app Bridebook has estimated the cost of the event at £246,000 ($318,000), about 15 times the average cost of a British wedding.
Guests have been instructed to bring a second outfit for the evening reception, suggesting Pippa is planning a long and raucous night of partying.
One party organizer told The Daily Beast this week, “It is increasingly common to suggest to guests that they might want to wear different clothes in the evening. It’s actually quite a good way of letting your guests know that you are planning to do some seriously wild partying in the evening, and what might be appropriate for church won’t necessarily work at midnight on the dancefloor."
