Brides to look to Meghan for inspiration

Saturday 19 May 2018

A wedding planner believes brides-to-be in the Bailiwick will be closely watching today's Royal Wedding for inspiration ahead of their own nuptials.

Lorraine Lane - who is also known as The Wedding Fairy - is a qualified wedding planner in Guernsey, who also runs In Any Event, based on Braye Road.

She said it doesn't matter where you're getting married or who you are marrying, there is always a lot to organise.

"Most people thoroughly enjoy organising their own weddings, particularly in Guernsey where everything is quite insular so they know where to go for the best of everything. They're very hands on, but when you get a client who is coming in from abroad, or even local people who are living away, then they need more help and that's when you do the full planning services."

She said most people plan their weddings well in advance and she knew of two wedding celebrations happening today, including a couple who married earlier in the week and another who are celebrating their marriage at Castle Cornet today before a reception at a local hotel this evening.

"They've been planning for well over a year, so well before Meghan and Harry set the date and I'm sure they're feeling quite proud to be married on the same day," she said adding that they will always remember it.

"I'm sure it will make it extra special for them. I remember where I was the day William and Kate got married - I was sitting in Poole bringing a new van home for the Wedding Fairy, listening to the wedding on the radio."

Ms Lane said there has been a more muted response to the wedding of Prince Harry than there was to his brother's but she still thinks many people will take the time to watch some of the coverage today.

"I think Prince Harry is much more Jack the lad, and I think youngsters do relate to him.

"William and Kate's wedding did follow on from one of the Queen's big jubilees, so I think there was still a lot of buzz about Royalty going on. And they'd had that little break in their relationship so people thought that was interesting, but the interest I think with Harry and Meghan is the similarity to Mrs Simpson and how far have we come since the 1930s, that we can now have a divorced American Royal bride, and how much more liberal the Brits have become."

Ms Lane said the wedding dress will be among the most interesting aspects of today's wedding for many brides-to-be with some looking for inspiration in colour schemes as well.

"I think there'll be a lot of interest in the dress. Will she go British, will she go American - will she really go off the wall. She's got a really slim figure so I think she'll go for something which shows that off, very much like Kate did. Possibly not quite so demure as Kate's was so I'm not sure there but I think there'll be big interest in it and particularly in the decor involved in the wedding breakfast.

"We definitely saw after Kate and William got married, an upsurge in neutral coloured weddings. Lots of soft green, creams and whites. Brides saying no, this is exactly what I want, no colour just beautiful neutrals."

Ms Lane said there aren't too many Royal wedding parties planned for today, but she knows of one care home which has organised a tea party for residents along with a few people who have arranged gatherings in their own homes to watch the television coverage of the wedding.