Arriving on the arm of her father with bridesmaids (including cousin Princess Theodora of Greece) in tow
Cristina met her handsome groom at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, where he was a member of the bronze medal-winning Spanish handball team. When they married in the Barcelona Cathedral the following year, the bride wore a Lorenzo Caprile dress. Caprile has proved to be a popular designer among the Spanish royal ladies. Featuring a princess line silhouette, the gown is crafted from silk specially made in Valencia.
It's a very simple design, with a few standout features. The dress seems to feature little to no ornamentation, but there's actually an embroidered silver detail at the empire line of the waist. Very figure flattering, that. The design is carried through on the train, a detail that doesn't come across in many photographs. It also features an off-the-shoulder neckline, an interesting feature given we usually hear that the first component of a royal wedding dress is that it must cover the shoulders to be respectful of the church.
The train itself is about 3 meters long and like Letizia's does not appear to have been detachable. Unseen here, the back of the dress had a small laced up detail which was echoed in the design of her bridal party's outfits.
I was surprised in this video to see how well the train held its shape without too much fussing from the attendants. Of course, the fussing could just be edited out:
Infanta Cristina's veil is one of the main stars of the show. As we've discussed before, it is a 19th century family heirloom that is owned by Spain's National Anthropology Museum and was restored for the wedding. It was once used by Queen Victoria Eugenia, Cristina's great-grandmother, as were the diamond earrings she wore.
Underneath the veil, one of the prettiest royal wedding hairdos of all time, if you ask me. The hair was created by Gloria Delgado, a stylist knowledgeable in 19th century hair styling techniques that had been recommended by Caprile, and Cristina gave her free reign. (Good call!) On top of it all, the Mellerio Floral Tiara reigned supreme.
This has always been a favorite for me. It's just one of those gowns that has stuck in my mind since the wedding itself, which I would say is one of the components of greatness when it comes to a royal wedding gown.
