Over the weekend, the religious wedding of Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma and Viktória Cservenyák was held in Apeldoorn in the Netherlands (the private civil marriage was held earlier in the week). The bride is a Hungarian-born lawyer; the groom is the son of Princess Irene of the Netherlands and the late Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma. He's one of the cousins of King Willem-Alexander, and we have a nice selection of the extended Dutch family for our review today. But first...
The Bride and Bridal Party
Click above for a video.
Viktória wore a wedding gown from designer Claes Iversen. The dress is made of ivory silk crepe and crepe georgette and features a largely unadorned body with a wide neckline that dips in the back, an empire waist, three-quarter sleeves, and a slim skirt. The sole embellishment on the front is at the bottom of the skirt, where there are embroidered flowers in fabric accented with crystals and beads (which the Fug Girls likened to her having walked through a field of spitballs...and well, once you get that in your head, there you go). She towed a train of moderate length (by royal wedding standards, at least!) matched by her veil of Swiss Dot tulle with a lace border. It was a rather plain dress, I thought - plain, but extremely sweet. She dipped into the Dutch family jewel vault for the Ears of Wheat Tiara, which was also used as a bridal diadem by several other recent brides in the family, plus a diamond bracelet and diamond earrings. You can vary the number of ears of wheat you wear with this tiara and she wore the full version with eight ears, though a drawback to using this one as a wedding tiara is that veils tend to conceal a few of the ears at the edges.
I was quite charmed by the girls in the bridal party (including Zaria, daughter of Princess Mabel and the late Prince Friso), whose dresses featured sashes in shades of yellow to orange or peach. The dashing groom matched the boys of the wedding party in classic morning suits with gold ties.
A selection of the guests:
Best in Dark
Princess Aimée
Left to Right: Princess Mabel (with daughter Luana), Queen Máxima (with the King and their kids), Princess Aimée, Juliana Guillermo, Princess Laurentien (with Prince Constantijn and their kids)
Mabel is in mourning, obviously. (You might remember that the couple's engagement was, in a strange coincidence, announced shortly before Prince Friso's death announcement.) Mourning or not, several of the other ladies opted for sedated shades as well; I was originally tempted to give this one to Máx for manning the hat ship in a sea of fascinators, but on second thought - Aimée looks incredible! The fabric has a bit of sparkle and a menswear flair, and the waist design is perfect for a new mum (she and Prince Floris welcomed their third child this summer).
Best in Color
Princess Beatrix
L to R: Princess Margriet, Princess Christina, Princess Irene, Princess Beatrix, Princess Margarita, Princess Carolina, Princess Marilène, Princess Anita
On the other hand, some ladies went for strong colors, and bless them for it. So much here to love: Irene looks amazing in the perfect red for her (I don't buy into the whole anti-red thing for weddings, not at all, not even for the mother of the groom), plus both Carolina and Marilène are rocking purple (hilariously similar looks, and obviously they both have good taste in color). But it's Beatrix that has to get my win here - just a wee change to her standard hat shape makes a world of difference. Also, I just love her for showing up in something light and bright.
What did you think of the wedding dress? Who was your best dressed guest?
