Everything You Need to Know About Pippa Middleton's Wedding
This Saturday, Pippa Middleton will marry James Matthews, a wealthy hedge fund manager. The wedding will have a more formal, intimate ceremony, followed by a reception at Pippa's parents' house. Below, a guide on all you need to know as the date approaches.
The Groom and Proposal
Pippa and James got engaged on July 17, 2016. James reportedly asked her to marry him "during a romantic break in the beautiful surroundings of the Lake District in northwest England," People reported at the time. The two first dated in 2012 and then split. Pippa went on to date Nico Jackson for three years until 2015. She and James got back together three months after her breakup when they were spotted on vacation together in St. Barts.
Pippa's fiancé James is a millionaire and the co-founder and chief executive of structured finance at Eden Rock Capital Management Group. He was formerly a race car driver and like Pippa, is super into sports and endurance racing. His family includes a famous brother, Spencer Matthews, who was on a reality show, a father who used to be a race car driver too (and now owns Eden Rock Hotel in St. Barths), and a mother who was an artist.
The Location
The ceremony will take place at St. Mark's Church in Englefield, Berkshire. Kate Middleton, Prince William, and the royal babies notably attended Christmas service there in December. It's the church the Middletons have attended for years.
The reception and after party will take place at Pippa Middleton's parents' house in Bucklebury. Construction started Monday on the setup that was reportedly sent over from Belgium. It's expected to house over 300 guests and costs around £100,000 ($129,193) with the heat, carpeting, and lighting involved.
The ceremony is supposed to be more intimate, with Pippa reportedly enforcing a no-ring, no-bring rule. But! New guidelines posted by the Church of England for celebrity weddings suggest the ceremony could be open to the public. The guidelines state, via The Telegraph, "a marriage is a public ceremony which at the least all parishioners are entitled to attend." So at least the entire Englefield church community has an invite, theoretically, "as long as there is available seating or standing room unless a genuine question of safety or security arises."
The Guests and Bridal Party
Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Prince Harry are reportedly set to attend both the reception and the ceremony.
Meghan Markle, Prince Harry's girlfriend, is reportedly now attending both the ceremony and reception, as well as the after-party, despite her ringless status. It will be her second wedding with Prince Harry. In March, she went with him to his best friend's wedding in Jamaica.
The royal babies are both in the wedding. People and E! report that Kate Middleton's daughter Princess Charlotte will be a bridesmaid (in the U.K., bridesmaids are typically little kids), and Prince George will be a page boy. Kate is reportedly a little concerned about the kids' behavior. "She said that they were all really looking forward to her sister's wedding at the weekend, but she was a bit worried about how her children might behave," Andrew Bates, an attendee at the royal family's garden party, told reporters. "She said she was hopeful that they would be good, but you never know at that age,"
Kate Middleton won't be Pippa's maid of honor and isn't likely to play any role in the wedding. This partly because of how the role works in the U.K.-as the Mirror put it, bridesmaid are usually single ladies. Kate could technically serve as matron of honor, but that's also unlikely. There's a fear that "Kate would upstage her sister," royal expert Judy Wade explained to People last year. "It's a tricky situation for Pippa. She would want her sister by her side, as who else would she trust to make things go well? But if your sister is a future queen, she is going to upstage the bride and draw attention. Kate would want to be in the background as much as possible."
The Fashion
The designer of Pippa Middleton's dress hasn't been officially announced. But outlets speculate it's British designer Giles Deacon, who was spotted visiting Pippa with a garment bag. A source close to the designer's team told E! that the dress is "very simple, elegant and it's all handmade."
Meghan Markle reportedly waited for Kate Middleton's outfit to be finalized before she picked her own. A source close to Markle told E! that the actress had already had two separate fittings in Toronto for her look on May 8. Markle is her own stylist but has the help of her friend Jessica Mulroney. "Jessica is a fantastic stylist and is smart enough to know that, as well as making sure Meghan looks her best, they also need to be mindful about what Kate is wearing," a source told E! on May 12. "The last thing anyone would want would be for them to be in a similar color or design. Meghan would never want to attract the wrong kind of attention."
There's a rumor circulating on social media that guests have been asked to bring a second outfit to change into for the reception. The Telegraph reported on it first.
The Pre-Wedding Prep
Pippa has reportedly amped up her workout schedule and is on the Sirtfood Diet before the wedding, according to E!. (The diet itself is a little questionable, with one dietitian calling it a yo-yo diet that isn't great for longterm weight loss.)
She's eating meals rich in 20 specific foods-arugula, red wine, cocoa, coffee, kale, strawberries, and walnuts among them-that have a lot of polyphenols. This chemical apparently ramps up the body's metabolism and enhances its ability to burn fat. There are three phases to it, but it's the first that's the most dangerous: It lasts seven days, according to Sirtfood's site, and during the first three, the dieter only eats 1,000 calories through just three Sirtfood-rich green juices and "one full meal rich in Sirtfoods." The rest of the week, intake is pushed up to 1,500 calories, with two green juices and two meals allotted for each day.
Pippa is also doing a "bridal bootcamp" before the wedding. E! reported that Pippa got a three-month "Bridal Membership" at the Grace Belgravia health club in London. "Pippa has met with her PT about five times a week and mostly sticks to cardio and pilates," a source told the outlet. "She feels amazing. Her diet is the healthiest ever-she hasn't even had a glass of wine in months. She's had facial treatments sometimes once a week or once a fortnight."
Pippa spent her Tuesday relaxing and pampering at a spa before her wedding. She was photographed leaving Santi Spa in London with a bag of merch.
The Cost and Honeymoon After
Pippa and James' wedding is estimated to cost around £250,000 ($322,925), which is about 15 times the average for a U.K. wedding (though Kate and Will's wedding was reportedly close to $34 million million). The estimate was calculated by Bridebook.co.uk and includes costs for catering (£70,000/$90,419), Pippa's dress (£10,000/$12,917), a six-tier cake (£2,600/$3358.42), a videographer with drones (£4,000/$5166,80), stationary (£5,125/$6,619.96), and bridesmaid's outfits (£2,250/$2,906.33). See the full breakdown here.
Pippa and James are rumored to be going on a more modest honeymoon. E! reports the two are going to the French Alps-the same place Pippa, KMidd, and her friends spent Pippa's bachelorette weekend. James and Pippa want "to just feel like they are alone," a source told the outlet. "Both of them are so stressed right now, they just want to go away and feel like the only two people in the world."
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