Royal weddings are truly something special. And the wedding gowns royal brides wear go down in history and dictate bridal trends for years.
Royals fans will likely remember all the awe-inspiring royal wedding dresses, from Princess Diana's voluminous, grand gown by the Emanuels to Duchess Kate's iconic lace Alexander McQueen wedding dress. It's the details of these looks that are just as special as the show-stopping silhouettes, including the fabric, the veils and accessories.
Scroll through the gallery (or click through if you're on desktop) to find out more about royal bride wedding dresses.
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Princess Diana
Diana, Princess of Wales wore a dress designed by David Emanuel and then-wife Elizabeth Emanuel to wed Prince Charles at St. Paul's Cathedral in London on July 29, 1981. The iconic wedding gown was crafted from ivory silk taffeta woven by Stephen Walters & Sons, who have been weaving cloth in England since 1720.
The young bride's wedding dress boasted dramatic puff sleeves, a fitted waist and a full skirt.
For her something old, Diana's dress featured a square of Carrickmacross lace that dated back to Queen Mary.
As for her something blue, there was a small blue bow sewn into the waistband of the dress.
Photo: © Fox Photos/Getty Images
The ornate diamond headpiece is actually comprised out of many pieces of jewelry that had been remounted!
The diadem design featured diamonds in the shapes of tulips and stars surrounded by scrolling details.
The Princess of Wales wore her engagement ring and diamond earrings borrowed from her mother, Frances Shand Kydd. The sparklers had a pear-cut central stone surrounded by smaller diamonds, thus completing her "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue" requirements!
The veil she wore was a showpiece in of itself. It used an incredible 140 metres of tulle!
Photo: © Hulton Archive/Getty Images
The only trouble was the designers didn't account for getting all the fabric, plus, Diana and her father, John Spencer, into the carriage to the ceremony.
It proved difficult, which was why there was initially some fabric creasing when the soon-to-be princess stepped out of the small carriage at St. Paul's.
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The ornate shoes were decorated with more than 500 sequins and over 100 seed pearls. They were trimmed in satin and lace and featured a heart detail with lace trim on the almond toe.
The arches of the flat shoes were decorated with the letters "C" for Charles and "D" for Diana, with a heart in the middle sweetly connecting them.
The flat wedding shoes had a very modest heel. At 5'10", Princess Diana did not want to appear taller than her groom, according to a famous statement from Clive Shilton!
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The wedding umbrella was crafted out of the same fabric as her wedding dress and trimmed with lace and hand-embroidered with pearls and sequins!
Additionally, the sketch revealed a tiny golden horseshoe studded with diamonds had been sewn into Diana's wedding dress for good luck!
The bridal look also featured a half-moon pochette, trimmed in lace.
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Queen Elizabeth II
Her Majesty, who was then known as Princess Elizabeth, wed Prince Philip on Nov. 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey in London.
The beautiful bride was married two years after World War II ended and she had to pay for her dress with clothing coupons because rationing was still in effect.
Royals fans tried to send her their ration coupons to ensure she received an exquisite dress, but they were returned because it was not permitted to transfer the ration coupons!
The exquisite style was designed by famed British designer Sir Norman Hartnell. He had the intention of creating "the most beautiful dress I had so far made" for the future Queen.
It featured a gently flared skirt and fitted long-sleeved bodice.
The 21-year-old bride's wedding dress was crafted out of ivory silk and richly decorated with crystal diamantés and over 10,000 seed pearls in the shape of flowers, including roses and jasmine, along with ears of wheat.
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The reference was symbolic of rebirth and growth after the war.
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The beautiful crown is a very delicate piece that actually broke during the wedding! Thankfully, it was repaired.
Her Majesty wore her signature three-strand pearl necklace, which has been a staple piece of jewelry of hers for decades. The necklace was given to Elizabeth on her wedding day by her father, King George VI.
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Duchess Meghan
The former Suits actress wed Prince Harry at St. George's Chapel in Windsor on May 19, 2018 in a bespoke Givenchy wedding gown by the brand's then-artistic director British designer Clare Waight Keller.
The minimalist wedding gown was crafted out of silk and featured three-quarter sleeves and an elegant bateau neckline.
According to Clare, the two guiding principles of the gown were: simplicity and purity.
For her "something blue," Meghan reportedly had a piece of fabric from the dress she wore on her and Harry's first date stitched into the wedding gown. Awwww.
Photo: © BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images
Duchess Meghan's elegant dress was finished with a 16-foot long Givenchy veil, which was crafted by Parisian embroidery house Maison Lesage.
The veil had flowers from 53 Commonwealth countries embroidered on it. Additionally, it featured California poppies in a reference to the American's home state and wintersweet as an ode to the flowers at the private gardens of Kensington Palace, Harry and Meghan's one-time home.
Similar to the Queen's wedding look, Meghan's veil also had crops of wheat. They were placed between the flowers and meant "to symbolize love and charity."
The exquisite tulle veil took over 3,900 hours to create!
Photo: © Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty Images
She topped the look with Queen Mary's diamond bandeau tiara, which was borrowed from the Queen. The central stone of the tiara is actually a diamond brooch.
Additionally, Meghan donned Cartier Galanterie de Cartier white gold and diamond stud earrings and the white gold and diamond Reflection de Cartier bracelet. The earrings have a value of over $15,000 while the bracelet starts at $203,000.
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Princess Anne
The Princess Royal wed first husband Mark Phillips on Nov. 14, 1976 at Westminster Abbey in London.
The Queen's only daughter wore a satin Tudor-inspired dress designed by British fashion designer Maureen Baker featuring a raised neckline and dramatic flowing sleeves. The bodice was fitted and featured elegant seams.
It is said that the princess was involved in the design of the wedding dress.
Her train was embroidered by Hand & Lock, who have been producing embroidery since 1767.
Here, the bride and groom pose with Anne's younger brother Prince Edward and cousin Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones.
Photo: © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images
Photos: © Anwar Hussein/Getty Images
Princess Eugenie
The younger Princess of York selected a white silk wedding gown by Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos of British brand Peter Pilotto when she married Jack Brooksbank at St. George's Chapel in Windsor on Oct. 12, 2018.
The beautiful bespoke wedding dress boasted a wide folded V-neckline that opened around the shoulders and a full pleated skirt.
The silk-viscose-cotton jacquard fabric was created by the designers, who are known for their prints.
The elegant material featured meaningful symbols interpreted in a rope-like motif, including an Irish shamrock in tribute to her mom Sarah Ferguson's Irish heritage, a Scottish thistle to showcase the couple's love of Balmoral and a York rose, showing the couple's home.
The material was sent to the Como region of Italy to be crafted.
The wedding look was rounded out with white satin peep-toe heels by Charlotte Olympia.
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The low back draped into a flowing full-length train.
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It featured rose-cut diamonds pavé set in platinum, surrounded by six emeralds on either side.
The tiara was crafted by Boucheron for Mrs. Greville in 1919 in the trendy "kokoshnik" style popularized in the Russian Imperial Court. The diadem was bequeathed to Her Majesty in 1942.
The 28-year-old bride's coordinating emerald drop earrings were a gift from the groom.
Photo: © Pool/Max Mumby/Getty Images
Duchess Kate
On April 29, 2011, the Duchess of Cambridge wed Prince William at Westminster Abbey in London, wearing a custom Alexander McQueen gown designed by the house's creative director Sarah Burton.
Kate's wedding gown featured a boned bodice with sweetheart neckline and a fitted waist. It led to a ruched, full skirt and slightly padded hips.
The wedding gown was layered with long lace sleeves and a bodice, featuring hand-cut flowers embellished onto ivory silk tulle using a Carrickmacross lace technique, which originated in Ireland in the 1820s.
The lace appliqué for the bodice and skirt was hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework, which is based at Hampton Court Palace.
It featured flowers of the United Kingdom, including the thistle, rose, daffodil and shamrock.
The lace was English and French Chantilly lace.
William's bride reportedly did have her "something blue" thanks to a blue ribbon stitched to the interior of the dress.
Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images
The back of Kate's wedding gown featured a pretty folded detail and 58 gazar and organza-covered buttons. They were fastened by rouleau loops.
The train on the duchess's Alexander McQueen dress was nearly 9 feet long!
Photo: © Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
The crown anchored a white silk tulle veil.
She paired the headpiece with Robinson Pelham pear-cut diamond and pavé-set acorn earrings, which were a gift from her parents, Carole Middleton and Michael Middleton, and designed to look like the Middleton family's coat of arms.
Photo: © Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Princess Margaret
The Queen's younger sister wed Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey in London on May 6, 1960 in a Norman Hartnell wedding gown, who also created Her Majesty's wedding dress.
The magical dress was crafted out of white organza and featured a fitted waist, soft long sleeves and a dramatic full skirt.
In fact, the skirt of the 29-year-old bride's gown took over 30 metres of fabric alone.
The embellishment on the dress was reportedly kept to a minimum to showcase her figure and the silhouette of the wedding dress.
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The princess shone in the Poltimore tiara, which was originally made by Garrard in 1870 for Lady Poltimore, hence the name. It is said Margaret purchased the tiara herself at an auction a year before her wedding!
Margaret's bridal look was topped with a flowing veil.
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