These were the most glamorous society weddings of 2021
Instagram / sophiehasburg_private1/20Princess Marie Astrid of Liechtenstein and Ralph Worthington
The daughter of Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg and Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein married American Ralph Worthington in a lavish ceremony at Tuscany’s Orbetello Cathedral on Saturday 25 September. The 34-year-old bride wore the decorative 19th-century Kinsky Honeysuckle tiara, formed of glittering honeysuckle motifs in diamonds, silver and gold. High-society European glamour was the order of the day with guests including Princess Alessandra and Prince Christian of Hanover, Ekaterina, Princess of Hanover and Princess Mafalda of Hesse. Marie Astrid’s wedding train was something to behold, thick, weighty and intricately embroidered – it took four of her well-dressed guests to artfully manoeuvre the piece into the church.
Instagram / jmidy2/20James Middleton and Alizee Thevenet
Alizee Thevenet, the Duchess of Cambridge’s new sister-in-law, paid tribute to Carole Middleton on her wedding day by wearing the same off-the-shoulder gown that she had worn on her own wedding day in 1980. The dress was beautiful – and apt for the south of France wedding location the couple chose on Sunday 11 September. It was third time lucky for the pair, after they were forced to cancel their wedding day twice as a result of the pandemic. James’s two elder sisters, the Duchess of Cambridge and Pippa Matthews, were both in attendance with their husbands and children – as well as two of their dogs, Mabel and Luna.
Doug Peters / Alamy Stock Photo3/20Flora Ogilvy and Timothy Vesterberg
A year on from the couple’s small-scale nuptials, Princess Alexandra’s granddaughter, Flora Ogilvy, was able to mark her wedding on a far grander scale – and in the presence of Royal Family members including Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex. On Friday 10 September, friends and family gathered to see Flora’s marriage blessing to Swedish financier Timothy Vesterberg at St James’s Church and Palace. It was also an opportunity for Flora to wear her bespoke Phillipa Lepley wedding dress and the historic Ogilvy tiara.
Instagram / clodagh_mckenna4/20Clodagh Mckenna and the Hon Harry Herbert
Saturday 14 August marked the wedding of the Queen’s godson, the Hon Harry Herbert, son of the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, to Clodagh McKenna, a glamorous Irish chef. The fairytale wedding took place at the 5,000 acre estate of Highclere Castle in Hampshire, better known as the setting of Downton Abbey. Guests included the former chancellor George Osborne, 50, who arrived with his fiancée Thea Rogers, 39, and their son Beau. Other glamorous guests included fellow Irish presenter for ITV, Laura Whitmore, as well as tablescaping supremo, Fiona Leahy.
Instagram / theitalianviolinist5/20Princess Maria Anunciata of Liechtenstein and Emanuele Musini
The great, the good and the exceptionally grand travelled to Vienna on Saturday 4 September to attend the wedding of Princess Maria Anunciata of Liechtenstein to her beau, Emanuele Musini. Maria Anunciata, the older sister of Princess Marie Astrid, was married in the 12th century parish church in Vienna, the Schottenkirche – followed by a reception at the magnificent Liechtenstein Garden Palace, known as the Gartenpalais. Glamorous guests included Beatrice Borromeo and Pierre Casiraghi, as well as Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg alongside her husband, Grand Duke Henri. Princess Maria Anunciata opted for the intricate Habsburg Fringe tiara, the diadem of the Royal Family of Liechtenstein, which was perfectly complimented by her delicately embroidered elbow-length veil.
Instagram: @kitty.spencer6/20Lady Jemima Herbert and Hugo Davies
The Earl of Pembroke’s sister married insurance broker Hugo Davies at her Palladian family seat, Wilton House, on a joyous weekend in August. The bride wore a classically elegant bridal gown teamed with the stunning Pembroke Sapphire and Diamond tiara. Quite the high society event, it was staged across two distinct phases: the more traditional ceremony, and later a party in the woods, for which Lady Jemima changed into a second, flamenco-inspired outfit. Guests included newlywed Lady Kitty Spencer and her dashing younger brother, Viscount Althorp, fresh from Lady Kitty’s own glamorous nuptials in Rome.
Courtesy of Dolce & Gabbana7/20Lady Kitty Spencer and Michael Lewis
Princess Diana's niece, Lady Kitty Spencer, wed her South African billionaire beau Michael Lewis in a lavish ceremony on 24 July in Rome. The couple had delayed their wedding from last year, holding out for a three-day extravaganza at Villa Aldobrandini, attended by the Marchioness of Bath, Jade Holland Cooper, Sabrina Elba, Pixie Lott and Maye Musk. The bride wore five Dolce & Gabbana gowns for the occasion, with the main event being an ivory button front gown with puffed shoulders and high neck.
Rebecca Fulton / Downing Street via Getty Images8/20Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds
The Prime Minister married his partner Carrie Symonds in a secret ceremony at Westminster Cathedral at the end of May. The bride wore a Christos Costarellos dress that she borrowed from fashion rental site, My Wardrobe HQ, accessorising the boho look with a flower crown and loose waves. There were just a handful of guests in attendance at the party, which occurred before lockdown was completely eased. Musicians were seen entering Downing Street later in the evening from the band The Bow Fiddlies, a folk outfit who reportedly do Mumford & Sons covers.
Nisha Ravji9/20Pat Allerton and Kirsty Turnbull
Notting Hill's very own Hot Priest, Pat Allerton, married South African beauty Kirsty Turnbull in July. The couple were wed at the sleepy country village church of Longparish, Hampshire, in front of small group of friends and family, with others watching online via Zoom. The bride wore an elegant lace and chiffon dress from the Notting Hill based French boutique, The Mews Bridal, with a veil by Tabitha Textiles which had a Bible verse embroidered within and wild flowers from both South Africa and the United Kingdom.
Emilie White / Instagram: @clarapaget10/20Lady Clara Paget and Oliver Tuttiett
The 32-year-old daughter of the 8th Marquess of Anglesey wed her Burberry model beau in front of guests including Lady Mary Charteris, Adwoa Aboah (who caught the bouquet) and Jaime Winstone on 17 July. The couple's nuptials are believed to have taken place at Paget's family seat of Plas Newydd in Anglesey, with the bride wearing a custom-made gown by friends Savannah Miller and Jana Sascha (founder of De La Vali).
EFE News Agency / Alamy Stock Photo11/20The Count of Orsono and Bélen Corsini
The first society wedding in 18 months, the Count of Orsono married Bélen Corsini at the Liria Palace in Madrid in May, after Spain relaxed its state of emergency for Covid-19. Belén opted for a floor-length ivory gown by Spanish brand, Navascués, which featured puff shoulders and a detachable train, while her groom looked dashing in red military uniform. The couple's wedding took place at the same venue as the Count's elder brother, the Duke of Huéscar, who married here in 2018.
Honey Davis Wilkinson12/20The Hon Sigmund Oakeshott and Sylvia Flote
Back in March, this society wedding took place a few days before the beginning of lockdown easing, with the couple citing exceptional circumstances for the nuptials to take place (Oakeshott needed a Schengen visa to work at Viennese auction house Dorotheum, and Flote is Norwegian). The bride wore a traditional Norwegian dress, wearing her bright red hair down and complimenting her look with red lipstick. Meanwhile Oakeshott wore a traditional three-piece suit with pale blue cravat and top hat.
Instagram: @timwild0113/20The namesake granddaughter of Italian fashion designer Paola Fendi married Aram Ahmed in front of 250 guests on the White Isle of Ibiza in June. Surprisingly, rather than Fendi, she wore Valentino for the celebrations, which coincided with her grandmother's 90th birthday.
Instagram: @phoebedickinsonart14/20Prince Fritzi von Preussen and Tilly Johnson
Prince Fritzi von Preussen of Prussia, the great-great-grandson of the late German Emperor Wilhelm II, married his long-term girlfriend, Tilly Johnson, in late May. The low-key nuptials saw the bride wearing the Von Preussen tiara, which was also worn by her sister-in-law, Princess Florence, at her high society wedding to the Hon. James Tollemache in 2014.
Instagram / floorscastle15/20The Duke of Roxburghe and Annabel Green
In September, Prince Harry's army friend the Duke of Roxburghe - once dubbed the most eligible man in Britain - married his South African girlfriend of over a year, Annabel Green. The couple were wed at the duke's family seat of Floors Castle in Scotland in front of a handful of guests.
Instagram / parishilton16/20Paris Hilton and Carter Reum
Former Tatler cover star and the original '90s It Girl, Paris Hilton, tied the knot with her beau of over a year in November. The ceremony was held at the Bel Air mansion of her grandfather, despite the family having sold the property earlier in the year, and the bride wore a grand total of six different dresses across the three-day festivities. Her main gown was a princess-style by none other than Oscar de la Renta.
Sipa US / Alamy Stock Photo17/20Prince Philippos of Greece and Nina Flohr
Prince Philippos of Greece and his glamorous Swiss bride Nina Flohr were amongst the couples who chose to marry in a micro-ceremony in 2020, before celebrating in a larger-scale extravaganza in 2021. And what an extravaganza it was! A wedding truly befitting royalty, the couple invited A-list guests and a roll-call of European royals (including our Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie) to join them at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens, the very venue the prince's own parents had been married at.
Splash News18/20Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies and Lady Charlotte Lindesay-Bethune
The heir to a now defunct European throne and the daughter of a Scottish peer were wed in splendid finery at the Cathedral of Monreale in Palermo, Sicily, in September. Guests included Flora Vesterberg, the granddaughter of Princess Alexandra of Kent, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Huescar, the Count and Countess of Osorno, and Princess Carla and Prince Mirko of Bulgaria. The bride's choice of tiara is thought to have been the Ancona tiara, owned by the Boubon-Two-Sicilies family.
Instagram / alexandrearnault19/20Alexandre Arnault and Géraldine Guyot
The scion of one of the world's richest men, LVMH boss Bernard, married his fashion designer bride in a star-studded ceremony in Venice in October. Guests including Pharrell Williams, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were in attendance, with the bride wearing a stunning high-neck lace gown, featuring a full skirt and long sleeves. Her long blonde hair was elegantly pinned in a low chignon, with a long veil attached, with milliner Stephen Jones by her side as she entered the church. The couple had previously tied the knot in Arnault's native Paris last year.
Instagram / ivygetty20/20Ivy Getty and Tobias Alexander Engel
The wedding of J Paul Getty's great-granddaugher, Ivy Getty, to photographer beau Tobias Alexander Engel, was both high-fashion and peak-Hollywood: the bride wore a custom-made gown by John Galliano, emblazoned with mirror mosaics, while superstar Anya Taylor-Joy acted as Maid of Honour and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi conducted proceedings.
