Remember before everyone had royal baby fever, when we just had royal wedding fever? Remember taking bets on what Meghan’s wedding dress would look like? Remember waking up at the crack of dawn because the wedding was in the very early morning in North America time zones? Remember asking “who gets married at noon anyway” approximately 500 times?
It’s now been a full year since all of those conversations, because Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot on May 19, 2018. Life just flies by, doesn’t it?
Because we’re very happy for them — and extremely invested in the relationship of two people we’ll never meet — here’s a look back at the wedding of the century.
The “official” commemoration
Sussex Royal, the Duke and Duchess’ official Instagram account, marked the first anniversary on May 19, 2019 with a video set beautifully to a gospel version of “This Little Light of Mine.” It showed behind-the-scenes pictures from the day, including a sweet shot of Prince Charles ushering Meghan down the aisle.
The crowd
An estimated 150,000 people stood outside Windsor Castle to watch the wedding — including an Ontario family who camped out for three days in order to get a good spot. The crowds were so big they could apparently be seen from space.
And nearly 30 million people tuned in worldwide to watch the wedding, despite all the time zone challenges. Tell that to the next person who asks “who cares about the royals?”
The guests
It was just, you know, a modest 600-person guest list that included almost everyone in the British Royal Family as well as Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, George and Amal Clooney, Idris Elba, Victoria and David Beckham, Carey Mulligan, Priyanka Chopra, Jessica and Ben Mulroney, and Elton John, among many others.
The (first) dress
Meghan defied expectation and went simple and classic with her Givenchy wedding gown, designed by Meghan’s frequent collaborator Clare Waight Keller. The boatneck style, with its straight-across neckline, evoked old Hollywood glamour, and became Meghan’s signature style for a little while.
The 16-ft. long veil was made from silk tulle. Hand-embroidered flowers along the trim represented each of the 53 Commonwealth countries. (Canada flower’s in case you were wondering, is the bunchberry.)
The dress is now on display at Windsor Castle, if you wanted to visit it in the flesh.
The wedding party
As is tradition, lots of cute royal kids were in the wedding, including Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Harry’s goddaughters Florence van Cutsem and Zalie Warren and his godson Jasper Dyer were also in the wedding, as were Meghan’s goddaughters Remi and Rylan Litt.
Also included: the three children of Jessica and Ben Mulroney. Then-four-year-old Ivy was one of the bridesmaids, while then-seven-year-old twins John and Brian Mulroney, who were page boys, stole the show by making hilarious faces.
Prince Charles walked Meghan down the aisle.
The ceremony
The wedding itself incorporated lots of American traditions with British ones, focusing particularly on Meghan’s African-American heritage.
American bishop and civil rights leader Michael Bruce Curry delivered the sermon, telling the bride and groom that there was “power in love″ and that “love can help and heal when nothing else can.″
Before the wedding started, guests were treated to songs performed by The Kingdom Choir, a British gospel choir. During the ceremony, music came from Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a cellist who was only 19 at the time.
Harry and Meghan were declared husband and wife by the archbishop of Canterbury.
The cake
Lemon elderflower sponge cake, with buttercream icing, topped with fresh flowers. Yes, please.
The lunch
At St. George’s Hall in Windsor Castle, the couple and their guests ate Scottish langoustines, grilled English asparagus and croquette of confit Windsor lamb, fricassee of free range chicken with morel mushrooms and young leeks, pea and mint risotto, and ten-hour slow-roasted Windsor pork belly with apple compote and crackling.
The second dress
Meghan changed into a reception dress, a white silk crepe Stella McCartney gown with a high neck and bare shoulders, for the party portion of the day.
The newlyweds got into into a James Bond-esque silver-blue electric Jaguar E-Type Concept Zero and drove to the party.
The reception
Tragically, this is the section of their wedding we all have the least information about. We do know that Elton John reportedly performed, and that Idris Elba DJ’d, but we have precious little information other than that.
If you were at the wedding and want to share, please get in touch. We still have many questions.