Photo: The Telegraph UK
Top British eventer Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, the England rugby captain, married on Saturday in a fairly low key wedding (if you can say that a wedding that the Queen attends is low key!)
According to The Telegraph newspaper; "The groom arrived with his rugby mates and chewed gum outside the church. The bride wore an off-the-peg dress, said she would keep her maiden name and promised to honour, not to obey. As the Queen's grand-daughter, Zara Phillips, married Mike Tindall, the England rugby captain in Edinburgh yesterday, there was none of the high pomp and ceremony that marked the marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton in Westminster Abbey in April. And there was not a politician in sight. This was a relaxed, modern affair in glorious sunshine, a private wedding for friends at the Canongate Kirk on Edinburgh's Royal Mile "
Zara is well known for her low key style (the Country Life frontispiece she featured in for her engagement saw her dressed in jeans, Musto polar fleece and accompanied by her black labrador) and so it was maybe not surprising that she chose an off-the-peg ivory silk faille and silk duchesse satin gown by Stewart Parvin. It may have been off the peg but Zara looks stunning in the photographs. Their wedding bands were made of platinum and were bought by the groom; traditionally Royal brides have wedding bands made of Welsh gold but as Zara, despite being 13th in line for the throne, is a non-HRH, Mike had to fork out for those!
I must admit to a soft spot for the groom as he is a West Yorkshire boy - my very own birthplace and still home to my family. You need to know West Yorkshire; famous for its textile mills (indeed the groom, best-man and ushers wore black morning suits by the bespoke London tailors, Cad & the Dandy, made with black "barathea" cloth sourced from Huddersfield, in a nod to the Tindalls' Yorkshire roots) to fully appreciate this wedding - it certainly is one I would have loved to be at. I'm beginning to wonder if West Yorkshire is making a bid for supremacy as the other recent royal bride also has roots there on her father's side. It seems that the reception was a bit of a hoot - no doubt there were lots of eventing personalities there, including William Fox-Pitt as well as the 'rugger-buggers' I wish them and their future progeny (with West Yorkshire blood) all the very best
