It’s not like I’m some towering expert on Luxembourg royalty, but I thought you guys would enjoy royal wedding photos, because everybody loves royal wedding photos, right? Prince Felix of Luxembourg married a commoner named Claire Lademacher this past week. On Tuesday, they had a simple civil service in Germany (I’m including a few photos at the end of the post) and then on Saturday, they had the big church wedding in France. For the church wedding, Claire (who is a 28-year-old German doctorate student who has spent a significant amount of time in Atlanta, Georgia) wore Elie Saab. Thoughts on the dress? I actually like it a lot. The lace doesn’t seem stiff or old-ladyish. Very fresh, pretty and classic.
What’s more exciting than getting married? Doing it twice in the same week!
Prince Félix of Luxembourg and his bride, Claire Lademacher, did just that when they wed in big church wedding on Saturday, four days after officially tying the knot in a simple civil service.
Tuesday’s ceremony was an intimate affair held in the bride’s home country of Germany, and she wore a knee-length white peplum dress with cap sleeves, but the 28-year-old doctorate student pulled out all the stops for her fairytale nuptials in front of 350 guests in a 13th century church in the French town of Saint-Maxim-La-Sainte-Baum.
The new princess – who spent part of her youth in Atlanta – wore an ivory silk Elie Saab gown embroidered with Chantilly lace floral motifs and a 10-foot-long train, Hello magazine reports.
Félix, 29, who is second in line to the throne, met his bride when she was studying in Switzerland and the pair announced their engagement in December 2012.
Luxembourg is super-small, I know, but does anyone else thing it’s weird that the second in line to the Luxembourg throne didn’t get married anywhere IN Luxembourg? Civil ceremony in Germany, church wedding in France, they met and fell in love in Switzerland? Sure. It just seems weird to me. Anyway, congrats to Prince Felix and lovely Claire. She’s looks SO happy. Do you think she’s just thinking to herself, “OMG I’M A PRINCESS!!!”
Here are the pics from their civil ceremony on Tuesday. I do think this woman is very pretty, but I can’t believe she wore a PEPLUM to her royal civil ceremony. So wrong.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
That is a gorgeous wedding dress and they are a gorgeous couple. Congrats to them 🙂
What a good-looking couple! He is hot. Congrats to them.
you should have seen him as a teenager. He lost his looks.
I have no idea who these people are but I love her veil/train.
Gorgeous, gorgeous couple, and such pretty pictures! Both seem so happy and relaxed… sigh.
Also: DIMPLES. Super. Cute.
Outside of England, second (for now, till his bro has offsprings) in line to the throne doesnt mean much. I think the other 2 brothers lead fairly normal lives, with non-royal jobs etc. Claire seems like someone who’ll carry on with her previous career.
LOVE her dress. The lace – if that’s what it is – doesnt even seem like lace in a traditional sense. More like some sort of whimsical ornamentation. So lovely.
beautiful couple, she looks like a princess
What? A woman getting a PhD who didn’t spend her whole life sitting around waiting to marry a rich Prince? I already love her. Very pretty woman. She could be wearing a sack and still be pretty. Prince Felix gets props for going to her home country and marrying her there first. THIS is what I call a modern royal marriage not that bull the British royal family with Waity is trying to sell.
I spent my whole young life assuming that educated, successful women were more desirable to accomplished men. It’s so bizarre to me that there would be women younger than me who weren’t raised to believe that – but on the other hand, is Wills really an “accomplished” man other than by accident of birth? Oops. This is such a lovely thread. I don’t mean to start a Waity debate here, I swear.
🙂 you make such a good point. It’s not like he is that interesting or accomplished either, I guess “waity” fits well to him.
Bettyrose you might like this……it’s from a few years ago but I have always remembered it, it went viral for a few months. A Criaglist response on what a in intelligent successful man really wants in a wife.
http://www.cosmictap.com/a-brilliant-craigslist-thread-buy-or-lease/
@ Flower – that was an entertaining read, but all it told me was that especially high earning men are turned off by shameless gold diggers (i.e. they prefer a more subtle approach). But to be fair, I didn’t mean to equate accomplished with high earning. I travel in a world of educators/educational administrators, so I guess to me an accomplished man is educated, well read, well traveled, goofy, adventurous and seeks the same.
Many european princesses and queens have that profile, especially those who marry princes who also studied a lot.
To name a few : Mathilde of Belgium, Claire of Belgium, Leatizia of Spain, Mary of Danemark and mainly Maxima of The Netherlands.
All those women were professionals and college graduated before they married. Some of them are even more educated than their husband.
Maxima already spoke several languages fluently before she met Willem Alexander. She spoke her native spanish but also portuguese, italian and English. Then she learned dutch and french without any accent as soon as she dated the prince while living part time in Brussels where she worked in finance.
The interviews she gave weeks before tying the knots in a perfect dutch accent were mindblogging. You would think that it was a native who spoke.
Even the always sad Charlene of Monaco still can’t speak french properly (she has acknowledged it) after more than a decade with Albert. She just understands a little bit and only knows and replies in every interview in English while being the princess of a francophone country.
Queen Maxima is one of the most intelligent and educated queen/prince from the whole european Ghota.
Please dont put the thing from Tasmania in a list with other accomplished European Princesses/Queens. Mary has a dinky degree from a dinky University and still CANNOT speak Danish. Her Australian accent has been mangled and removed so much she kind of sounds Faux British when trying to speak. She was a receptionist at a real estate agent and had a very unseemly reputation i belive. She is an embarassment to both countries.
All these women are very acomplished, ad that’s great, but did they all come from wealth? Is any of them actually from humble background?
She’s beautiful, elegant, and clearly very bright. If I was a prince and got my pick of women, this is the sort of woman I’d choose.
Love how the lace and the whole dress is soft and delicate. It doesn’t look like an ironing board like Waity Katy did. Glad she wore her hair back in a chignon too. Very beautiful!
Love that wedding dress. ditto tiara. major love for that tiara.
on a snarky note, the Europeans have managed to pick PROPERLY accomplished women. why is it that the BRF is unaccepting of such women??!!!
Good question.
because such women would reveal how unaccomplished the royal family is in comparison. without royal titles or money, the BRF is not spectacular in any way.
Major love of the tiara, here, too. The dress is beautiful, not my style but I can appreciate the design and it suits her. On the BRF, maybe they are afraid a bride will overshadow the prince, or perhaps they really don’t want anyone smarter than them…..(but that wouldn’t take much)
Maybe because the Europeans want more than just a pretty face and like to talk to their wives about something more substantial than fashion and horses. Meaning the European royal men have brains, want women with brains and children with brains. The British royals are a bunch of inbred spoiled brats who just want a pretty wife no smarter than them.
Ditto! Major tiara junkie here.
This one reminds me of Princess Letizia’s Mellerio Floral tiara, which is one of my all-time FAVES. Princess Claire looks lovely and appears to be a truly substantial person. Thanks for the story, Kaiser.
I agree!
The Spanish Mellerio floral tiara is my 2nd favourite, next to the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland that Queen Elizabeth II has, which IMO is the tiara of tiaras
I’m lovin that tiara as well!!
I’ve been dying to talk about her dress. It’s absolutely gorgeous. So elegant and sophisticated. Smart, educated and she lived in Atlanta too? Love her.
The dress is beautiful! If you look on the Elie Saab website at Haute, this is the first dress shown on the runway. Looks like a less shear fabric was layered under the lace for her dress through.
Lilleth Crane and George of the Jungle look fabs together!
🙂
I love her dress… Such a lovely couple. Good luck to them both!
She is 28?? Wow. It’s not that she looks “old” but she looks way past 28. I would put her at 35. Is this a European thing? I find European women look so much older than their North American counterparts. Florence Welch, anyone? I still can’t believe she’s only 27. She looks 47 and has a for a while. And Catherine Zeta Jones? Remember how everyone’s been accusing her of lying about her age for years (she hasn’t been)? When I was in college in Italy for a semester we had several Italian students who hosted us to several events and I experienced the same. These women who, like me and my classmates, were 19/20 years old looked SO much older than we did.
I was thinking the same thing. She looks much older than 28 & I think he looks older than 29. Weird.
Yep. And it’s not like they look bad or worn out or anything like that. I can’t explain it.
In my experience, European women in their early 20s seem more mature than their American counterparts. They don’t actually look older, they just carry themselves with more sophistication. They seem more worldly. They are more inclined to dress like adults.
Ya, but she’s not in her early 20’s and i don’t think it is about how she carries herself or sophistication. Her face and his look older than their years. Not in a rough way, just more mature than I would expect from 2 people who aren’t even 30 yet.
yes, she looks “more grown-up”. he looks younger beside her
http://static1.purepeople.com/articles/4/11/27/54/@/1015273-claire-lademacher-and-prince-felix-of-620×0-1.jpg
They smoke.
I don’t like the dress. His sister-in-law had a prettier one.
I don’t like the lace on the dress. It’s too much. But I’m very happy for her.
Check this out, it’s not that she led a common life – she’s extremely privileged:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Claire_of_Luxembourg
AdditioN: It looks as though they have known each other since boarding school in Switzerland…
Wow!!! What a life she’s had and she’s only 28.
Commoner doesn’t mean poor, just not born to the titled and royals. Her family is rich but she is very accomplished, using her privilege to get educated and work hard:
“Having obtained her undergraduate degree, Lademacher worked in publishing for Condé Nast Publications in New York and Munich.[1] While an employee of Condé Nast Publications, she made the decision to pursue a career in academic bioethics.[4] She proceeded to obtain a master’s degree in bioethics at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, receiving it with the distinction summa cum laude. At the same time, she was working for the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights, concerning herself primarily with research, event coordination and communications.[1] In 2012, Lademacher was in Rome, preparing a doctorate in the field of organ donation ethics at Regina Apostolorum.[2] The subject of her dissertation is the bioethical evaluation of consent for organ donation. The dissertation focuses on the situations in Germany, Austria, and the United States.[4] For several months in the fall of 2012, she was a visiting scholar at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University.[1][4]”
Well, no one can accuse her of getting a MRS degree!
privileged or not-she’s clearly been working hard and not just lounging about on vacation or parties. MS and PhD work in bioethics is nothing to sneeze at.
I think it just works in her favour:
Her father is self-made with a wealth of close to $1 billion. Yet Claire doesn’t behave like a trust fund baby, jet-setting all over the world and just depending on her father’s money to support her, or getting some bogus degree so she could claim she went to University. Her education and background also don’t point to someone who was raised to believe that her most important goal in life is to marry someone equally rich.
She is working on a PhD, she has held a job, and she looks to be an independent, intelligent woman. Her father’s work ethic must have been passed onto her and her brother, something that cannot be seen in many wealth, spoiled kids.
She is getting her Phd in ‘Organ Donating Ethics? Common, how compelicated ‘Organ Donation’ can be that there is actually a Phd stream dedicated to it? She is loaded and is studying somthing stupid. In Canada who ever is not smart enought to get to university if they have the money will go to a university in US. You can easily buy your university years in US. I know a few people who were not doing well acacemically in Canada and went to US, now they are physicians. Bottom line who care if you are good in what you do or not. Sorry but they are making what a doctor makes now, their academic background is somthing no body knows and cares about now.!!!
By the way she looks 35 to me and looks way older than this prince.
Question: Do the royal wedding dresses have those lace sleeves because they need to keep their shoulders covered in church or because that’s the trend? I’ve noticed it with the royal weddings posts here that the dresses all follow that pattern.
Is it sad of me that I’m really jealous of her being a doctoral student? We’re about the same age, and I wish I were that far ahead with my studies! And yes, I did the inevitable Kate Middleton comparison. Kate came out wanting.
I don’t care why they wear sleeves I love it and wish it would rub off on the masses. If I have to attend one more wedding with the bride in a strapless princess style gown I’m going to scream. So boring and only like 5% of people have the upperbody to pull off strapless.
When my friends from college started getting married in the late 80s and early 90s the trend was still much like Diana’s dress. It’s funny how dated these looks end up being. Classics like this dress will always look beautiful.
I couldn’t agree more. Why slightly overweight women think they look good is beyond me. You’ve got to be skinny to wear strapless well.
I gotta stand up for my fellow masses on this one. 🙂 I’ve been in three weddings and attended a few more on top of that. All of the brides (and bridesmaids!) had strapless dresses, although not all of them were princess style. And all of them looked beautiful, regardless of body type.
I think the lace sleeves are pretty, but where I’m from, it’s hot and humid and we tend to dress pretty casual on any given day. Sleeves would be out of the norm just because we’d all be wondering if the poor bride were sweltering.
Ironic that you’ve identified the strapless as “princess” style. 😉
I wanted long-sleeved wedding dress but it’s really hard to find one. I ended up wearing a strapless dress and a bolero. I guess if you want to stay within a reasonable budget you have to keep up with fashions…
One need only Google “Modest wedding dresses” and “LDS wedding dresses” to find wedding dresses with sleeves. Not all stores carry modest bridal lines, but luckily there are LDS bridal stores who operate online that can be bought from online.
There are beautiful styles with sleeves that are short, 3/4, and long. Some are lace, some are opaque. They come in all silhouettes, and can be found at reasonable prices.
I love looking at weddings, but I have gotten sick of seeing strapless dresses all the time. Luckily there are many, many Muslim, Jewish, LDS, and catholic brides who wear long sleeve dresses and who have great style.
“You’ve got to be skinny to wear strapless well”
Body judge much? Any style can be chosen and tailored in such a way as to flatter any figure. Far too many females are told they have to be thin to achieve a certain beauty standard.
Of course I understand that some things look better on certain people than others but even body type and weight are not the same thing.
I dont know what happens after a European wedding – dies everyone nibble little crudite under a white canopy? After most American weddings there is a lot of dancing, cheek kissing, photography, toasting and so on etc. a long or lace sleeved dress would melt a bride in the hot, moist region I am from. Cant women getting married in church wear a custom fabric or lace bolero or shrug and then remove that afterwards? Like breakaway warm up pants in the Nba.
You are correct that it’s because they need to keep covered up in church. The same reason you can’t go sleeveless in the Vatican when visiting St. Peter’s.
And I am also so over the strapless wedding dress trend.
I imagine it hard to find pretty dresses with sleeves too, since sleeveless is the trend. I loved Tori Spelling’s first wedding dress. I really wanted something like that.
The churches/buildings they marry in have a strict ‘no uncovered shoulders’ policy. Lace is as close to flaunting their shoulders as it’s going to get.
In Britain, the major churches like Westminster (abbey and Cathedral) and St. Paul’s operate same policy.
I’m glad you chimed in, I feel like you would know these things:
You said major churches in Britain (and Europe as well, I imagine) require covered shoulders. Is it more lax the further away from major you get? Does it depend on denomination?
I’m pretty handy on which American denominations/Churches require modest dress. I don’t have experience with any European churches though.
TheyPromisedMeBeer – The smaller churches have more relaxed ‘inclusive’ rules, but it is entirely upto the local priest/Vicar as to what they enforce or will allow or let slide.
The bigger churches with more religious importance/significance tend to be more strict about the overall rules.
I would say that this only applies with Christian churches and again dependant on branch. The other religions tend to enforce their rules no matter the size of the church.
When in doubt, my rule of thumb is to go conservative with covered shoulders if you are attending a new church anywhere in Britain or Europe. Always.
I think it would be considered disrespectful in most traditional churches to go strapless!
If it’s some rural church in BFE, I doubt anyone cares – except those of us who think a bride should wear something that suits her.
Bare boobs have no place outside of Vegas and I’m not really sure it’s even tasteful there.
That’s the thing, though. The weddings I’ve been in/attended were never in BFE or rural. All of them were at different churches (three of them were Catholic, three were Southern Baptist), and in a conservative part of the US. None of the brides or bridemaids were fussed at for having bare shoulders. I guess it’s just acceptable here? Interestingly enough, at the Catholic weddings the priests were all very sweet about telling the bridal parties how lovely we looked (not in a pervy way, my friends just happened to have nice, chatty priests officiating their weddings). Oh, btw, “bare boobs”? Come on. Bare shoulders, yes, but let’s be fair.
I wouldn’t disrespect a church if it requested that I cover my shoulders. I just find it interesting what the level of dress code is from place to place.
Bare boobs? Strapless doesnt have to mean classless – a bandeau neckline is different from a sweetheart one yet both are strapless.
They’re both so incredibly good looking and they both look so happy that I couldn’t help smiling while looking at their photos. Good luck to them.
She looks lovely, and I love the tiara and veil (and I usually hate most veils).
But why didn’t Prince Felix bother to SHAVE his stubble for the civil ceremony?
Maybe because he looks ten times hotter with the stubble? Just because his wife is a classy, educated woman doesn’t mean she doesn’t like to close her eyes, feel that stubble against her face, and fantasize about being with a bad boy. 😉
Oh see I don’t agree about the stubble – I think he is much sexier without it. The stubble makes him ordinary and banal. Of course that’s subjective and to each their own!
I love the more casual looks for the civil ceremony. They only had 5 guests for that one-and the peplum is actually really pretty. They both look so happy in every picture from then.
Usuually there are some guests with good looks to, but her sister in law princess stephanie looked dreadful (wearing something my mom would wear) Her other sister in law wore a Jenny Packham dress that Kate Middleton has already worn, and I have no idea what’s going on with the hat from the girlfriend of the monoaco prince. It looks like star trek.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2427976/Luxembourgs-Prince-Felix-marries-Claire-Lademacher-second-time-days.html
It really does! Like some black wire twisted around her head. Super weird.
she looks stunning!
that´s so sweet:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wvuBavKMYqQ/Ujh2dL8YppI/AAAAAAABCX0/gye-jySTPvw/s1600/Civil+Wedding+Prince+Felix+Luxembourg+Claire+w6RmHkdREFrx.jpg
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mMmy2zfiuvk/Ujh3bgOlJFI/AAAAAAABCYk/f-3Rpg6aeUs/s1600/Civil+Wedding+Prince+Felix+Luxembourg+Claire+RbJqX68urmUx.jpg
Her makeup is perfection!
Claire looked beautiful. The hair, makeup, and jewelry were very simple, but you can tell it was done by a professional who knew what looked best on her.
That wedding dress is divine. The lace is exquisite. I think the lace detailing is similar to how it was done on Kate’s wedding skirt, except Kate’s didn’t properly show it off because the colour of the lace and the colour of the skirt’s fabric were the same.
Saab knows how to do lace gowns and showed off the lace properly.
I love floral tiaras. The tiara is a loan from the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg/Mother of the Groom.
The wedding gown is gorgeous, they make a lovely couple.
Royalty or not, let’s just see more wedding pictures of stunningly beautiful couples who we don’t have any dirty gossip on. It’s nice to just adore people in blissful ignorance once in awhile. 🙂
I think I would only wear a peplum if I were pregnant . . .
they said they want to start a family as soon as possible. Perhaps…
They want to live in the south of France and want to run the chateau of the family. They both love France because both of the families have houses there and they spent most of the holidays there.
Lace has been back in vogue for wedding dresses for quite a while now, not old-ladyish. The whole Vera Wang strapless, tight dress, with the black or plum sash has been done to death. It’s nice to see more diversity in styles of wedding dresses again.
The tiara & dress are lovely. Felix is quite baby-faced & Claire looks older than she is. The good news is that she’ll look almost exactly the same in 25 years.
That is one beautiful nose she has. Perfection. The tiara is stunning.
I don’t envy her marrying a prince. However, I do envy her life of priviledge. I mean, she has accomplished so much partly because she had access to many opportunities a poor commoner cannot even dream of.
Me, I cannot even go back to college. Let alone find a job at the UNESCO.
I love her dress and I hope she keeps on working and doesn’t become a childbearing machine.
The privilege is a big help I agree but there are so many children of privilege who only use the money to party, wear designer clothes and jet set. Sounds like she can read and write fluently in German, Italian, French and English. She is using her privilege to be educated and work as a bioethicist. If just 50% of the rich privileged kids were like her I have no problems. Her father is a billionaire and if she inherits can set up scholarships for less privileged people to study in her field.
Agree, and I hope she does as you say. I just do not trust the royals that much.
All I am saying is that I am more impresed by poor but accomplished commoners than by rich kids -even if they did not squandered their wealth in parties and drugs.
No, not gorgeous.
I hope this means the trends are moving away from strapless dresses. I am so sick of seeing brides waltz down the aisle with DD breasts bulging out all over the place. For the last decade that’s all I saw, no matter how much the bride weighed–strapless every time. Wearing white is supposed to indicate a virginal bride. Long time since it really meant that, but you don’t have to look like a hooker. I’ve just seen a thousand too many whose cup did indeed runneth all over the place. Ick. Hope that style has been replace by classier gowns, or at least the women wearing strapless are slim and trim.
I liked both dresses; they’re tasteful and pretty.
I love, love Luxembourg. My husband and I have lived in Germany for the past three years, and Luxembourg is just a short drive away. Its tiny and beautiful.
Beautiful bride. Beautiful wedding gown.
They are an attractive couple!
Oh and waity wedding was boring, boring couple, the didnt look in love, william married her to make babies, poor lazy waity!!
Oh F**k. That’s like my wedding dress brought to life. It looks so damn adorable. I MUST HAVE THAT DRESS!! Or at least have a good tailor make a similar design for my 5-foot frame. LOL