6.30 pm - Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel,
greeting the People together from the Palace.
Around 500.000 people were gathered on the streets of Stockholm on this day (19 June 2010).
Crown Princess Victoria speaking to the people.
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I had not really planned to keep watching the whole evening, but I ended up doing so. It was really quite a unique occasion in many ways. Swedish Television was allowed 10 cameras within the palace, rolling most of the evening. We did not get to watch them eat (four courses) but we got to listen to the speeches, and see the bride cut the wedding cake, and the newlywed couple dance the first waltz. I have to say that they succeeded unusually well in making this whole wedding a celebration for “all the people” and just not for the guests invited. (Not so few. Around 1200 something in the church, and 600 something at the dinner.)
8:15 pm – Arriving to the Wedding Dinner Party
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Eva Westling, mother of the bridegroom.
Queen Silvia and Olle Westling, father of the groom.
The happy couple surrounded by servants in historical uniforms.
The Queen and Prince Daniel’s father
Princess Madeleine, sister of the bride
Prince Carl Philip (brother of the bride),
sitting next to Anna Westling (sister of the groom)
The Table of Honour
Wine being served
A glimpse of one of the four courses.
Stockholm at 9.20 pm
Daughter listening to her father
A Toast
10:50 pm - The father of the groom speaking
Son listening to his father
11:23 pm – The Bridegroom speaking
Touched and happy bride listening to her husband
The speeches at this wedding were all very good, and with quite a personal touch. One thing that sticks in my memory, is Daniel himself saying that it took more than one kiss to turn him into a prince. (The couple have known each other eight years.)
11:47 pm
The cutting of the Wedding Cake (a 3 m tall creation)
The couple with two of the young bridesmaids
Mingling with the guests
00:35 am, entering the ball room
ushered in by the Romeo and Juliet Choir
(choir members wearing the red dresses)
The First Waltz
The King and Queen joining
The King now dancing with the mother of the groom,
and the Queen with the father of the groom.
And then, finally, the TV cameras were turned off…
… and phew, this crazy blogger obsessed with taking photos from the TV screen could finally also put her camera down and go to bed …
-♥-♥-♥-
7 comments:
I love,love,love,love,love,love,love this post. this is wonderful, it is like I was there. thanks for staying up late as a papparazzi. you did an amazing job of reporting. no wonder the bride is beautiful, her mother, brother and sister are all beautiful. love the comment about more than one kiss on that frog named Daniel.
I just love this!! You are a fabulous reporter!! I love royal weddings, and this is just like I was there!! Two things have really gotten my interest here. WHEN does it get dark there? Gosh, it's always dark here by 9 P.M.! And the wedding cake is so strange looking, it doesn't have any decorations or color on it. I love the waltz and watching others waltz. The princesses sister is very cute. I can see why you were so tired, what with staying up late to snap for us, but just think of the poor princess!! All that late celebrating, plus you know she must have had a case of nerves!
Thank you. This might be a dangerous path I have entered. At least until now blogging has at least also got me a bit of physical exercise, going out for walks with the camera. Now that I've acquired a taste for just taking photos of the TV screen who knows if I'll ever get out again...
(LOL)
About the daylight: I included the photos of Stockholm to give you an idea of our long summer days (and short nights). Actually the summer solstice is tomorrow and then it turns and the days will start getting shorter again. The time of year makes a big difference at this latitude. Stockholm is at approx 59°N. Today in Stockholm the sun rose at 3.27 AM and sets at 10.11 PM. Where I live the sunrise today was about half an hour later while sunset differs only a few minutes from Stockholm. It does not completely dark even at midnight on a clear day. In the very north of Sweden, close to or above the polar circle, the sun does not set at all during the weeks around midsummer.
About the wedding cake: This was a a cake made especially for this wedding (new recipe). It was made in the shape of a four-leaf clover (symbol of luck). It was white with decorations in pale yellow and blue, but the decorations were on one side only and I did not get any photos of those. It had 11 layers and was 3 m high. Among the ingredients were almond maringue, strawberry curd, champagne mousse and chocolate crisp.
Looks like a gala affair. Not many royal weddings to ooh and aah over any longer. Your princess is lovely as are her sister and brother. A handsome family altogether which is what we read about in fairy tales, right?
Well, Monica, you even got me enthralled. I cant say that with all the problems we've had in the UK with Royal marriages that I would be in the slightest bit interested but you did a great job of bringing this one to us. Thanks.
C. Girl: Yes, the whole event has very much of fairy tale ring to it. The monarchy as political system is questioned every now and then, and in some ways it does seem a bit outdated. But our royal family is rather popular - not least the crown princess - and I think this marriage has only increased their popularity. There is also more than a pretty face to the crown princess; I think she'll probably make a very capable queen when that time comes.
GB - Thanks. I had not planned to become a "wedding photograper"; it was a spur-of-the-moment thing that I picked up the camera, but then I got caught up in it... And when I saw that quite a few of the photos actually came out better than I thought they would, I decided to blog them. Mostly thinking of the parts of the world that do not have royalties of their own ;)
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