Golf time

Victoria and Daniel are spending couple of days with Daniel's parents now and they are photographed while they are playing golf with friends. I love this photo and it seems honeymoon is not over for them :)

They are home!

Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel landed to Stockholm yesterday evening at 21:00.According to Aftonbladet article they will visit Öland and Prince Daniel's parents in Ockelbo before they have their first official duty on 21st of August. It's nice to see them home.

History and Traditions

Few public events measure up to a royal wedding in terms of their splendour. During the festivities, ancient traditions are interwoven with modern royal ceremonies. This happy family event is also a public celebration.

Gustav Vasa

Even Gustav Vasa knew how to put on a show. He decided that the Archbishop should officiate at his wedding, a tradition that will be respected at the Crown Princess' wedding.

Canopies

Gustav Vasa and his bride, Katarina of Sachsen-Lauenburg, rode in procession from the palace to the church. They processed under canopies, which were carried above their heads. The arrival of the royal procession was announced with drums and a flourish of trumpets. The last bridal couple to use the velvet canopies on their way to Stockholm Cathedral from the Royal Palace was Crown Prince Karl (XV) and Princess Lovisa of the Netherlands in 1850.

Ceremonies that have been preserved

Several ceremonies have been preserved from those times, including page attendants, parading royal bodyguards and grenadier guards. As has the ritual of placing Royal crowns, the principal symbols of the country and the monarch as Head of State, on the velvet cushion at the altar.

The first Bernadotte wedding

Karl XIV Johan became heavily involved in the wedding between his son Crown Prince Oscar (I) and Princess Josefina in 1823. He abandoned several of the oldest ceremonies, including the ancient tradition in which the women guests undress the bride and lead her to the bridal bed. He also put an end to the public supper, the torchlight dance and tournament.
Kronprinsparet Gustaf (VI) Adolf och Louise ankomst till Stockholm 10 december1923. Foto: Erik Holmén.

The arrival of the Crown Prince Couple Gustaf VI Adolf and Louise in Stockholm on 10 December 1923. Photo: Erik Holmén.
Royal procession becomes cortège

The royal processions to the church have today been replaced by a cortège through Stockholm following the wedding ceremony. The bridal couple is taken in a parade barouche drawn by four or six horses à la Daumont (jockey rider on the left hand side horses).


19 June

Traditions that have been added over time include the choice of the wedding date, 19 June. Crown Princess Victoria shares the date of her wedding in 2010 with Queen Josefina in 1823, Queen Lovisa in 1850 and Queen Silvia in 1976.


Princess Sophie of Nassau (Queen Sofia) entered Stockholm on 19 June 1857 following her marriage with Crown Prince Oscar (II) in Wiesbaden.

Cameo tiara

Queen Josefina brought with her a precious collection of jewels to Sweden in 1823. When our current King's sister, Princess Birgitta, chose Queen Josefina's cameo tiara as her bridal crown for her wedding with Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern in 1961, she started a new tradition among the Bernadotte brides. Since her wedding, the cameo tiara has been worn by Princess Désirée in 1964 and Queen Silvia in 1976.

Live broadcast

The first time a royal wedding was filmed was in 1923, when Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) and the Duke of York (George VI), were married in England. In Sweden, live coverage is now a natural element of royal weddings since the royal wedding in 1976.

Floral Decorations

Floral wedding

Stockholm will wake up to a floral extravaganza on Saturday 19 June!

The floral decorations that frame the royal wedding link royal traditions with popular wedding customs. The idea has been for the wedding's floral expression to capture and reflect the surrounding architecture. The dazzling decoration of the Royal Palace, Stockholm Cathedral, Skeppsholmen, Logården and Lejonbacken has been inspired by Swedish early summer flowers.

Midsummer light

The colour scheme of the decorations has been chosen to capture the clear Nordic Midsummer light. Pink roses, peonies, sweet peas, lilac and hydrangeas, together with lilies of the valley and gypsophila are interspersed with delphiniums in shades of blue and white. There are Swedish wild flowers from Ockelbo and majestic rhododendrons from Sofiero Palace.

Stockholm Cathedral

A pale blue carpet leads from the Royal Palace to Stockholm Cathedral. The carpet covers the pavements of Trångsund and the aisle in the cathedral.

The stone plinths on the steps up to the cathedral are decorated with wrought iron obelisks covered with birch leaves. The obelisks are flanked by flower beds of lobelia in shades of light blue.

Six-metre high floral columns

Stockholm Cathedral's brick pillars are covered with six-metre high floral columns. Blue and white delphiniums reach for the cathedral vaults. The same height effect is followed at the end of each pew. Flowers here are entwined in varying fields of colour to create an asymmetrical colour effect.

The steps in front of the altar have been extended and the steps at the sides are decorated to look like beds of pink summer flowers. There are pink sweet peas on the altar. The sides and corners of the altar rails are adorned with high cones of blue delphiniums.

Skeppsbron - seven-metre high triumphal arch of birch leaves

At Logårdstrappan, on their arrival by the Royal Barge Vasaorden from the Vasa Museum to Skeppsbron, the Bridal Couple will be greeted by a seven-metre high triumphal arch of birch.

Stockholm Cathedral's organ inspiration for shape of triumphal arch

The custom of raising triumphal arches like this one is a long and popular tradition at Swedish weddings. The triumphal arch also has its roots in the temporary structures that were used on special royal occasions such as coronations and weddings. The shape of the triumphal arch is based on the façade of the organ in Stockholm Cathedral.

Skeppsbron - green meadows and pink flower beds

Skeppsbron has been transformed into rolling green meadows and gourd-shaped beds in pale shades of pink, blue, white and yellow.

The blue carpet continues towards the steps at Logården. On the parapets there are twenty blue monogrammed urns filled with floral spheres, made up of pale blue bluebells and campanula.

Royal broadcloth featuring Crown Princess Couple's monogram

A new royal broadcloth is hanging over the parapet at Yttre Logårdstrappan, embroidered with The Crown Princess Couple's monogram. The broadcloth will be rolled down so that it is visible to the crowd at Skeppsbron when the Bride and Groom have exchanged their vows.

Lejonbacken

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel will walk via the Inner Courtyard to the Swedish Choral Society's and the general public's choral tribute at Lejonbacken. A royal coverlet of blue velvet embroidered with gold crowns hangs from the stone parapet. The parapet is flanked by beds of summer flowers.

The floral arrangements have been created by the Royal Court's florist Claes Carlsson. A team of some 60 volunteers from Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Denmark put the finishing touches to the decorations the evening before the wedding day.

The speech of the Archbishop

To live a good life, you must be allowed to take responsibility, to have an influence.

We wish each of us the possibility of making our way through life successfully and of having control over our lives.
Your situation, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel (we can now use this title for the first time), is both shared and unique. You'll be taking on tasks that you won't be able to turn down — but that you can influence. One of you has had many years to prepare for and live this life — and one of you only a few. You won't have complete control over your lives — but you will successfully make your way through life if you keep your focus on people other than yourselves, on wider contexts, on society, on family and on the future. "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ."

We wish each of us the possibility of being needed and useful.
There are several stages of usefulness. Each individual needs to think several steps ahead. What will be the consequences of this choice or that choice? What am I capable of — and what should I do even though I wonder whether I can actually do it? None of us is indispensable, not even a crown princess or a prince. But we are still needed. We can all be called into question, not least if we are public figures. Criticism costs nothing, not even when it's spiteful. But we all still need to try to make a positive contribution using our talents.

Your usefulness in major contexts will perhaps be clearest when you can stand up for important values that are under threat, such as gratitude, a sense of belonging during crises and losses, hopefulness in troubled times, and indignation about and commitment to combating breaches of human rights. Your significance to loyalty and fellowship in society, with free scope for true, vital democracy and debate, may be great.

At the same time, you can easily be reduced to people who add sparkle to an event, or to lowest common denominators. A great deal may be expected of you that fundamentally does not seem that important to you. May you in such cases be able to maintain your curiosity and enthusiasm!

So, you are now husband and wife. Privately, you have set up a 'refuge' that has now been confirmed as publicly as is possible. Through marriage, a bridge is forged between the most personal side of your lives and the public side. "Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." We who all over world are following your wedding are responsible for helping you with this. We have prayed for you, we will carry on praying for you and thinking of you, and will help you to stay together — in the same way as we have done at all other weddings we have been to, and will attend in the future!

Within the family, space can be made for openness and reciprocity that could never be accommodated in public life, with its pressure to perform. Within the family you have each other, because you love each other and want this sense of belonging together to form a reliable and steadfast foundation for your lives. You do not need to prove anything to each other — but you do need to focus on each other. "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn."

We wish each of us the possibility of being carried and of accepting help.
Independence, self-determination and freedom are important concepts. Nobody should need to crawl; nobody should need to be subservient. Feeling that you´re in someone's debt is difficult.

Being the underdog means being on shaky ground if you cannot trust the other person. In society at large and in public life, this is often the reality. In a close relationship, when everything works out as we wish, things are different. Mutual, secure, loving dependence on the other person gives us a sense of well-being. This is what the two of you are experiencing. May your refuge remain free and protected, but still welcoming for those you hold dearest!

And a lifetime can be long. A strong person can become weak, and a person born weak can become strong. This is something you will have to deal with in your family. A person who feels secure has the courage to be carried!

In a close and trusting relationship, you can pray together and individually. Use this power!

"... love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." God manifests Himself through love. And, according to our faith, he also manifests Himself to those who do not believe they know God!

We wish each of us the possibility of getting a second chance when we fall short.
I do not believe that anyone lives up to what he or she would ideally like to live up to. We all have our shortcomings. The excellent ethical principles of loving your neighbour as yourself and doing to others what you would have them do to you are beautiful, but they´re difficult. Sometimes, when you look at all your shortcomings, the self-contempt becomes overwhelming.

You are now married. You have come so close to each other that you know that your love is mutual and that you have the capacity to forgive each other. This means that your love for each other can also accommodate failure and weakness!

You have not done anything to deserve life. Nobody has. It is given to us. The air, the existence of the universe and relative equilibrium, memories and hopes. It is given to us by God, who wants good things for us. The God of Love. Through what Jesus did for us, we know that God forgives and believes that we deserve to live and get another chance, even though we fall short!

We wish each of us the possibility of making our way through life successfully and of having control over our lives. We wish each of us the possibility of being needed and useful. We wish each of us the possibility of being carried and of accepting help. We wish each of us the possibility of getting a second chance when we fall short. We wish the two of you all this!

"I pray that [the Father] out of his glorious riches ... may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Stand firm and be constantly rooted in him."

Fullscreen Stockholm Palace

This is a great photo that you can zoom every detail of the Palace during the Royal Wedding.

http://gigapan.org/gigapans/fullscreen/52304/

Honeymoon

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel are on their honeymoon at Bora Bora.

Honeymoon

Victoria and Daniel are spending their honeymoon in Tahiti and gave an exclusive interview to Expressen. They mentioned that they are very happy to able to spend time all alone together and thankfull to Swedish people for celebrating their marriage vividly.

Charlene Wittstock at Royal Wedding

Well I won't write about Charlene Wittstock but after announcement of the Official Engagement with Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco I naturally changed my mind. At wedding she was with royals but of course she didn't wear anything majestic, she is not a royal yet after all. However she looked elegant, she always has this fragile look and I guess it's like a tradition to look elegant and fragile at Prince's Palace of Monaco. I can't help to think about Grace Kelly when I heard the news. Can Chalene beat her? I guess the answer is no but I am sure she may turn out to be something extraordinary. It's a mystery now. We will see. And I can announce that a new blog about her will be on it's way. Stay tuned!

Tiaras of Belgian Royals at Royal Wedding- Queen Paola

Queen Elisabeth’s Diamond Bandeau Tiara is an art deco tiara and it was made in the early 20th century for Queen Elisabeth. Queen Elisabeth married the future King Albert I in 1900. She is the grandmother of the current King Albert II and of course the great-grandmother of Prince Philippe.

Tiaras of Belgian Royals at Royal Wedding- Princess Mathilde

This is the Diamond Laurel Wreath and it was given to her on her wedding day as a gift by a group of Belgian aristocrats.

Tiaras of Danish Royal Family at Royal Wedding- Queen Margareth

This is Pearl Poiré Tiara. It's a 19th century heirloom.

Tiaras of Danish Royal Familt at Royal Wedding- Crown Princess Mary

Crown Princess Mary wore Queen Ingrid's ( her husband's grandmother ) Ruby Parure Tiara.

Tiaras of Norwegian Royal Family at Royal Wedding- Queen Sonja

Queen Sonja wore Empress Joséphine’s Emerald Tiara. The wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, Empress Joséphine owned a part of the Emeralp Parure of this tiara. Eugene de Beauharnais ( Joséphine's son ) took it to Norway. His daughter Joséphine married to King Oscar I of Sweden. Their great-grand daughter Princess Märtha of Sweden married Crown Prince Olav of Norway in 1929.

Crown Princess Märtha received the tiara as a gift from her parents ( Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg ) in 1937 for her son's birth ( the current King of Norway Harald V ) Märtha died and never became a Queen of Norway but her daughter-in-law Queen Sonja wears it today.

Tiaras of Norwegian Royals at Royal Wedding- Crown Princess Mette- Marit

Well this one has quite a story. This is Queen Maud’s Pearl Tiara and it was given to Queen Maud by her parents (King Edward VII & Queen Alexandra ) when she married the future King Haakon VII of Norway in 1896. This tiara is a convertable one. Large front piece can be moved. However it's not the real thing. The original pearl tiara was stolen in 1993 when it was cleaned in Garrards in London and can't be found since. Garrard who was made the original one, created a replica of the tiara. This is the replica with all real stones as original which family wearing.

Tiaras of Norwegian Royals at Royal Wedding- Princess Martha-Louis

Princess Martha-Louis wore Amethyst Necklace Tiara at Royal Wedding.

Tiaras of Dutch Royals at Royal Wedding- Queen Beatrix

This is Mellerio Ruby Tiara and of course it was made by Mellerio Jewelry for Queen Emma in 1889.

Tiaras of Dutch Royals at Royal Wedding- Crown Princess Maxima

Crown Princess Maxima wore the Dutch Diamond Bandeau Tiara. It was made in the 1930s from a collection of enormous diamonds. These diamonds were originally part of the national wedding gift given to Queen Emma in 1879.

Sophie, Countess of Wessex Tiara at Royal Wedding

Sophie, Countess of Wessex wore Wessex Wedding tiara which was worn by herself for the first time on her wedding day.

Queen Rania's Boucheron Bracelet Tiara at Royal Wedding

Boucheron Bracelet Tiara was designed in 2008 as a bracelet which can be converted to a tiara and it's one of the most lowly piece of her jewellery collection.

Tiaras of Spanish Royals at Royal Wedding- Queen Sofia

Queen Sofia wore Mellerio Shell Tiara at Royal Wedding. It's obvious that it was made by French Jeweler Mellerio. It was made in mid 19th century. It was displayed at the 1867 Paris Exhibition and the tiara was a wedding present from Queen Isabella II to her daughter on her marriage. I can't trace it but for some reason it came to Spanish Royal family and was a gift to Queen Sofia by her father-in-law on her wedding day.

Thanks to Uschi I am able to trace it :) Here is the information Uschi shared with us :

The Shell Tiara, made of platinum and diamonds forming shells with pear-shaped pearls dangling from their centres, dates back to Queen Isabella II who offered it to her daughter Infanta Maria Isabel on the occasion of her wedding to Prince Gaetano of Bourbon-Two Sicilies in 1868. The Shell Tiara was inherited by her nephew King Alfonso XIII who passed it on to his son Don Juan, Count of Barcelona. He offered the Shell Tiara to his son Don Juan Carlos on the occasion of his wedding to Princess Sofía in 1962.

Tiaras of Spanish Royals at Royal Wedding- Crown Princess Letizia

Crown Princess Letizia wore Mellerio Floral Tiara. This tiara has been made by French jewellery company, Mellerio. It's one of the newest tiaras because it was made in 1962 by Francisco Franco's orders. He gave it to Queen Sofia at her wedding day
on behalf of the Spanish people.

Tiaras of Spanish Royals at Royal Wedding- Infanta Cristina

Infanta Cristina wore Cartier Diamond and Pearl Tiara at Royal Wedding. This tiara was first owned by Queen Ena of Spain and she left it one of her daughters. King Juan Carlos bought the tiara for Queen Sofia in 1990s and tiara returned back to Spain.

Tiaras of Spanish Royals at Royal Wedding- Infanta Elena

Infanta Elena wore her tiara which was a gift from her ex-housband's family in occasion to the engagement of the couple.

The King's Sisters' Jewellery

The King's sisters — Princesses Margaretha, Birgitta, Désirée and Christina — are wearing the following jewellery:
Princess Margareta, Mrs Ambler is wearing Queen Victoria's Baden fringe tiara. The tiara was a gift from the Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden to their daughter Victoria on her marriage to the Swedish Crown Prince Gustaf in 1881. The Russian-inspired tiara was worn at the Crown Prince Couple's wedding as a necklace.

Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen wears the tiara which, in accordance with Bernadotte family tradition, is known as Queen Sofia's tiara. This was probably made for Queen Sofia around 1860.

Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld wears jewellery featuring amethysts and diamonds. This set of jewellery belonged to Queen Josefina (the consort of King Oscar I).

Princess Christina, Mrs Magnuson is wearing the six-button tiara. King Karl XIV Johan had these diamond rosettes affixed to the crown ring of King Erik XIV's royal crown from 1560 in preparation for his coronation at Stockholm Cathedral in 1818. During the reign of King Gustaf V, the old royal crown was restored and the diamond rosettes were removed. These have since been shaped into the six-button tiara.

The Wedding Cake

The cake
The white four-leaf clover-shaped wedding cake is 330 cm high, and is made up of 11 tiers. A 125 cm daquise base (a soft almond meringue made from almond flour) is topped with chocolate crisp, followed by a fragilité base (a soft almond meringue made from almond paste). On top of this is a champagne mousse with a wild strawberry curd centre. This is followed by a layer of wild strawberry compote. Champagne mousse and daquise base are then layered, finishing off with champagne mousse.

Floral decorations made from pulled sugar (caramel)
The care is decorated with 100 handmade roses and 40 lilies, made from caramel.

Decoration base
The top of the cake is decorated with a wavy gelatine sugar layer. On top of this are edible triangular spirals in transparent gold and blue, made from isomalt sugar. At the top, the diameter of the cake is 25 cm. Here, the Crown Princess Couple´s monogram is reproduced in cast caramel.

Four-leaf clovers on the sides
The sides of the cake are decorated with four-leaf clovers, symbolising the Crown Princess Couple and their wedding.

Organic ingredients
More than 95 percent of the ingredients used to make the cake are organic. The few exceptions include the wild strawberries.

Weight 250 kg
The cake weighs 250 kg. The stand weighs just as much again.

High Quality Photos

Blogger can't support really high quality photos and personally I hate small photos so I uploaded them to photo hosting service. You can see them bigger by clicking on them. Enjoy!