Well done Kate!

She did it!

She chose Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen AND the Royal School of Needlework had their hands all over this dress!! Hallelujah!

And...she used British companies exclusively to design the gown and source the supplies...And she honored the royal wedding heritage by displaying motifs of the rose, shamrock and thistle...And...

Well, here's the official press release...I've included the whole thing because it tells so much of the story, I just didn't want you to miss a thing...

The Wedding Dress

Miss Catherine Middleton’s Wedding Dress has been designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen.

Miss Middleton chose British brand Alexander McQueen for the beauty of its craftsmanship and its respect for traditional workmanship and the technical construction of clothing. Miss Middleton wished for her dress to combine tradition and modernity with the artistic vision that characterises Alexander McQueen’s work. Miss Middleton worked closely with Sarah Burton in formulating the design of her dress.

The dress epitomises timeless British craftsmanship by drawing together talented and skilled workmanship from across the United Kingdom. The dress design pays tribute to the Arts and Crafts tradition, which advocated truth to materials and traditional craftsmanship using simple forms and often Romantic styles of decoration. Ms Burton’s design draws on this heritage, additionally giving the cut and the intricate embellishment a distinctive, contemporary and feminine character.

The design

The lace appliqué for the bodice and skirt was hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. The lace design was hand-engineered (appliquéd) using the Carrickmacross lace-making technique, which originated in Ireland in the 1820s. Individual flowers have been hand-cut from lace and hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle to create a unique and organic design, which incorporates the rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock.

Hand-cut English lace and French Chantilly lace has been used throughout the bodice and skirt, and has been used for the underskirt trim. With laces coming from different sources, much care was taken to ensure that each flower was the same colour. The whole process was overseen and put together by hand by Ms Burton and her team.

The dress is made with ivory and white satin gazar. The skirt echoes an opening flower, with white satin gazar arches and pleats. The train measures two metres 70 centimetres. The ivory satin bodice, which is narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips, draws on the Victorian tradition of corsetry and is a hallmark of Alexander McQueen’s designs. The back is finished with 58 gazar and organza covered buttons fastened by Rouleau loops. The underskirt is made of silk tulle trimmed with Cluny lace.

The Fabrics

French Chantilly lace was combined with English Cluny lace to be hand-worked in the Irish Carrickmacross needlework tradition.

All other fabrics used in the creation of the dress were sourced from and supplied by British companies. The choice of fabrics followed extensive research by Sarah Burton and her team.

The Royal School of Needlework

The Royal School of Needlework (RSN), based at Hampton Court Palace, assisted the Alexander McQueen team in accurately cutting out the delicate motifs from the lace fabrics and positioning the lace motifs with precision into the new design. The lace motifs were pinned, ‘framed up’ and applied with stab stitching every two to three millimetres around each lace motif. The workers washed their hands every thirty minutes to keep the lace and threads pristine, and the needles were renewed every three hours, to keep them sharp and clean.

The RSN workers included existing staff, former staff, tutors, graduates and students, with the youngest aged 19.

The RSN’s work was used primarily for the train and skirt of the Bride’s dress, the bodice and sleeves, the Bride’s shoes and the Bride’s veil.

A nice shot of the Cartier Halo Tiara loaned by the Queen

Veil and Jewellery

The veil is made of layers of soft, ivory silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers, which was embroidered by the Royal School of Needlework. The veil is held in place by a Cartier ‘halo’ tiara, lent to Miss Middleton by The Queen. The ‘halo’ tiara was made by Cartier in 1936 and was purchased by The Duke of York (later King George VI) for his Duchess (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) three weeks before he succeeded his brother as King. The tiara was presented to Princess Elizabeth (now The Queen) by her mother on the occasion of her 18th birthday.

The Bride’s earrings, by Robinson Pelham, are diamond-set stylised oak leaves with a pear shaped diamond set drop and a pavé set diamond acorn suspended in the centre. Inspiration for the design comes from the Middleton family's new coat of arms, which includes acorns and oak leaves. The earrings were made to echo the tiara. The earrings were a personal gift to the Bride from her parents for her Wedding Day.

Robinson Pelham have also designed and made a pair of diamond earrings for Miss Philippa Middleton. These earrings are more floral in nature to compliment the headpiece worn by Miss Philippa Middleton during the Service.

A tourmaline and diamond pendant and matching earrings have been designed and made for Mrs. Carole Middleton. Two gold stick pins, one with a single gold acorn at the head and the other with an oak leaf, are also worn respectively by the Father of the Bride, Mr. Michael Middleton, and the Bride's brother, Mr. James Middleton.

Wedding Shoes

The wedding shoes have made hand-made by the team at Alexander McQueen and are made of ivory duchesse satin with lace hand-embroidered by the Royal School of Needlework.

Isn't that wonderful? I hope someone tells the story of all those folks working their fingers off at Hampton Court Palace!

Carrickmacross lace is a type of handmade needlelace originating in Carrickmacross Ireland in the 19th century. It's made by attaching a thin muslin to a machine netting (in Kate's case...a silk tulle) and, using a pattern to outline and cut away the design.

Here is a beautiful example of Carrickmacross lace...

Lace being sold by Bonblu on Etsy

And here is a link to a YouTube video demonstrating the technique.

I think my favorite part was the sheer veil covering Kate's face...I loved that the silk shimmered when the cameras panned in for a close up. I loved the embroidery on the edging of the veil.

I'm afraid we'll have to wait for the close-up photography shots to come in before we can actually see the embroidery on the bodice and the train. From far away, it just all looks white. In my experience, these detailed shots can take quite a while to surface in the media. Though you can see a hint of the embroidery on the bottom of the gown in this pic...

I understand that she had 3 underskirts and shoes that were also all hand embroidered.

The whole look drew me in and made me want to look a little more closely at the new Princess.

And maybe that was her message. I'm here. I'm honoring tradition. I'm a classy woman. But you're going to have to work a little harder to really know me.

And I liked that. I liked it a lot.

Happy Happy Royal Wedding everyone!

P.S. I loved every word of the Bishop of London's sermon...every word.

P.P.S. And wouldn't I love to have seen a close-up of the embroidery on the back of the Archbishop of Canterbury's cope? It looked stunning...does anyone know any details about that? Check it out on the video replays and you'll see what I mean...Update: Thanks to Mary Corbet, we now know all the details about the Cope -- check out her blog post here!

P.P.P.S. Thanks to Flower Friend for letting us know...you can read today's press release by the Royal School of Needlework here. Too cool.