Fame and fortune ride the bridal train

Catherine Middleton is given the thumbs-up for her choice of wedding dress. Photo / AP

The wait is finally over. The dress has been revealed, and the hair, make-up and shoes. And it did not disappoint.

The 2.7m train was held in place by a Halo tiara made in 1936 by Cartier for the Queen Mother. The perfectly fitted bodice in ivory satin gazar, which is a loosely woven silk with a crisp finish and covered with a plunging scalloped lace neckline and long sleeves with applique detailing, was reminiscent of Grace Kelly's dress when she married Prince Rainier of Monaco. Catherine's skirt was handmade by the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court.

The lace design was made using a technique known as Carickmacross and developed in Ireland in the 1820s.

Her shoes were made from matching ivory duchesse satin and lace, the stylised diamond drop oak leaf earrings by Robinson Pelham were a gift from her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton.

Catherine arrived at Westminster Abbey and stepped out to reveal her final choice of dress and which fashion designer she had chosen to be catapulted into fame.

Sarah Burton joined the House of McQueen in 1996 as an intern. She will now have her name in the history books. Burton designed the wedding dress for fashion journalist Sara Buys when she married Tom Parker-Bowles, son of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in 2005.

The new Princess has shown her maturity in handling the very hungry media. No confidences were able to be broken, which is in stark contrast to the madness that surrounded the young Lady Diana Spencer's dress, when the little-known Elizabeth and David Emanuel were plucked from obscurity to become the overnight masters on everything bridal, and found just how cunning the paparazzi had become when each night their garbage was rifled through outside their Brook St studio, in the hope of finding the discarded dress sketch before the wedding and usurping everything.

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