Wedding Wednesday: More Little Bridesmaids

Let's pick right up where we left off last week, shall we? Many royal brides opt to go for the purely cute strategy of dressing their bridal party, just in color.

The wedding of the Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson

Not at all notable for the peach color, but very notable for the shenanigans of one young Prince William, and his stuck-out tongue.

More colors, starting with red and pink:

Left to right, the weddings of: Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Donaldson, Prince Willem-Alexander the Netherlands and Máxima Zorreguieta, Prince Phillipe of Belgium and Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz

I like Mary's strategy: don't dress anyone in anything they'll be embarrased to look back on when they grow up. That was not the case for Máxima or Mathilde, though they both get points for winter outfits for their winter weddings.

Plenty of blue:

Left to right, the weddings of: Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau and Marilène van den Broek, Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau and Mabel Wisse Smit, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and Marie-Chantal Miller, Crown Prince Harald of Norway and Sonja Haraldsen, Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark and Henri de Monpezat

Green, not so popular:

The wedding of Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleberg and Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth

Loads of devotees of sunshine yellow:

L to R, the weddings of: Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleberg, Prince Abdullah of Jordan and Rania al Yassin, Prince Pieter-Christiaan of Orange-Nassau and Anita van Eijk, Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Sibilla Weiller, Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands and Laurentien Brinkhorst

Interesting color combo from Pieter-Christiaan and Anita: yellow with a green sash. Hmm. Good shape, though, unlike Guillaume and Sibilla and their frilly wonders.

Apart from color, sometimes brides get a little carried away with the design of their bridal party's outfits. Headgear, for example, can run away from you quickly if you aren't careful.

L to R, the weddings of: Princess Alexandra of Kent and Angus Ogilvy, the Duke of Kent and Katharine Worsley, Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn, King Baudouin of Belgium and Fabiola de Mora y Aragón

I wouldn't mind Alexandra's so much if it didn't look like cardboard crowns. It's better than what her sister-in-law choose: those rosettes look a little freaky, just sticking out all over the head like that. Märtha Louise's crowns were quirky as can be, just like the bride herself. And I'm not even sure what to make of the veils on Fabiola's girls. There's probably some symbolism there that I'm not getting, like a Spanish or a Catholic thing, but you know my criteria is strictly aesthetic.

Last week we covered most of the British bridesmaids, with just the themed ones left to go:

L to R, the weddings of: the Earl of Wessex and Sophie Rhys-Jones, Viscount Linley and Serena Stanhope, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips

Edward and Sophie married at the home of the Order of the Garter, St. George's Chapel, so their take on the Garter robes for their bridal party wasn't just cute, it was meaningful. I don't know if there was a meaning to the costumes of the Linley party, but I know it wasn't cute. Anne kept strictly to her theme for her sole bridesmaid, dressing little Sarah Armstrong-Jones up in period costume, while a young Prince Edward got kilted up.

There's quite the history of themed bridal parties down in Spain:

L to R, the weddings of: Infanta Elena of Spain and Jaime de Marichalar, Infanta Cristina of Spain and Iñaki Urdangarin (two pictures)

It starts out subtle, at Elena's wedding. Just a little nod to days gone by. By the time Cristina married, she'd moved it forward to full-on milkmaid status. But the cap comes at the last Spanish royal wedding: Felipe and Letizia.

The wedding of Prince Felipe of Spain and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano

A full out flashback to 18th century Spain, as themed as you can get. Downright adorable on the tiniest of the lot, but this is definitely one of those times when I feel for the older members of the bridal party. And here we have another wedding notable on shenanigans alone: young Froilán (son of Elena) kicked off the ceremony by giving his uncle Felipe a big hola when he entered the cathedral, and continued by getting out of his seat in the middle of the ceremony to kick a bridesmaid. I guess he really wasn't a fan of his costume, eh?

Are you pro or con on the theme issue?

Photos: Corbis/Seeger Press/Rue des Archives/ANP