Meghan Markle's wedding dress designed by Clare Waight Keller
WINDSOR, England -- British designer Clare Waight Keller is the master designer behind the silk boat-necked gown and long veil worn by Meghan Markle as she walked down the flower-bedecked nave of St. George's Chapel for her wedding to Prince Harry. Markle's choice was being closely watched Saturday given how big an impact royal weddings have on what brides everywhere want to wear.
Waight Keller, the first female artistic director of French fashion house Givenchy, met Markle earlier this year, Kensington Palace said. The statement said Markle wanted a dress with an "elegant aesthetic, impeccable tailoring, and relaxed demeanor."
Markle's choice was a far cry from what she wore for her first wedding to film producer Trevor Engelson: For that beach wedding, in 2011, she sported a simple, strapless white gown adorned with a jeweled belt. Markle and Engelson divorced in 2013.
Harry and Meghan gazed into each other's eyes Saturday at the altar in St. George's Chapel as a soprano sang a work by Handel to celebrate their trans-Atlantic union in front of hundreds of celebrity guests and millions of viewers around the world.
Harry and best man Prince William wore dark formal military dress, with white gloves and the frock coat uniforms of the Blues and Royals. Harry kept his full red beard intact.
As they stood at the altar, Harry said to Meghan: "You look amazing."
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby presided over the ceremony, asking Prince Harry and then Markle to take their marriage vows. They both responded, "I will."
Collectively all of those gathered in St. George's Chapel vowed to support the new royal couple, before Welby gave a prayer.
Lady Jane Fellowes, the sister of Harry's late mother Princess Diana, then gave a reading of "The Song of Solomon."
Presiding Bishop of the American Anglican Church Michael Curry they began delivering an address, quoting Martin Luther King Jr., on "the power of love."
"Don't under estimate it," he told those gathered in the chapel.
Markle's mother Doria Ragland was the first front-row guest to arrive at St. George's Chapel for her daughter's wedding, followed quickly by a car carrying Prince Harry's father Prince Charles and wife Camilla Parker Bowles.
Queen Elizabeth II then pulled up in a Rolls Royce with husband Prince Philip. The monarch quickly took her place inside the chapel.