Crowns Abound at Prince Nikolaos's Royal Big Greek Wedding (original) (raw)

As predicted, the guest list at yesterday's Greek royal wedding was a who's who of European royalty when Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark married stunning Tatiana Blatnik, who works in London as an events planner for the Diane von Furstenberg label. The bride looked luminous in swathes of white lace and will henceforth be styled as Tatiana, Princess Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark.

Naturally, perennial best dresser, Letizia, Princess of Asturias, looked incredible in an asymmetrical blue gown intercut with jewels. However, we were also fans of Princess Madeleine's sea-foam-green dress, even if it did smack of bridesmaids' standard issue. The stunning Swede saw her own wedding called off this year over infidelity allegations. Madeleine's recently wed sister, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, and her husband, newly minted royal Prince Daniel, were in attendance as well.

Interestingly, the Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony includes a component called "the crowning," during which the bride and groom are crowned with stefana, symbolic bands blessed by a priest. The action has no relation to royalty—it references the honor being bestowed on the couple by God. Still, it seems fitting that a good portion of the guests had crowns of their own, and that the bride herself became a princess!Denmark's royals were also out in full force, no doubt owing to the family connection. (Queen Margrethe II is __Queen Anne-Marie of Greece'__s sister and therefore the groom's aunt.) The Danish family continues to expand this year: Crown Princess Mary is expecting twins, not that you would ever guess it—she looked utterly slim yesterday! Nikolaos's impressive arsenal of aunts includes Queen Sofia of Spain, who also attended. She is the sister of Nikolaos's father, Constantine II of Greece, former King of the Hellenes.

The list goes on: Norway's Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette Marit attended the wedding, as did as Dutch royals Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, and his wife, Princess Maxima. Earlier this week, the Princess, who has a degree in economics, signed a new agreement to expand micro-credit loans in the Netherlands. As we heard from the Princess herself last year, micro-finance is one of Maxima's great passions.