Altered at the Altar

The wedding may be the biggest social event of a decade and a few,and her ring may have cost £250,000 ,but this marriage is as modern as it is traditional. William and Catherine (as Middleton now prefers to be called) are involved in the decision-making of their wedding,something royals weren’t privy to. They have both expressed their desire to keep it austere and personal,and at the same time respect that their privilege comes with certain duties: like a big,fat,economy-surging wedding.

Twenty-nine-year-old Middleton sure is pretty and charming,but she’s also sensible. Not in a shark-like manner as many British cynics,who assume her to be a social climber,perceive. Here is a girl who demonstrates traditional values in a modern context. And her wedding is just an extension of that.

I think it’s especially charming — and telling — that Catherine’s parents have

requested to contribute a six-figure sum for the wedding.

It may be a drop in the £30 million wedding of their daughter,but who would want to split costs with the Queen?

Her parents are also paying for her dress,the name of the designer is in an X file,and even William doesn’t know if it will be Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen,Catherine’s favourite Issa or Bruce Oldfield,who made Diana’s gown.

Unlike Diana Spencer’s marriage to Prince Charles,which had 3,500 guests invited to Buckingham Palace,William and Catherine have kept their headcount at 1,900. The post-wedding breakfast is for 600 guests and the evening’s dinner and dance is downsized to 300 (of which 200 are the couple’s pals while 100 are shared between both sets of parents).

If the Emir of Bahrain gave a million-pound golden dhow to Charles and Di,William-Catherine — who shop together at Anglesy’s local Tesco — are again breaking tradition by not accepting presents,other than that from immediate family. All gifts are directed to their charities.

If the princess wants to be married as a commoner (or at least as close to it),there’s a lesson in it for us non-royals too. Let’s admit our childhood dreams of a fairy-tale wedding are childish.

Try to not make this the best day of your life,but just a wonderful day you will remember for a very long time. Don’t spend all your earnings on the wedding,or your parents’; many marriages these days are short-lived.

Dress as the woman you are today not as in your girlhood fantasies. Bridal fashions come and go,even though they claim to be timeless. In today’s trends of décolletage,flouncy skirts and feathers,Diana’s meringue screams Eighties. Also,try to give your wedding dress or sari a second life,buy something you will wear again. A film stylist’s recent nuptials had her in a couture gown from John Galliano that cost close to a crore rupees,but no one I know really luurved it.

Location weddings may be extravagant,they’re also gimmicky. Invite people who you “want” to see,not those who you need to call for protocol or to return a favour. To echo another fashion royal,Coco Chanel: elegance is refusal.

(namratanow@gmail.com)