Meghan Markle Had Three Strict Demands For Her Wedding Dress: 'I Wanted a Very...'

Meghan Markle’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry was nothing short of a fairytale. The dreamy ceremony at Windsor Castle captivated millions worldwide. For her big day, the Duchess of Sussex had three non-negotiable demands for her wedding dress—ensuring every detail was perfect. But despite looking ethereal as she walked down the aisle, she encountered a minor but unexpected hiccup.

Markle and Harry began dating in 2016 and tied the knot two years later. While Harry knew from the start that she was the one, Markle knew one thing that many girls grow up dreaming—what her wedding gown would look like. As reported by BBC, Markle once revealed, “So I knew at the onset I wanted a bateau neckline, I wanted a cropped sleeve, I wanted a very timeless, classic feeling and, obviously with respect to the environment we were in and St George's Chapel, being really modest in what it would look like, I knew that the tailoring was so key, because the dress itself would be so covered up.”

As reported by the Mirror, Markle’s Givenchy wedding gown took 3,900 hours to make—equivalent to 162 days—by a team of 50. It was crafted by respected British designer Clare Waight Keller. Markle shared, “I had a very clear vision of what I wanted for the day…and so what was amazing in working with Clare is that sometimes you'll find designers who try to push you in a different direction.” She also teased a hidden blue fabric stitched to her gown in HBO’s documentary, Queen Of The World. “Somewhere in here, there’s a piece of blue fabric that’s stitched inside—it was my something blue…It’s fabric from the dress that I wore on our first date,” she explained, referring to her blind date with Harry.

The exhibition commentary revealed touching behind-the-scenes stories about the couple’s big day. The Duke and Duchess revealed a minor hiccup that came with arranging the flowers. They explained that the colder weather earlier in the year resulted in fewer flowers being available from their cottage garden at Kensington Palace for the wedding bouquet. Harry added, “We didn't have as many flowers in our little garden as we had hoped for because I think it snowed at Easter…But, they're very much a bouquet of wild flowers, wild flower meadows, and making sure that we had forget-me-nots in as it was one of my mother's favourite flowers.” Including the forget-me-not flowers in her bouquet was Markle’s way of paying a tribute to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana.

Markle’s wedding was everything she had ever wished for. On her big day, she wore Queen Mary's diamond and platinum bandeau tiara, lent to her by Queen Elizabeth. She described her visit to the monarch to choose a headpiece as ‘an incredibly surreal day.’ Her wedding gown and tiara are now displayed at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh, Scotland.