Wedding dress of Grace Kelly (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
April 18, 1956, a major world event happened—the civil marriage of Academy Award-winning actress and Hollywood’s princess, Grace Kelly, to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. The next day, a spectacular, star-studded religious ceremony, dubbed “the wedding of the century,” took place at the Cathedrale de Monaco. Kelly wore a gown by Helen Rose, the MGM costume designer, that took six weeks and three dozen seamstresses to complete. A luncheon reception followed at the Palace’s Court of Honour with a six-tier wedding cake that the bride and groom cut using the prince’s sword. Six hundred guests attended the religious ceremony and an estimated 30 million people watched the television broadcast. It was an event to remember.
The couple met while Kelly was filming Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief in the French Riviera. It wasn’t love at first sight, but Prince Rainier pursued the actress and, on this day 56 years ago, Grace Kelly became Princess Grace of Monaco. She retired too soon from acting at age 26, had three children and, sadly, died at 52 years old in a tragic automobile accident.
Brides from Princess Diana to Kim Kardashian have taken a few queues from this famous fairy tale wedding. Nothing beats a beautiful event. And we love weddings.
Pear Twist 