Tiara Thursday: The Nizam of Hyderabad Tiara

Welcome to our new feature, Tiara Thursdays! Created specifically for the indulgence of my inner magpie. (And yours, too!) Every Thursday until Kate and Will's Big Day, I'm highlighting some of the British royal family's tiaras that I'd like to see on Miss Catherine. Pure speculation and crossed fingers, of course. Won't you join in?

The only downside to being an ardent royal jewel fan: the secrecy. Those royal vaults are sealed so tightly, and no one wants to talk about these explicit markers of majesty - particularly not in these sorts of economic times. So we guess, and we hope that our favorite pieces have survived through the years.

This one, I'm afraid, might be pure hope.

On her wedding day, Queen Elizabeth received quite the sparkly avalanche of presents. Among the spoils were a diamond tiara and matching necklace from the Nizam of Hyderabad. Made by Cartier, the design is appropriately based on English roses.

Excuse me while I quietly sob in the corner and long for the days when wedding gifts could be as over-the-top as the sender wanted, without fear of media hoopla and public backlash. Sigh.

Okay, I'm back now, and I'm ready to discuss the fate of this diadem.

(Deep breath.) Queen Elizabeth may have dismantled this tiara. Potentially in favor of assembling this...gem:

Argh, the Burmese ruby tiara. Honestly, I just don't get her taste in jewels sometimes. Excuse me, I need to get my tissues again.

These are the facts, or "facts" more accurately, given the absence of official information:

• The Queen hasn't worn the tiara publicly since about the early 1950s. (The last public appearance including the Nizam tiara that I've seen was 1952.)
• Of the Burmese ruby tiara's creation, Leslie Field says in The Queen's Jewels: "The diamonds came from a tiara the Queen had been given as a wedding gift by the Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar." (p.69, 1987 ed.) This statement is the main source of the dismantling rumors.
• However, in Tiaras: A History of Splendour, Geoffrey Munn does not include that detail in his description of the Burmese ruby tiara. He writes only briefly of the Nizam piece, saying: "There is also a tiara in bandeau form that was a wedding gift from the Nizam of Hyderabad," implying by use of the present tense that the piece still exists. (p. 1965, 2003 printing)
• The Royal Jewels by Suzy Menkes also neglects to mention the dismantling of the tiara, thus implying it still exists.
• In honor of the 60th wedding anniversary of the Queen and Prince Philip, Buckingham Palace's 2007 summer exhibition included a selection of wedding gifts. On display: the necklace, but not the tiara.  Indeed, no mention of the tiara was made.

We do know the set hasn't gone away entirely. The Queen still wears the necklace:

Also, she wears pieces of the tiara: one larger rose brooch and two smaller brooches.

I say, if the tiara has been dismantled, let's put it back together. Though they may have removed the original diamonds, I'm going to make a leap of faith and assume the frame is still knocking about somewhere. It'd be rude to totally throw a wedding gift away, right? One doesn't want to be rude.

I think this would be a great choice for Kate. Based on her past tiara-giving behavior, the Queen opts to gift pieces that haven't been seen in a long time (or ever), rather than her favorites. It's got some heft without being overly large and ostentatious, and heaven knows Kate's got the hair to display it right. This one comes with options, which is perfect for a royal that probably won't have a large jewel collection to start out with: the three brooches within the tiara, and the necklace which has a detachable pendant. Also, it's nice and neutral. All diamond and floral, which is easily matched with lots of gowns.

Your thoughts, dear readers? The Nizam of Hyderabad Tiara for Kate: Yes or No?

Flashback Friday: Grand Duchess Maria Teresa's Wedding Dress

Look who's celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary next week:

On February 14, 1981, Henri (then the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg) married Cuban-born María Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla after meeting her while both were studying at the University of Geneva. Naturally, we must mark this occasion by flashing back to the best part of any wedding (well, as far as this blog's concerned, at least): the dress.

It's a couture design from Balmain, and like most good couture, the craft is in the details. The whole dress is intricately patterned, but you can hardly tell in photographs. Oh, how I would kill to see it in person so I could fully appreciate everything that's going on here.

Really, though, the lack of detail from far away is one of the things that makes this dress work. Maria Teresa's never been the tall, willowy sort, and bathing her in a sea of ruffles or sequins would have been a disaster. This is simple and clean, even with the fur trim.

I am fundamentally opposed to fur trim on wedding gowns (it's a tad too Evil Snow Queen for me), but this is subtle. And it was February, a full-on winter gown is appropriate.

Another thing this dress has going for it: a good train/veil length. Long enough for the occasion, but not so long as to swallow her whole. Interesting detail: part of the train extends directly from her shoulders, cape-style.

She covered her face with a front veil when entering the cathedral on the arm of her father. Maria Teresa's tiara was one of the few royal wedding tiaras that could actually accommodate a front veil easily. The Congo Diamond Tiara was a gift from the Belgian colony of Congo to then-Belgian Princess Josephine-Charlotte (Henri's mother) when she married, and she wore it at her wedding. After Maria Teresa, both of Henri's sisters wore it for their respective weddings.These days, Maria Teresa occasionally wears it in necklace form.

Speaking of Princesses Marie-Astrid and Margaretha, their wedding gowns bring me to another point of consideration when looking back on Maria Teresa's gown: the ability of the design to age well over time.

Marie-Astrid (left) was married a year after her brother, in February of 1982, and Margaretha (right) was married in March of 1982. Lovely though these two ladies are, I think the volume and ruffle-age on their gowns shows the pay off of the relative restraint of Maria Teresa's design over time.

I confess I didn't like this one at first, but it really has grown on me. Then again, Maria Teresa's also become one of my favorite royals, so I won't claim an unbiased viewpoint. I hope they have a very happy 30th wedding anniversary, and a quiet one as Henri is on the mend from his recent heart troubles.

What's your verdict: is this gown a win? And where do you stand on the fur-on-wedding-gown issue?

wedding flowers vases oke

Flowers come always as a great addition to the celebration of a wedding event, in fact there is no wedding happening without the presence of these nature’s gifts. But when being involved in choosing the type of your wedding blooms, you should consider the choice of wedding flowers vases where these blooms will be placed as floral arrangement of your reception tables and place of worship in some cases.

When choosing the flowers for your wedding you should decide whether you go for the fresh ones or the artificial flowers that lately with the most recent technologies have started to resemble that much to their fresh peers, that one has hard times in saying which one is which. But most of the times, although the fresh flowers are more expensive than the fake ones, they are still number one in the top of wedding couples’ preferences.

But regardless of texture of your wedding flowers you still need to find wedding flowers vases to go with the blooms of your choice. For the artificial ones there won’t be any need to put them in water and as such the choice of vases can go for various designs and shapes, not to mention that improvising them sometimes works the best for small intimate weddings. Even a candle holder with two three or more ramifications can work as a great wedding flower vase.

As to the fresh flowers, there will always be the need to give them some water supply considering that they are meant to last for an entire day when celebrating your wedding. Therefore the choice of wedding flowers vases should take this aspect into account, even if this aspect can be replaced for instance with floral arrangements that have wet sponges to hold the stem when being arranged in cascading floral decorations.
Another thing would be the size of the stem as it goes without saying that for the long stems there will be the choice of tall wedding flowers vases an d for the shorter stems anything could work from goldfish bowls to short vases that could be replaced by jars that are decorated in their turn with various symbols that relate to the special event.

Make sure that for the floral arrangement of the reception table, the flowers are chosen in accordance with their life span as not all of them can last too long even if they are placed in a vase with water. In this regard you can consult with your florist, if you have hired one, to let you know of the appropriateness of the wedding flowers. If you are on a DIY wedding planning, then get inspired from  the florists websites and also inquire online on the types of flowers that are recommended to last longer in the atmosphere of a wedding celebration.