Today marks Zara and Mike Tindall’s 11th wedding anniversary, so we’re rewinding back to 2011 and taking a look at one of the quieter royal weddings in British royal history.
– Zara and Mike married on 30 July 2011 at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh. The wedding took place just three months after The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge tied the knot at Westminster Abbey.
– The couple got engaged in 2010. Mike decided he wanted to design his own ring for Zara, instead of choosing a family heirloom. Zara’s engagement ring features a central round diamond set above a split-shank band with additional sparkle coming from two rows of channel set pave cut diamonds.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
– For her wedding dress, Zara opted for an ivory silk dress by Stewart Parvin, who regularly makes clothes for her grandmother, The Queen. The dress featured thick tulle straps, a straight neckline and a full skirt. It also featured a cathedral-length train.
– She paired her wedding dress with a Greek tiara that belonged to her mother, Princess Anne, that is known as the Meander tiara. The piece consists of a diamond surrounded by a shiny wreath. It came from Greece’s royal family, with Prince Philip’s mother Alice gifting the tiara to The Queen, upon her marriage to Philip in 1947.
Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall married in July 2011 at Edinburgh’s Canongate Kirk and now have three children together
– The bride was accompanied by her maid of honour, the horse trainer Dolly Maude. Her son Ted, six – also Zara’s godson -acted as page boy. Zara’s bridesmaids included her half-sister, Stephanie Phillips.
– The groom chose his best man to be Iain Balshaw, his former Gloucester and England team-mate, who was seen sporting a black eye from a moped accident in France earlier that month. His groomsman was James Simpson-Daniel, an England Rugby team-mate.
– The couple had chosen to marry in Edinburgh because of Zara’s strong connections to Scotland. She attended Gordounstoun School, like her grandfather and spent many holidays at Balmoral, The Queen’s Scottish estate.
– As with many modern royal brides, in her wedding vows, Zara chose to ‘honour’ Mike rather than use the outdated ‘obey’ line.
– The couple held their wedding reception at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is just 360 yards away from Canongate Kirk.
– The bride and groom decided to skip the traditional post-wedding honeymoon, and returned to their day jobs straight away. Mike returned to training for his next international match after the wedding (England vs Wales), whilst Zara prepared for the Blenheim Palace and Gatcombe International horse trials.
– Zara had chosen not to take her partner’s surname following their marriage because of her success as a world champion equestrian in her own right. She started using Tindall professionally in .
