Go ahead, jump on the royal bandwagon

Amidst all of the joy surrounding the royal wedding, there is the darker side that rears its head.

This ugly side takes many forms. Tacky products, royal wedding apps, contests, special beverages, and songs called 'William and Kate' written by people we've never heard of. Then there are the celebrities who want to wish the couple well, offering their unsolicited services and opinions.

After the announcement, the royal wedding product emails started as a trickle and have now turned into a flood as PR companies try their best take advantage of the royal wedding while they still can. Connecting anything and everything to it, regardless of whether it makes sense.

When you have a tasteless product, why not add the words 'Royal Wedding' to it? It's always worth a shot, right? As if doing so magically puts it in the same league as the official, tasteful items. Adding the word 'charity' plus 'Royal Wedding' to your car scrapping initiative - and you have an original and bizarre combination. Why, if you're lucky Kate might become patron of it!

Then there are the celebrities. Musicians who claim to be involved - like James Blunt. Dolly Parton offering to sing her hit song 'I will always love you' at the wedding. George Michael desperately trying to rehabilitate his image by recording a song for William and Kate. B-list celebrities like Jerry Seinfeld who complain about the royal wedding, or starlets like Emma Watson who 'sympathize' with Kate.  Designers who deny they're making the wedding dress - as if they had a shot in the first place. Unsolicited confirmations from hair salons claiming Kate as a client. Yes, business is good.

Enjoy the ride while it lasts. Come midnight on April 29th, your product, service or career will go back to exactly what it was before. Junk waiting for the next royal bandwagon to salvage it.

© Marilyn Braun 2011

Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.Source URL: http://weddingdressez.blogspot.com/search/label/Commentary
Visit Wedding Dress Designer for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

7 reasons why the royal wedding WILL happen, or else..

I recently had someone find my blog using the search term 'reasons why the royal wedding should not happen'. Given that there are only a few weeks until the wedding, this a strange thing to search for. Not that it isn't possible the royal wedding could be cancelled but I think it's unlikely. To reassure those who might be worried, I've decided to counter this question with 7 reasons why the royal wedding WILL happen.

1) The tea towels have been prepared, along with other tacky souvenirs

Flashback 1981: Andrew Morton's book, Diana a True Story, page 64. Diana recalls that during lunch with her sisters she discussed backing out and they replied 'Bad luck Duch' (family nickname), 'Your face is on the tea-towels so you're too late to chicken out now.'  30 years later those words still ring true.

2) We are expecting it happen, therefore it MUST happen

Think of the chaos that would ensue should William, or Kate decide - 'nah, not for me' and bail. CNN would have to pull the 400 reporters and crew they have sent to the wedding. Twitter and royal message boards would fire up, eviscerating those responsible. The UFOs would have to find intelligent life elsewhere. The universe would cave in on itself....

3) The Republican movement needs this wedding

Believe it or not, the republican movement likes the royal wedding. Why? Because it illustrates the excess that the royal family is famous for. With no royal wedding they have no bandwagon to jump on. Then what would they do with their royal wedding mugs?

4) The Royal Family does not need more bad publicity

It's true. They may not even survive the fallout from it. This could be the biggest crisis the royal family has ever had to deal with. Abdication crisis? Big deal. Camillagate - who cares? Diana's death - minor roadblock. It must go ahead, if only to save face.

5) What would royal bloggers and royal watchers (Read: ME) discuss?

Royal blogs do not update themselves, they need material. Without material there is nothing to write about. Once I've we've milked this topic from every conceivable angle for six months, what else would there be to discuss? If there is no wedding then I we cannot predict when the royal divorce will occur. All of the potential topics will be gone. I would We'd have to wait for someone to die in order to recover from the ordeal..

6) Prince William and Kate Middleton would never live it down

There's nothing like dumping your intended at the altar to destroy your reputation. Makes for passably good Rom-Coms, but in reality it's a different story. If Prince William ditches Kate then Prince Harry might just have to step up to the plate. His face is already on the souvenir mug. Instead of seeing this as a mistake, it could be remarkably prescient.

7) We deserve a happy ending

We have waited a long time for this wedding. Endured mystified looks from our friends. Bought overpriced, official commemorative items (See #1). We've followed the torturous ups, downs and tabloid invented close-calls. Our dedication to paying attention to gossipy news stories must be rewarded, damnit!

© Marilyn Braun 2011

Thank you for enjoying this article. If you use the information for research purposes, a link to credit the work I've put into writing it would be appreciated.Source URL: http://weddingdressez.blogspot.com/search/label/Commentary
Visit Wedding Dress Designer for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

One persons junk is another person's royal treasure



Diana, Princess of Wales
Ashton Drake Porcelain Doll

I volunteer at a website called AllExperts, where I answer questions related to British royalty and one of the most frequently asked questions is 'I have an item [insert poor description here] and I want to know what the value of it is.


I am not an expert on antiques. I am not an expert on royal memorabilia. Anytime I answer a question, I always state that. Why do I answer these questions despite my lack of expertise? Sucker for punishment? A genuine desire to point people in the right direction? A bit of both, though recently it seems to be the former rather than the latter.


Yes, I answered a question related to the value of an item. Except that the person didn't outright ask me to value it. He said he didn't care about the item, nor did he want to sell it, instead he asked whether he should keep it for 'heritage' reasons or toss it. Now maybe I misunderstood the question - entirely possible. I've been asked so many royal questions recently that I'm starting to get burnt out.


When I think of 'heritage' I think of something which should be preserved, not for monetary reasons, but for sentimental ones. Or even for future generations to enjoy.  And so I answered from that perspective. That wasn't what the person wanted to hear. I was supposed to be some type of online Antiques Road Show, deciphering the value of something based on a poor, minimal description of it.


Stupid me.


My answer was that everything has a value, even if it is sentimental. I have royal items which I value very much. Unfortunately others may not feel the same way. Once I'm gone they might just decide to 'toss' them. I won't be around to tell them otherwise so what difference does it make? I would hope that my children, or whomever, can make up their own minds instead of having to approach a volunteer expert with an unclear question.



1953 Coronation Sewing Kit
When it comes to royal items, I think it would be a shame to 'toss' any of them. Even if they have no value to you, does not mean that it doesn't have a value to someone else. I've been the recipient of many such items. Someones grandmother/aunt/friend died and they have a royal item and don't know what to do with it. I've been very lucky that someone has thought enough to keep this until they found the right recipient. And I do appreciate their generosity and hopefully I can care for the item, and preserve it, so that someone else may treasure them just as much as I do at present.


I don't collect royal items to sell them. I don't fool myself into thinking that I will be able to retire after selling my Diana, Princess of Wales porcelain doll. Not going to happen. I don't collect for those reasons. If I did so, I'm likely to be extremely disappointed. And so will my children when they head to the Antiques Road show of the future. Keeping these items in plastic or an alarmed curio cabinet, for heritage reasons, doesn't allow me to enjoy them now.

When it comes to keeping royal items I cannot make up someone elses mind whether to keep it or not. One persons junk is another person's royal treasure. Even if it has no monetary value. I hope people like the questioner will remember that as they're heading to the garbage can.

© Marilyn Braun 2011Source URL: http://weddingdressez.blogspot.com/search/label/Commentary
Visit Wedding Dress Designer for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

Is Prince William's hair destroying the monarchy?

The monarchy is facing its biggest crisis to date and they're powerless to do anything to prevent it. They didn't see it coming. Who would have thought it could ever happen? It started about five years ago, slowly chipping away at the the very foundation the monarchy prides itself on.

Its good looks.

Everything they hold sacred as the arbiters of style is at risk. Thank goodness for Kate Middleton. Her long, glossy locks will shore up the ranks. But for now the royals are in trouble. A recent poll showed that Britons want Charles as king instead of William. No wonder. Charles has more hair than William. Coincidence? I think not.

Who is ultimately to blame for William's hair? Diana's father, Earl Spencer was balding therefore it must be her fault. She has obviously done more damage to the monarchy than first thought. Luckily Prince Harry inherited genes from his father otherwise there would be no hope left for the monarchy as we know it. Enter the republican movement at stage right.

The media is already asking tough questions on whether Prince William is losing his appeal. Where's a celebrity scandal when you need it? Isn't there a disaster in another country? No, this is just too big an issue. We cannot ignore reality even if the royal family wants us to. If only there was a big event with lots of pagentry to distract us from the inevitable. So we can celebrate while we still have reason to.

On his wedding day, all eyes will be on Prince William. After all, he is the future of the monarchy. Billions of people watching the gradual demise of the royal family. This could get depressing. Let's hope William's uniform comes with a hat.

© Marilyn Braun 2011

Note: This article is meant to be satirical. I think Prince William looks perfectly fine. :) Kate Middleton is a lucky woman who obviously loves him and her opinion is the only one that counts in this respect.Source URL: http://weddingdressez.blogspot.com/search/label/Commentary
Visit Wedding Dress Designer for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection

Will someone please think of the royal cherubs?

I probably shouldn't say this. Reading anti-royal wedding articles makes my blood boil. But today I realized that I have a choice not to read them. Easy right? You'd think the people complaining about the wedding would stop reading the coverage too. They, like myself have an excuse to continue torturing ourselves. In my case it's motivated by milking  writing timely articles about the royal wedding.

But then, like the naysayers, I've also thought. Why should I stop reading? We want to continue being martyrs so we can complain about it, then that's our prerogative. It's unfortunate that some of the naysayers have larger forums than I do to complain, but I feel that I should do my part to defend the honor of those who DO care about the royal wedding.

Think about it. Every time a naysayer justifies their disinterest, an innocent royal cherub cancels their Royalty/Majesty/Hello! magazine subscription. No doubt they feel alone, misunderstood, maybe they've never told a soul about their interest in the royal family. Makes you want to cry doesn't it? They may start to hide their collection of royal wedding books. Ultimately they may resort to heading out under cover of darkness to buy the latest royal wedding commemorative book-a-zine. Tragic.

So precious royal cherubs of all ages. You are not alone in your interest in the royal wedding. Despite what the polls say, there are others who want to watch it too. The naysayers may complain louder but they're probably protesting too much for their own good. Deep down inside, behind all the grumpy negativity, there's a royal cherub waiting to come out. When they do, make sure you give them a hug to welcome them to the dark side. Maybe buy them a tacky souvenir. If anyone deserves it, it's them.

© Marilyn Braun 2011Source URL: http://weddingdressez.blogspot.com/search/label/Commentary
Visit Wedding Dress Designer for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection