Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist‘s pre-wedding dinner was held tonight in Stockholm. The couple and their guests climbed aboard the SS Stockholm for a trip around the harbor on their way to the actual dinner. The Swedish royal family came out – including King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, and Prince Daniel (Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill joined the dinner later, skipping the boat ride) – as well as some early bird foreign royals (Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon, who skipped the boat ride)
Sofia wore a new light blue gown from Zuhair Murad. Look 28 “Floor length gown in blue crepe with crystal embroidered silk tulle” from the Haute Couture SS15 collection. Sofia’s dress is modified to make the slit not come up so high.
Sofia needs a Sequin-tervention. There I said it. I actually think this is probably her best sequin dress (I really like the color), but seriously she needs to stop with the sequins. Just branch out a little bit, girl, come one. Please, please let her wedding dress not have sequins!
Carl Philip wore a tux and didn’t shave his beard. Even more than Sofia’s dress not having sequins I am so hoping Carl Philip shaves for the wedding tomorrow.
Victoria wore a Jenny Packham gown from the Bridal 2014 collection. Victoria, in my opinion, outdid the bride again (just like she did at the marriage banns). Victoria looked amazing in her Jenny Packham gown. She brought it. Daniel looks very dashing in his tux.
Mette-Marit repeated a Giambattista Valli floral print gown from Queen Margrethe’s birthday in April. Eh.
Madeleine wore a pale blue lace and tulle number with just enough sparkle on top to keep things interesting but not enough to overpower. I know I’ve gotten on Maddie for her love of tulle, but I like this dress. Maddie looks absolutely beautiful and those earrings are gorgeous. Chris looks nice in his tux.
Crown Prince Haakon arrived separately in a velvet jacket. Love.
Silvia wore a green pantsuit. Yeah. I mean, okay.
Princess Martha Louise wore light pink, while her husband Ari Behn tried to be Ninja Tux Man.
Princess Ursula of Bavaria decided to take one for the team in this glittery floral thing with a giant bow in order to make the bride look better. She’s seen here with her husband Prince Leopold.
The menu! A first course of smoked halibut tartar on goat cheese frozen yogurt topped with leeks, yellow sauce, snow peas, and new potatoes. Followed by a main course of guinea fowl stuffed with morels and sausage with lemon and thyme, sea asparagus, parsley root cream, and velvety Marsala. For desert they had bruschetta with strawberries and basil, and white chocolate effile.
Photos: Expressen / Zuhair Murad / Jenny Packham / Getty
We were in Stockholm and saw Sofia. She is tiny in person and looks a little softer in real life. She photographs harsh. He is not very tall, look to be around 5’8″. We will be outside tomorrow can’t wait to see her dress!!! PS The rest of the royal family look even better in real life and Estelle is the Star!!!
Hi Fiona, thanks for reporting back what you saw. I look forward to your impressions tomorrow!
How cool.
Yay! Good for you!
So Daniel looks even better? Victoria, you lucky, lucky girl! She looks fabulous, and how great is the pic with the handsome Daniel with a beautiful woman on each arm. I would pay money to take a stroll with that man…
Wow, this is fantastic.
You are on overdrive, KMR. I think you will need a vacation
after this weekend.
I agree, Sofia’s dress had way too many sequins. I loved the sequin-vention! HaHaHa!
The color was lovely, though.
Vic looked amazing. She is just gorgeous. Maddie looked lovely, too. So very pregnant!
I hope to be able to get some time to go online tomorrow. I am so looking forward to your coverage.
Fiona, you are so lucky to be there! I was surprised to hear that Sofia is small. I got the impression the couple were taller.
Have fun!!!
Victoria and Madeleine both looked lovely, and Daniel is very dashing indeed. I don’t remember Ari Behn looking as good before as he does in that picture–he must be getting better with age!
All I can say about Sofia’s dress is that at least she modified the slit…
Maybe it’s the silver fox thing with Ari Behn?
Thanks for the extensive coverage you’re doing of the event! It’s most appreciated
I think every one looked good more or less….the Queen was ish but at 71 I’ll give her a pass
Sofia is to sequins as Kate is to lace 🙂
Lol too true!
KMR – when you get a lull it might be helpful to create some family trees or family name lists for the royal houses that you cover. I don’t know who Princess Martha Louise is or how Princess Ursula and Prince Leopold fit into the house of Bavaria. Since these are not names we see all the time.
Maybe these are future blog posts – Royal Houses featured and you can index them for future references.
Btw, I really enjoyed all the recent topical blogs – rings, dresses, tiaras at weddings.
Martha Louise is the daughter of the King (Harald) and Queen (Sonja) of Norway, the sister of Haakon, and the sister-in-law of Mette-Marit. She’s married to Ari Behn, an author, and they have three daughters. She’s known for her… creative dress sense at times.
Those would be great future blog posts, LadyBlueRibbon. For now, I’ll try to include who their parents are to show how they fit in their respective royal house.
My goodness, Madeleine looks like Mary in that first picture, to the point that when I was scrolling by, I thought, “I didn’t know Mary was expecting again.”
Me too. Followed by momentary confusion as to why Chris is escorting her.
Yeah she does a little bit.
Thanks KMR! I am loving the posts!! I have to say, this wedding is already capturing my attention more than Kate and William’s wedding. This makes me want to go buy an evening dress.
Also, I guess Sofia doesn’t have the flasher tendencies Kate has displayed. As you mentioned, she had her dress appropriately modified, which was nice.
I am getting wedding fever 🙂 will be watching online and reading KMR. Thank you again, I know this is a lot of work 🙂
I am in wedding heaven. Sofia looks lovely. I just wish that she put on a little lipstick. Her face needs a pop of something. Her dress is stunning. Hopefully she will.leave her sequin rut soon. I’m looking forward to seeing her gown tomorrow.
Prince Daniel. Wow. Just wow. He is so smooth and dapper. That picnic him and Victoria and Mette-Marit was beyond adorable. Victoria can effortlessly pull off evening wear. Mette-Marit is was a little off today. Madde and Chris looked very nice. It’s funny to see Madde very pregnant as opposed to Kate who bows out at the 8th month.
Silvia. Well, I’ll keep it at that.
What a wonderful round up, KMR. You are phenomenal for doing this.
I like Sofia’s dress, but I’m not in love with it. Although, I think this gown is the best I have seen from her so far. I love, love, love Victoria’s gown and Madeleine’s gown was beautiful as well. The colour, the accents were perfect!
It is probably the best gown she’s worn, but that’s not saying much. It’s a beautiful color on her, though.
I think Sophia’s dress is the nicest I’ve seen her in. She looks bombshell, and not like the dress is wearing her.
Victoria stole the show, though, no question. Daniel looks very proud of his queen- in-waiting!
And if CP doesn’t shave that shrubbery off his face for his own wedding, I’ll think him incapable of ever taking anything seriously.
Sylvia….faux pas. Looks like something she wore to meet Nancy Reagan. Probably smells like mothballs.
Omg. Mothballs.
lol mothballs. I don’t know if the suit is a repeat, but you’re right it does look like it came from a different era.
That color is great on Sophia, but the dress is meh. Madde as always looks gorge. I really can’t wait to see how adorable her next little one will be. I have to say that I have a soft spot for Mette-Marit, but only because my daughter’s name is Marit too and I realized it after the fact. In America her name is rather unusual, so it’s funny to think it might be pretty common in Norway.
Sorry for the thread jack, but check out Camilla’s clutch! It has the logo of a can of baked beans on it in sequins. Whether you love it or hate it, it’s definitely quirky. Take note, Kate –> personality!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3120006/Camilla-gets-expensive-makeover.html
This was so whimsical and cute. She has such a good sense of humor. Fashion should be about fun as well as function.
Did anyone else notice that Prince Leopold matched his socks to the red carpet? That took some thought.
I’d dearly love to hear Joan Rivers’ take on this wedding; wish she was still around. No one puts fashion in it’s place like she could!
He did! That’s amazing!
Oh I’d LOVE to hear Joan comment on this wedding. That would be great. I miss her commentary.
Agree with everyone that Victoria and Daniel looked amazing. I trust they are as in love as they look; would totally ruin my fantasies if they aren’t.
Me too.
Me 3 ♥
I love Sofia’s dress, sequins in all! She looks beautiful!
Yes, I think she looks lovely.
Hi KMR, a big thanks for the royal blogs this week. If it wasn’t for you I’d never see any of these photos. Non British royals don’t get much (any) newspaper space or seldom get tv news time here in NZ.
The Swedish Princesses are gorgeous! The JP gown is stunning. The rest of the outfits are towards the scary spectrum- maybe to make Sofia feel better as you suggested but I love the color of her dress. She’s trying. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!
I love Sofia’s dress. First time my eyes popped seeing Sofia although I still don’t find her very attractive looking.
I think Sofia looked beautiful, this blue really compliments her eyes. And it’s nice to see a royal bride who hasn’t starved herself but decided to keep her curves.
Of course Victoria looked stunning! And Daniel was ever the gentleman escorting Victoria and Mette-Marit. I do have to say that I didn’t care for MM’s dress, it just wasn’t very figure flattering.
Maddie looked so beautiful and how nice to see Chris by her side. I am so glad she will be able to attend the wedding tomorrow, as long as she doesn’t go into labor tonight:)
I think Sofia must like CP’s beard and slicked back hair. I have to admit I like a man with a beard which is very lucky for Mr. From Ca.:)
Thanks for all the well wishes on our anniversary. We just got back from a lovely dinner and I am stealing a few moments to catch up on wedding news.
Snark alert!! It’s so great to see princesses walking without clutching their crotch. I was getting so used to it due to you know who it was a little startling to see real princesses walk normally.
Sorry,rant over.
Sylvia….W-H-Y???? To compound it, the top and bottom are different shades of green.
I can’t wait to see Queen Margharite (sp?) of Denmark, she always dresses interestingly.
I really love Mette-Marit’s dress, but not on her. It makes her look pregnant, unless she is, in which case I take that back.
Haakon and Ahrn (sp) Benn look sartorially splendid.
Victoria looked STUNNING! Once again the best dressed and prettiest. She looks amazing. I love her dress and how well she wears it. Again, not a fan of the shoes but whatever, we can hardly see them here :p
Maddie looks great! Such a trooper! So glad she was able to make it + to the wedding. I am officially her fan!!! Her dress is lovely too.
Sofia looks great. She wasn’t the best dress but thankfully not the worse-dressed either. She looks pretty. Glad she altered her dress.
All the men are quite attractive but a special shout-out to Crown Prince Haakon for his style.
Finally, Silvia is the worst-dressed. Goodness. She is in great shape for her age, but I get the feeling she has all these clothes from the 80s and since she still fits in the them she continuous to wear such dated styles- ugh, the fabrics, the colors, the combinations, the style :S total fail in my book.
Victoria looked the best, but of course she would. For being blasted by me (and others) for looking like trailer trash, Sofia looked elegant and beautiful. I’m glad she cut the length of the slit down. I would have preferred it been knee-length but good enough. Her male escort needs to stop using the spray-tan and have his beard clipped to a clean look or simply shave it off. He also needs to stop using grease in his hair. Prince Daniel looks like a waiter. I’ll have a Dom, thank you. I think the Queen looks nice in a pantsuit. Not so dressy but good enough.
I have to beg to disagree about Daniel. He has thin hair but a lot of it (earlier pics) and it used to blow all over, didn’t look very good being photographed. He has a very focused way about him that he’s carried over to his hair, slicking it back so he can appear coolly dignified, and not embarrassing Vic. I love how he’s a huge asset to her, unlike DoC.
If Harry and I don’t work out, then I’m going to snag Daniel.
Lol! You’ve got competition! I understand where Seth sees a waiter (me-undercover James Bond), but much preferred than the scruffy CP beard.
Sofia & Carl Philip looked great! I love Sofia’s dress & she does a wonderful work for Sweden!