Grace Kelly Style

In this post, through photographs, we will follow the American actress Grace Kelly from the time of the engagement announcement to the wedding day when she married Prince Rainier in April 1956. (For more information on the fairytale wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, please click on the link)

As today’s brides know there are numerous events leading up to the actual wedding day, such as the engagement party, bridal showers, bridesmaids’ luncheon and rehearsal dinner.  To help in selecting the various outfits needed, in this post I am going to discuss ideas and suggestions for dressing in the “Grace Kelly style”.       

The “Grace Kelly style” is best described as classic and effortlessly chic, it is timeless and the best part is that these items can be incorporated into any wardrobe for use after the wedding day.  Many of the luxury items that I will discuss later in the post, such as the Hermes bag, can be expensive and if cost is a factor a budget minded shopper can find numerous options available for purchase at a lower price but it is important to look for similar items that are well made in quality fabrics.

The brief courtship of Grace and Prince Rainier

In early 1955, while Grace Kelly was on a European tour to promote her latest film, “The Country Girl” her publicist arranged a photo shoot with the French magazine, Paris Match, and the location chosen was the Palace of Monaco where she would also meet Prince Rainier.  Unprepared for the photo shoot, Grace wore a black silk taffeta dress that featured a large flower print, a full skirt with a square neckline, long sleeves and a dropped waist tied with a sash.  Since she had missed her salon appointment that day, her usually perfectly coiffured hair was severely pulled back and secured with artificial flowers. Although she looked lovely, the garish dress was not one of her best looks!   

Paris Match magazine article featuring Grace Kelly
she is wearing that infamous black silk taffeta dress

Following their first meeting in May 1955, the two began writing each other letters and through their correspondence they got to know each other.  As the months passed the royal chaplain of Monaco thought that the Prince had possibly found a potential wife and encouraged the relationship. 

The engagement of Grace and Prince Rainier

Just before Christmas 1955, the Prince traveled to the United States to visit with Grace and the Kelly family in Philadelphia.  Ultimately the Prince proposed while the couple were in New York City for New Year’s Eve.  Grace’s engagement ring was from Cartier and featured a 10.47 carat emerald diamond in a platinum setting with smaller baguette diamonds on each side. Actually the ring was a second choice, the first ring which featured diamonds and rubies was not considered substantial enough for a future princess!

The engagement of Grace and the Prince was officially announced on January 5, 1956 at the Kelly home in Philadelphia with a press conference later that day at the Philadelphia County Club.  Prince Rainier wore a dark suit and Grace wore a Brannell of New York beige silk dress with a brocade dot pattern and it featured a button front, 3/4 length sleeves, a full skirt and belted at the waist. 

Grace and Prince Rainier at their engagement announcement

The next night the couple was scheduled to attend a society ball at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and after the engagement announcement the previous day Grace and the Prince were the center of attention at the ball.  The photo below shows the glamorous couple; Prince Rainier is wearing a black tuxedo with a white tie and Grace is wearing a white satin dress that featured a strapless fitted bodice with a full skirt, she is also wearing long white gloves and a pearl necklace and earrings, it seems that she is wearing a corsage of flowers pinned to the front of her dress.

Grace and Prince Rainer at a society ball in New York City
notice that the glamourous couple is wearing formal clothes for the evening event

Special Note: Engagement photos have become very popular in recent years as well as photos or videos of the proposal.  A newly engaged couple can pose for casual photos taken at a local park or beach or sometimes a couple will choose to have professional more formal photos taken at a studio.  This is a wonderful way to commemorate this special moment in their lives.     

Grace travels from New York to Monaco for the wedding

Shortly before the wedding to Prince Rainier, Grace boarded the USS Constitution ocean liner to travel from New York City to Monaco in April 1956.  She traveled with her her family, her bridesmaids, her French poodle Oliver and over eighty pieces of luggage!   

Special Note: For those nostalgic trivia buffs, the Constitution was the same ship featured in the “I Love Lucy” television series starring real-life couple Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball in the 1956 episode “Bon Voyage” and also in the iconic 1957 film “An Affair to Remember” starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr.  

Grace on board the USS Constitution leaving New York City
she is wearing a two piece suit with matching jacket and skirt, gloves and a hat

Grace relaxing on deck
she is wearing a sweater set, skirt, comfortable shoes and sunglasses
(although it may be a sunny day, on deck it can be breezy and chilly during a cruise!)

Grace wearing a life jacket for a safety drill
she is wearing a casual long sleeve shirt, pants, sunglasses and a scarf
(a scarf worn on deck can keep hair protected from the sun and ocean breezes)

Grace wearing a casual two-piece top and shorts set

After the eight day trans-Atlantic trip the USS Constitution made a special stop in Monaco for Grace and her family to disembark.  Because of the large size of the ship it was unable to dock and it stayed anchored in the harbor while Prince Rainier went out in a yacht to privately greet his fiancé and her family.  As Grace stepped ashore she was welcomed by over 20,000 locals and tourists. 

Grace with Prince Rainier arriving in Monaco after her trans-Atlantic trip
she is wearing a navy blue coat dress, gloves and wide-brimmed hat
(it has been noted that the people of Monaco were displeased
because the hat hid the beautiful face of their future princess)

Special Tip: Back in 1950s trans-Atlantic travel on board a luxury liner called for a very specific wardrobe requiring several changes of clothing for the various activities on board.  Today’s cruise vacations are much more casual in style and depending on the duration of the cruise a few coordinating shirts, shorts and pants could be worn for days at sea or when visiting the ports and maybe a few dresses for dinner in the evenings. 

Grace’s Wedding Dresses

For the wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier there were two ceremonies, a required civil ceremony which took place in the throne room of the Monaco Palace on April 18, 1956 and then the religious ceremony which took place the next day on April 19 at the St. Nicholas Cathedral.  (For more detailed information on the wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, please click on the link)

For the civil ceremony, Grace wore a pale pink taffeta with an overlay of cream colored Alencon lace designed with a fitted bodice, high collar and a flared skirt which she accessorized with gloves and a hat.  Prince Rainer wore striped trousers, a white vest and a black morning coat.

Prince Rainier and Princess Grace at the civil ceremony in the Monaco Palace
(this timeless dress would be appropriate for a modern bride
to wear for a small casual daytime wedding)

For the religious ceremony, Helen Rose, the movie costume designer who had worked with Grace on several of her films created a beautiful bridal dress.  The dress used twenty-five yards of silk taffeta, one hundred yards of silk netting, tulle, peau de soie and antique Brussels lace that was over 125 years old.  The elegant dress was designed with a high collar, long sleeves, a fitted bodice, a full skirt and a train that measured three feet in length.  Additionally, the bodice was structured underneath for support and two petticoats were also worn to provide fullness to the skirt.  As for the groom, Prince Rainier wore a Napoleonic styled military uniform which he personally designed. (For more information regarding Grace Kelly – An American Bride, please click on the link)

Prince Rainier and Princess Grace at the Monaco Palace on their wedding day
(this beautiful dress worn by Princess Grace on her wedding day
has become the inspiration for many modern brides, including Kate Middleton)

Special Note: Prince Rainier commissioned The House of Creed to create a special perfume, Fleurissimo, especially for Grace as a wedding present.  Fleurissimo was also a favorite perfume worn by another fashion icon, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.  Selecting a personal perfume for a wedding day is a great idea for a modern bride and maybe it can become her “signature” scent!

Later that same night, the couple attended an elegant gala which was held in their honor at the Monaco Opera House.  Grace wore a lovely Lanvin gress made of white silk organdy with a deep v-neck, high waistline with a full bustle and it featured hand-embroidery and was decorated with pearls, rhinestones and sequins.

Prince Rainier and Princess Grace at the evening reception on their wedding day

Grace and Prince Rainier leaving on their honeymoon

For their honeymoon Prince Rainier and Grace boarded a yacht for a seven week Mediterranean cruise, the “Deo Juvante II” was a wedding present from Aristotle Onassis.  One of the stops during the trip was to Mallorca where the newlyweds stayed at the Hotel Formentor.    

Princess Grace and Prince Rainier leaving on their honeymoon
she is wearing a travel suit with jacket and matching shirt made by Edith Head,
white gloves and a hat

Special Note:  Back in those days a bride would change from her wedding dress into a “going away” outfit at the end on a reception.  The change of clothing was for the bride to wear something more suitable for travel to the honeymoon destination.  This trend is making a comeback for the modern bride and it’s a wonderful excuse for another fabulous outfit for the bride to wear on the wedding day!   

Princess Grace’s pearl and diamond parure

Grace often wore pearl jewelry in both her personal and professional life but the items I am going to discuss next were a wedding present from Prince Rainier.  He gave her a beautiful Van Cleef & Arpels parure that included a triple-strand pearl necklace with a diamond swirl motif, a triple-strand pearl bracelet with a diamond blossom motif, a set of pearl earrings accented with a baguette and marquise shaped diamond swirl and a diamond blossom ring with a pearl center. After these purchases by Prince Rainier, the French jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels ended up being given the honor of the “Official Supplier to the Principality of Monaco.”

Princess Grace wearing the pearl and diamond jewelry parure
that were a wedding present from Prince Rainier

Special Note: A wedding gift, such as a necklace or charm bracelet, from the groom is a thoughtful way to commemorate the marriage and it could be a wonderful gift for the bride to wear for many years to come and perhaps to pass on to a future daughter as a sentimental heirloom!   

An iconic handbag and another beautiful dress

I wanted to include the next two items because both are iconic “Grace Kelly style ” although they are not directly associated with the wedding. The first is a favorite handbag that Grace frequently used and the second is another fabulous dress which was worn by Grace to the 1955 Academy Awards ceremony.

The Hermes “Kelly” bag

For the 1955 film “To Catch a Thief”, which starred Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, the MGM costume designer Edith Head and Grace choose a classic Hermes handbag known as the sac à dépêches.  A long held rumor was that when Grace was photographed carrying that bag soon after the wedding it was reported that it was strategically placed in front to hide her pregnancy.  

Princess Grace with her Hermes bag

Special Notes:  It was not until 1977 that the name of the Hermes bag that Grace favored was renamed the “Kelly” bag.  Every Hermes Kelly bag is handmade by expert craftsmen and it takes about 25 hours to create each individual bag.  What make the Hermes “Kelly” bag different from the look alike Birkin bag that came later is that the Hermes has a single handle and it smaller in size while the Birkin has two handles and is larger and slightly wider, both have detachable shoulder straps. 

1955 Oscar dress

Perhaps one of the most iconic dresses worn to the Academy Awards ceremonies was the dress designed by Edith Head for Grace Kelly.  The dress was worn for the 1955 Academy Awards at which Grace won the Best Actress Oscar for her work in The Country Girl movie.  The beautiful silk dress featured a long column skirt with draping at the waist, a fitted bodice and two thin straps at each shoulder with a separate small train gathered in the back.  The color has been reported as ice blue or mint green but it was delightfully described by Edith Head as a “blue champagne” color (that sounds very sophisticated!)

The iconic Edith Head designer dress worn by Grace

Grace on the cover of Life magazine – April 11, 1955

Grace accepting her Best Actress Oscar for “The Country Girl” at the 1955 Academy Awards

Special Note: Grace actually wore the dress on three different occasions; for the 1954 movie premiere of “The Country Girl” in New York City, for the photo shoot for the April 11, 1955 cover of Life magazine and for the 1955 Academy Awards Ceremony. 

It has been said that Grace was surprisingly frugal and often wore clothing from her personal wardrobe more than once.  This brings up the point about purchasing luxury clothing and accessories, if you select clothes well-made in quality fabrics they can be worn for several years.   

Special Note: For more information regarding the movie costumes designed for Grace by Helen Rose and Edith Head, please click on the links.

An American Bride – Grace Kelly

Grace Kelly is known as the quintessential elegant bride and when she married Prince Rainer in 1956 she wore not one but two dresses, a pale pink lace dress for the civil ceremony and a traditional white wedding dress for the religious ceremony that took place the next day.  Although her wedding took place over sixty years ago, her wedding dress design has become the standard and inspiration for many brides throughout the years.  (For more detailed information about the Wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, please click on the link)

The Civil Ceremony Dress

The civil ceremony of Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly took place in the throne room of the Monaco Palace on April 18, 1956.  The Napoleonic Code of Monaco required a civil ceremony take place before the religious ceremony.  The service was performed by the Monaco Minister of Justice, with the vows exchanged in French, and there were only 80 guests in attendance.  Grace wore a dress created by Helen Rose, the MGM studio costume designer, who also made the bridal dress for the religious ceremony.  (For more information on the American Movie Costume Designer Helen Rose, please click on the link) 

The two-piece dress for the civil ceremony was made of pale pink taffeta with an overlay of cream colored Alencon lace.  The dress featured a fitted bodice, high round collar, three quarter sleeves and a flared skirt which she accessorized with pink pumps, white gloves and a pink hat trimmed with silk flowers.  Prince Rainer wore striped trousers, a white vest and a black morning coat.

The Wedding Dress

The religious ceremony took place on April 19, 1956 at the St. Nicholas Church and the service was performed by the bishop of Monaco with 600 guests in attendance including international heads of state and other diplomats as well as Hollywood celebrities.    

Grace’s wedding dress was a stunning creation designed by Helen Rose of MGM studios, it took six weeks using three dozen seamstresses and cost an estimated $7200.00.  The dress used twenty-five yards of silk taffeta, one hundred yards of silk netting, tulle, peau de soie and antique Brussels lace that was over 125 years old.  (peau de soie is a soft silk fabric of satin weave which has a dull finish)  The elegant dress was designed with a high collar, long sleeves, a fitted bodice, a full skirt and a train that measured three feet in length.  Additionally, the bodice had a structured under bodice for support and two petticoats were worn underneath to provide fullness to the skirt; a train insert and silk faille cummerbund completed the wedding dress.  To dress was impeccability finished with special care and to conceal the seams of the dress hundreds of seed pearls were sewn onto the fabric.  Prince Rainier wore a Napoleonic styled military uniform which he personally designed for his wedding day.        

Special Note: Grace was born on November 12, 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and later went to New York and then Hollywood, California to pursue her acting career.  After the wedding, Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco, as she was now known as, gifted her wedding dress and accessories to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 

Shown below are photos of Grace’s wedding dress
from the Philadelphia Museum of Art website

On her wedding day Grace wore a Juliet style headpiece that beautifully complimented her wedding dress.  The headpiece was worn to the back of her head and featured the same pearl embroidered lace which matched the bodice of her wedding dress.  To further embellish the headpiece were wax orange blossoms and small pearls wired to form leaves.

Shown below are photos of Grace’s wedding headpiece
from the Philadelphia Museum of Art website

Attached to the headpiece was a tulle veil which featured appliqued lace that included two small lovebirds.  Special care was taken to keep her beautiful face visible for the guests to see as well as the estimated 30 million viewers that would be watching on television.

Shown in the photo below are the details of the beautiful tulle veil

Grace wore custom made shoes by David Evins, a leading American shoe maker that Grace had previously worked with.  The wedding shoes were covered with lace to match the dress and had a 2 ½ inch heels.  Grace also requested that a copper penny be added to her right shoe, a traditional good luck charm for brides, and one was sewn into the arch of the shoe.

Finally, on her wedding day Grace carried a small bouquet made of lilies of the valley and a small Bible.  The bible was a gift from a family friend and a custom cover was made by the MGM wardrobe department of silk faille with a lace applique overlay embellished with seed pearls.

Grace’s wedding dress has remained one of the most famous and iconic wedding dress for decades … that is until 2011 when Kate Middleton married Prince William!  It has been said that Grace’s wedding dress was the inspiration and had a direct influence on the design of Kate’s dress, see the photo below for a side by side comparison.  (For more information on Prince William and Kate’s royal wedding, please see British Royal Wedding – Part 4)

Helen Rose – An American Movie Costume Designer

To continue this blog’s ongoing series on fashion and costume designers, in this post I will discuss the career of Helen Rose who was an American costume designer at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio during the 1940s to the 1960s.  She created costumes for some of the most glamorous film stars, such as Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.  In fact they love her designs so much that on their wedding days both ladies wore bridal gowns made by Helen Rose.   (Special Note: In keeping with the theme of An Elegant Bride blog, the classic Helen Rose movie costume designs detailed in this post would be a great inspiration for a classic wedding style for either a bride and/or bridesmaid dresses)

A brief history of the life and career of Helen Rose

Helen (Bromberg) Rose was born on February 2, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois; her parents were William Bromberg and Ray Bobbs.  Perhaps because her father was part owner of an art reproduction company and her mother was a seamstress, at a young age Helen showed an artistic talent for drawing and fashion design and she convinced her parents to enroll her in the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.  She would be hired by the Lester Costume Company to create costumes for vaudeville shows and when her family moved in 1929 she went with them to Los Angeles, California.

Eventually Helen went to work for Fanchon and Marco which was a company that designed costumes for theatrical shows.  After that work experience she was quickly hired to design costumes for the Ice Follies, a touring ice show founded in 1936 which featured elaborate production numbers.      

In the early 1940s Helen worked briefly for 20th Century Fox designing movie costumes mainly for the studio’s musical productions.  Then, in 1943 she was hired by MGM where she would eventually be promoted to the chief designer, she worked at the studio for over forty years. She created costumes for over 200 films for some the most famous movie stars at MGM, including Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Lana Turner, and Esther Williams.  Helen was nominated ten times for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, she won twice for “The Bad and the Beautiful” in 1952 and “I’ll Cry Tomorrow” in 1955.

Helen Rose receiving her Oscar for “The Bad and the Beautiful”

Helen’s influence on the bridal industry was noted when she designed the movie wedding dress for Elizabeth Taylor in “Father of the Bride” (as well her real life 1950 wedding)  Helen also received international attention when she designed the bridal dress for Grace Kelly’s wedding in 1956. 

In 1958 Helen opened her own ready-to-wear line of clothing and she sold her designs to upscale department stores such as Bonwit Teller, Marchall Fields and Joseph Magnin. She also licensed her designs to be sold through Spadea and Advance patterns during the 1950s. 

Helen left the MGM in 1966, by that time studios were using store-bought clothing for their movies and long term contracts were no longer given to studio designers

On a personal note, Helen married Harry Rose on December 28, 1929 and had a daughter named Judy.  She died at the age of 81 in Palm Springs, California on November 9, 1985.

Movie costume designs of Helen Rose

During her forty years working for the studio Helen was especially known for creating lovely costumes made with chiffon which was known to be a very difficult fabric to work with but she liked it because it moved beautifully and would photograph well as it picked up the lights on the studio sets.

So, starting in chronological order I will focused on two very different actresses that Helen designed costumes for, the elegant Grace Kelly and the sexy Elizabeth Taylor. 

Helen created perhaps one of the most iconic wedding dresses of the 1950s for Elizabeth Taylor in the “Father of the Bride” film (1950).  The dress featured elaborate layers of satin fabric creating a full skirt which was tapered to a tiny waistline and a high neck finished with a rounded collar and bodice of beautiful lace. (Special Note: This original wedding dress style was made available to the public through the Alfred Angelo bridal store during the 1950s)  

By 1956 Helen had worked with Grace Kelly on many of the actress’ films for MGM, the 1956 film “High Society” would be one on Grace’s last films for the studio.  She had recently become engage to Prince Rainer and she would be leaving her acting career behing in the United States to start a new life as a Princess in Monaco.  As a funny coincidence, “High Society” was a film in which Grace played a spolied rich girl who was about to be married. Shown in the photo below is one of the dresses designed by Helen and it was a light gray and pink evening chiffon evening gown beautifully embellished with floral embroidery and beading cascading from the shoulder to the hem.      

The second dress worn by Grace that Helen designed for the film was for the wedding scene, the dress was made of silk organza worn over a white underdress.  It featured a full skirt with bellowing sheer sleeves and a pink ribbon tied at the waist and accented with fabric florals that matched the embroidered flowers on the bodice and skirt.  To complete the look, Grace wore a wide brimmed white hat covered with layers of fabric and tulle and a pair of white wrist length gloves. 

Just like Grace, throughout Helen’s years at MGM she worked with Elizabeth Taylor on numerous movies.  In the beginning she created modest dresses for the young ingénue who was at the start of her longer film career but later when Elizabeth began taking on more mature roles in her films her style changed dramatically. 

The movie costume created by Helen for Elizabeth Taylor for “Cat on a Hot Tin” (1958) was a sexy white chiffon dress with a plunging neckline shown in the photo below.  (Special Note: This dress would become a best seller for the Helen Rose clothing line which she started in 1958.  I’m sure many husbands were happy that their wives could dress just like the sultry Elizabeth Taylor!)

Famous wedding dresses designed by Helen Rose

Helen Rose set the bridal trends for generations to come with her movie costume designs for Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly as well as the bridal gown designs for their real life weddings in the 1950s. 

Elizabeth Taylor had finished filming the “Father of the Bride” but just before the movie was officially released she married Conrad “Nicky” Hilton on May 6, 1950 in Beverly Hills, California.  As a wedding gift to the bride MGM had Helen Rose make the bridal gown, it took fifteen seamstresses and embroiders three months to complete at the cost of $1,5000.

The bridal gown used 25 yards of ivory silk satin and featured a full skirt with an illusion bodice embellished with beads and pearls.  The veil was made of 10 yards of silk net and was attached to a Juliet cap covered in pearls.  (Special Note: The dress sold for $188,000 at a Christie’s auction in 2013)

Unfortunately the couple divorce after a year and it would be the first of Elizabeth’s 8 weddings over the next 40 years, she had 7 different husbands but she married Richard Burton twice. 

After her short marriage to Hilton, Elizabeth married Michael Wilding on February 21, 1952 in London, England.  (Special Note: Elizabeth actually held dual citizenship because she was born in London and moved with her parents to California in 1939, both her parents were originally from Kansas and had lived in England for 10 years)

Helen Rose also designed Elizabeth’s wedding dress for her second wedding, it was a jacket with a white collar and cuffs and three-quarter sleeves worn with a matching flared skirt. 

Helen Rose designed the movie costumes worn by Grace Kelly for the four MGM films she starred in and they had developed a great friendship.  When Grace became engaged to Prince Rainer of Monaco she entrusted Helen to create not one but two wedding dresses!  She designed one for the civil ceremony that took place on April 18, 1956 in the Throne Room at the Prince’s Palace and one for the religious ceremony which took place the next day at the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Monaco.  (Special Note: Both wedding dresses were a special gift to the bride from the MGM Studio)

Grace’s civil ceremony wedding dress was made with a pale pink taffeta with a ivory French Alencon lace overlay which was further embellished with pink embroidery and featured a round collar jacket and a full skirt, to complete her ensemble Grace wore a Juliet cap and gloves.       

For the religious ceremony, which took place on April 19, 1956, Helen Rose created a beautiful wedding dress made with 25 yards of vintage Brussels rose point lace and silk faille taffeta that featured a fitted bodice, high neckline, long sleeves and a full skirt.  The chapel length veil was made of tulle and attached to a Juliet cap embellished with pearls and fabric orange blossoms.  (Special Note:  The iconic wedding dress and accessories were donated by Grace Kelly to the Philadelphia Museum of Art) 

For more information on the wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainer of Monaco, please click on the link.

Wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly

For this post I would like to take a look back to the wedding of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly which was then dubbed “the wedding of the century”. To start the story of this royal couple, in 1955 Grace Kelly had been invited to attend the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France because her latest film “The Country Girl” was being shown at the prestigious event; the next year she would receive the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance in the film.  Grace had enjoyed the south of France when she had previously been there to film another movie, the 1955 Alfred Hitchcock film “To Catch a Thief” costarring Cary Grant. 

While on her European tour to promote her latest film her publicist arranged to do a French magazine photo shoot for Paris Match at the Palace of Monaco where she was also scheduled to meet Prince Rainier.  Grace had tried to cancel the meeting due to numerous complications but she was encouraged keep the appointment despite the fact that she was unprepared.  It seems that her hotel had a power failure caused by a workers strike and she only had one dress pressed and ready to wear.  Unfortunately, the dress was not one of her best and it was a black silk taffeta printed with large flowers, the full skirted dress had a square neckline, long sleeves and a dropped waist tied with a sash.  Since she had missed her salon appointment that day, her usually perfectly coiffured hair was severely pulled back and secured with artificial flowers. 

Finally, Grace arrived at the Palace to meet the charming Prince Rainier of Monaco, a small 370 acre principality located near the south of France that had been ruled by the House of Grimaldi since 1297.  The Prince gave Grace a personal tour of the Palace gardens and his private zoo located on the grounds but it was far from an intimate meeting since they were accompanied by several photographers and members of the royal staff.

Grace Kelly first meeting with Prince Rainier - magazine article
Grace Kelly first meeting with Prince Rainier

Following this friendly first meeting, the Prince was impressed by Grace and the glamorous Hollywood movie star thought that the Prince was a charming gentleman.  Afterwards, Grace returned to the United States to continue making movies.  The two began writing each other letters and through their correspondence they were allowed the chance to get to know each other.  As the months passed the royal chaplain of Monaco thought that the Prince had possibly found a potential wife and he encouraged him to continue his courtship of Grace. 

Then, just before Christmas, the Prince accompanied by the chaplain traveled to the United States to visit with the Kelly family in Philadelphia.  This visit allowed the Prince and Grace to see each other again and the Kelly family was immediately charmed by their daughter’s suitor and also encouraged the match.  After Christmas the couple went to New York City to celebrate New Year’s Eve and that is when the Prince proposed and presented Grace with an engagement ring.  The Cartier ring had a 10.47 carat emerald diamond in a platinum setting with smaller baguette diamonds on each side.

Grace Kelly engagement to Prince Rainier
Grace Kelly's Cartier engagement ring

Immediately after her engagement was announced, Grace started planning for a spring wedding which would take place eight months later in Monaco.  There were in fact two wedding ceremonies, one was the required civil ceremony and the second one was a larger religious ceremony attended by 600 guests.  An estimated 30 million people watched the television coverage.  (This is an amazing statistic considering the fact that television was a relatively new media)

The Civil Ceremony –

The civil ceremony of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly took place in the throne room of the Monaco Palace on April 18, 1956 and was performed by the Monaco Minister of Justice, with the vows exchanged in French, and there were only 80 guests in attendance.  Grace wore a dress created by Helen Rose, the MGM studio costume designer, who also made the bridal dress for the religious ceremony which was performed the next day.  The dress for the civil ceremony was a pale pink taffeta with an overlay of cream colored Alencon lace designed with a fitted bodice, high collar and a flared skirt which she accessorized with gloves and a hat.  Prince Rainier wore striped trousers, a white vest and a black morning coat.

Wedding of Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly - civil ceremony
Grace Kelly civil ceremony dress 2
Grace Kelly civil ceremony dress 1

Immediately after the ceremony there was a celebration and the Prince along with his new Princess took the time to shake hands with the 3,000 citizens of Monaco that were their invited guests.  Later that same night, the couple attended an elegant gala which was held in their honor at the Monaco Opera House.  Grace wore a lovely Lanvin ballgown made of white silk organdy with a deep v-neck, high waistline with a full bustle and the dress was hand-embroidered and decorated with pearls, rhinestones and sequins.

The Religious Ceremony –

The religious ceremony for Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly was held the day after the civil ceremony.  It took place on April 19, 1955 at the St. Nicholas Cathedral and was a high mass celebrated by the Bishop of Monaco with 600 guests in attendance including Cary Grant, David Niven, Ava Gardner and several international heads of state and other diplomats.  The church was decorated with floral arrangements of white lilacs, hydrangeas, lilies and snapdragons.

Wedding of Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly - religious service
Wedding of Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly - religious service 1

The Matron of Honor was Grace’s sister, Peggy, and there were also six bridesmaids.  They all wore yellow silk taffeta dresses with a yellow organdy overlay purchased from the Neiman Marcus department store and made by Priscilla Kidder (later the owner of the successful bridal clothing line of Priscilla of Boston).  To complete the wedding party there were six junior attendants, four girls and two boys, which were all dressed in white.

Grace Kelly with her bridesmaids

After the ceremony, Prince Rainier and Grace rode from the church through the streets back to the Palace in a cream and black Rolls Royce convertible that was a gift from the people of Monaco.  The Palace’s Court of Honor was the location of a grand reception which featured a six tier wedding cake that was cut using the Prince’s sword.

Wedding of Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly - wedding cake 1
Wedding of Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly - reception

The Wedding Dress –

As a gift to Grace Kelly from the MGM studio, Helen Rose, their costume designer created a beautiful bridal dress and it has remained one of the most famous and iconic wedding dress for decades. Grace’s wedding dress took six weeks to be made using three dozen seamstresses from the MGM studios costume department and cost an estimated $7200.00.  The dress used twenty-five yards of silk taffeta, one hundred yards of silk netting, tulle, peau de soie and antique Brussels lace that was over 125 years old.  (peau de soie is a soft silk fabric of satin weave which has a dull finish)  The elegant dress was designed with a high collar, long sleeves, a fitted bodice, a full skirt and a train that measured three feet in length.  Additionally, the bodice had a structured under bodice for support and two petticoats were worn underneath to provide fullness to the skirt.

Grace Kelly wedding dress front
Grace Kelly wedding dress back 1

A Juliet cap was also made to compliment the dress and worn on the back of the head with three points at the hairline and a circular shape in the back.  The headpiece used the same embroidered lace as the bodice and was stretched over a wire frame.  It was decorated with seed pearls and small wax orange blossoms.  Attached to the headpiece was a circular wedding veil which was waist length in the front and then gradually longer towards the back.  The veil used 90 yards of tulle and is edged with lace but was left sheer in the front to provide an unobstructed view of Grace’s face.

Grace Kelly wedding dress bodice

Grace completed her bridal ensemble with shoes custom made by David Evins, a leading American shoe maker that Grace had previously worked with.  The wedding shoes were covered with lace to match the dress and had a 2 ½ inch heels.  Grace also requested that a copper penny be added to her right shoe, a traditional good luck charm for brides, it was sewn into the arch of the shoe.

Grace Kelly bridal shoes

On her wedding day Grace carried a small bouquet made of Lilies of the Valley and a small Bible.  The bible was a gift from a family friend and a custom cover was made by the MGM wardrobe department of silk faille with a lace applique overlay embellished with seed pearls.

Grace Kelly wedding bible
Grace Kelly wedding bible 1

Prince Rainier wore a Napoleonic styled military uniform which he personally designed.

Wedding of Prince Rainer and Grace Kelly 1