I may be a little biased, because she is one of my faves, but I really think that Lilibet was one of the prettiest royal brides of the last century.  Simple, appropriate for austere times, yet absolutely regal and gorgeous.

The tiara I've written about here a little before -- it's Queen Mary's Fringe Tiara, and this is the famous occasion where its frame snapped as it was being placed in Elizabeth's hair before she headed to the Abbey.  Can you see the little extra space between the center spike and the one beside it?  They fixed it, but it was still a little off-kilter for the day!

Doesn't matter, though -- still beautiful.  And she and Prince Philip were quite the handsome couple:

Here's a pair of characters who are long overdue for an introduction on Mad Hattery -- Queen Mary, grandmother of the current queen and turban-wearer extraordinaire, and Princess Andrew, Prince Philip's mother who later wore her nun's habit to the coronation in 1953.

Queen Mary is, well, Queen Mary -- one of the grand matriarchs of the British royal family, Queen to George V and mother to Edward VIII and George VI.  She had a penchant for big hats and big jewelry -- much of the current collection of jewels in the Windsor collection is there courtesy of Mary.  Here, I first thought she was wearing animal print of some sort (!), but it's really just a patterned, monochrome purple fabric with a matching hat (and a hell of a plume).

Princess Andrew was born Princess Alice of Battenburg, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.  Though she was born with a German title and married into the Greek royal family, she was born in Windsor Castle and died at Buckingham Palace.  Princess Andrew is maybe the single most fascinating figure in the British/Greek line in the 20th century, and that's saying something -- I'd highly recommend reading about her intriguing (and tragic) life if you get the chance.

She was the sole representative of Prince Philip's immediate family at this wedding; he had three living sisters in 1947, but as all had married German princes who supported the Nazi party, it was thought best not to invite them to this particular royal bash so soon after the end of the war.  This is probably the last major British occasion where she wore mainstream dress rather than her religious garb -- it's a lovely purple, and it suits her well.

Here's another look at that color photo for reference:

Light purple for Mary, a deeper purple for Alice.  Very nice!

A very typical hat from Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mum, that is -- but not yet at this point) for her elder daughter's wedding -- I really sort of wish big, fluffy, yellow feathers would make a comeback in royal hattery.

As for the woman on the right of the photo in the dark hat -- that's the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, born Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, grandmother of Prince Philip.  She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and she's the one who lent Philip the "Mountbatten" name after he renounced his Greek titles; her husband, Prince Louis of Battenberg, had taken the name Mountbatten and the title Marquess of Milford Haven after the family renounced their German titles during World War I.

I can give old Vic a pass on this rather strange, fedora-esque hat on this occasion, because she's in her mid-eighties, and people in their mid-eighties have a license to wear whatever the heck they want!  (Erm, except Lilibet -- but she's not exactly your typical pensioner, now, is she?)

Most of the photos from this wedding are in black and white, but here's a little color version of this one to check on the colors of hats/dresses:

You can see that the Queen Mum's wearing golden yellow -- nice -- and Victoria's in what seems to be dove gray.  Both very appropriate, I think!

How lovely was Princess Margaret in her bridesmaid outfit at her big sister's wedding?  I love the whole thing, but the wreaths worn by the bridesmaids are one of my favorite parts of the outfit:

Gorgeous!  I love the way they echo ears of wheat -- a traditional symbol of good luck and fertility in marriage.

Also -- recognize the little boy standing in front of Margaret?  That'd be Prince Michael of Kent!