Princess Martha Louise (Norway)

[Sunnyhorse]

The pink dress just screams “cougar on the prowl,” and he looks reluctant to touch her. Silvia and Harald must be beside themselves.

I find it funny that people turned their noses up at commoner Mette-Marit, thinking she was an inappropriate choice of future queen because of her background, but royal Martha-Louise is the one embarrassing the family while Mette-Marit carries out her duties so gracefully.

[Auroranorth]

Mette-Marit's son got busted for DV recently, but that's not her fault. She herself has mostly behaved very well. Though her friendship with Jeffrey Epstein definitely raised eyebrows.

Both their outfits have an H as the pattern. Did they seriously brand themselves for Hello! magazine, because that is so tacky.

[americanchai]

No, it's branding for her brand, Hest - horse in Norwegian. They had a sausage sizzle, cash bar and sold her goods outside the wedding. Classy!

[boxofrocks]

Sept 1, 2024 20:43:42 GMT -4 Auroranorth said:

Both their outfits have an H as the pattern. Did they seriously brand themselves for Hello! magazine, because that is so tacky.

The H stands for Hest, which is a clothing line Martha Louise co-founded. According to the Daily Mail (archive link):

A further controversy that has emerged following the big day is that the princess arranged a 'makeshift clothes shop' inside the hotel that was hosting the reception, according to Se og Hør.

The outlet says that items from the latest collection from clothing brand Hést! were on sale next to the couple's gift table. The princess owns a large stake in the brand, which she founded five years ago with two friends.

According to the outlet, it says 'several sources' said there were two Hést employees selling the clothing at the pop-up store.

There was a social media and photography ban for guests because of exclusivity deals with Hello! mag and Netflix, which will produce a documentary on the couple.

If there are too many 'leaks' of photos, the sum the couple will receive will probably be reduced,' in terms of the deals they have made to companies covering their wedding.

Oh dear.

According to Se og Hør, despite guests forking out an average of £2,300 (NOK 32,000) to attend the event - a sum which does not include the cost of a wedding gift - they were not treated to an open bar at the Hotel Union in Geiranger, where the reception was hosted.

According to the outlet, it is traditional for Norwegian weddings to open bars, but guests at the royal wedding yesterday were reportedly given five drink vouchers on Friday evening, for drinks on both Friday night's party and the reception on Saturday.

After the vouchers ran out, guests could purchase drinks from a menu, featuring cocktails made with the couple's customised gin they made with Oslo Håndverksdestilleri. The drinks were priced at £16.50 (NOK 225).

Argh.

Princess Martha Louise is not allowed to use her title for commercial gain, and it was at first reported that while OHD generally collaborates on products it makes with celebrities, the couple's gin had already been in the brand's line before it was associated with them.

However, according to a letter written by (OHD) to the Norwegian directorate of health, seen by Aftenposten, the princess may have been more involved in the creation of the product than initially thought.

This letter said that not only were the princess and her partner involved in the design process when it came to the label, it was the royal's idea to sell the product to the public via the state-run Vinmonopolet alcohol retailer.

OHD had written to the Norwegian directorate of health as it was investigating the product 'as part of [its] mandate to supervise compliance with the Norwegian prohibition against advertising of alcoholic beverages'.

An invitation to the product's launch, which was sent to the press, said: 'Martha Louise and Durek Verrett will present their unique gin and drink made especially for the wedding.'

Attorney Thomas Benson, at Angell law firm, is a specialist in alcohol law. He told Norwegian outlet VG: 'Seen in isolation, the invitation is not a breach. But when you highlight the gin and this one special product becomes the main focus of the event itself, this is a clear violation.'

Reports say the gin was pulled from Vinmonopolet on Thursday morning.

There are some initial pics at Hello's landing page (archive link) for the wedding. On a lighter and positive note, I like the colors of the flowers. IMO, Martha Louise's wedding dress style looks somewhat dated, although the 3D floral appliques are nice. She is wearing the Gift Tiara, which was previously given to her by her grandfather, King Olav V.  Durek Verrett's morning dress suit doesn't seem to fit him well. The pants are much too long and the fabric used for the ascot and cummerbund isn't stiff enough to hold shape. In the portrait featured, the cummerbund is sagging already and the ascot looks floppy. This same fabric was used for the silky, bias-cut dresses that Martha Louise's daughters wore and it's much more well-suited for that use. For the casual fashion (both archive links), Martha Louise's look is very "I'm a cool mom!" and Verrett seems to prefer unusual embellishments, like a possibly non-functional watch chain. 

Hello also had this to add about their engagement:

Durek had originally hoped to travel to Disneyland to create a fairytale proposal with the help of Playboy star Holly Madison.

Before he could execute his plan, Martha confronted him and convinced him to choose a different location. Durek admitted to HELLO!: "She can read my mind. When I thought about asking her to marry me at Disneyland, which we love, she called me to tell me not to."

After planning another two locations, he came up with a cunning plan to surprise his partner. "She also knew when I considered a yacht in Turkey or Lake Tahoe. Then I realized how to block her – by thinking of five places at once," he added.

MinMote, a Norwegian fashion site, has pictures of guests arriving at the ceremony (archive link). Some are wearing bunad (traditional dress) but almost everyone else is wearing evening wear to a daytime event (?).

[Auroranorth]

I feel like Norway dodged a bullet by not having Martha as the next queen. Just- wow.

[seat6]

What an absolutely bizarre event. It looks like the Von Trapp family went to the Met Ball.

[mojogirl]

My neighborhood in Seattle, Ballard, has the largest Syttendei Mai celebration outside of Norway and lots of people wear bunad- it's like wearing colonial or pioneer clothes to a 4th of July celebration.

So it seems weird to wear bunad to a wedding!

[Jcruz]

Sept 4, 2024 0:20:14 GMT -4 mojogirl said:

My neighborhood in Seattle, Ballard, has the largest Syttendei Mai celebration outside of Norway and lots of people wear bunad- it's like wearing colonial or pioneer clothes to a 4th of July celebration.

So it seems weird to wear bunad to a wedding!

Bunad is worn a lot to weddings, christening, confirmation, as well as 17. mai in Norway. It is not as weird as wearing pioneer clothing. People wearing bunads might have been the most normal thing about the wedding.

[featherhat]

Sept 4, 2024 1:08:44 GMT -4 Jcruz said:

Sept 4, 2024 0:20:14 GMT -4 mojogirl said:

My neighborhood in Seattle, Ballard, has the largest Syttendei Mai celebration outside of Norway and lots of people wear bunad- it's like wearing colonial or pioneer clothes to a 4th of July celebration.

So it seems weird to wear bunad to a wedding!

Bunad is worn a lot to weddings, christening, confirmation, as well as 17. mai in Norway. It is not as weird as wearing pioneer clothing. People wearing bunads might have been the most normal thing about the wedding.

Yeah I was going to say that they seem routinely worn in Norway for certain events. Swedish national dress seems worn reasonably regularly in Sweden too, for women anyway.

[PearlySweetcake]

Sept 4, 2024 0:20:14 GMT -4 mojogirl said:

My neighborhood in Seattle, Ballard, has the largest Syttendei Mai celebration outside of Norway and lots of people wear bunad- it's like wearing colonial or pioneer clothes to a 4th of July celebration.

So it seems weird to wear bunad to a wedding!

Hej mojogirl! I didn't know you were a Ballardite! I work down on Shilshole. Had lunch at Hattie's Hat today.

Oh those wedding pictures. I could hear my late Norwegian grandmother muttering "Uff da...." in my ear.