Why Pippa Middleton's Lavish Wedding Left Royal Watchers Unimpressed

Being related to royalty has its perks. If not for her sister's choice of husband, Pippa Middleton might have enjoyed a relatively quiet life, and her wedding would have received only a short paragraph or two in the papers. But once Kate Middleton tied the knot with Prince William and became Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (before being promoted to Princess of Wales), Pippa got a status boost too. On May 20, 2017 — a little over six years after the Wales' nuptials — Pippa exchanged vows with James Matthews, a race car driver turned hedge fund manager. The event was never going to be a simple affair; British society folk don't do Vegas quickie marriages with Elvis impersonators. But now that Pippa was the sister-in-law of the future king, her wedding was considerably more lavish than she might have otherwise expected.

The day couldn't have been more perfect, from the charming stone church to Pippa's custom-made lace Giles Deacon dress. The "aww" factor, meanwhile, was ably provided by the adorable junior attendants, including her niece and nephew, Princess Charlotte and Prince George. Kate wasn't a member of the wedding party — she reportedly didn't want to steal the attention from her sister — but the princess was very much present as she helped corral the kids and arrange Pippa's veil before she entered the sanctuary. The stunning ceremony was followed by a reception at the Middleton family estate, featuring cherry blossom trees and roses as table centerpieces. And yet the fairytale ambiance left many royal fans surprisingly cold.

Beautiful as Pippa Middleton's wedding was, online critics felt that there was far too much coverage of it in the British tabloids (imagine seeing Kimberly Guilfoyle's coquette look at her son's high school prom on the front page of every U.S. newspaper for weeks on end). Sarah Niblock summed up the situation neatly in Prospect magazine: "What bothers me is the oversaturation of Pippa in the UK where, frankly, most of the public couldn't give a hoot." She added, "Considering this isn't even a royal wedding, this is garnering acres more attention than even when Sarah Ferguson took Prince Andrew down the aisle." 

Negative criticism ruled the day on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well. One user yawned, "Anyone else fed up of hearing about Pippa Middleton's wedding?" A follower agreed, "You bet. What a non-event! Are they paying for the publicity? If so, what a waste of money." The nepo sibling aspect of the hoopla got under another commenter's skin: "If her sister wasn't married to the future king, we [would not have] heard about it!" 

The extravagance of the affair — the glass marquee alone cost almost $130,000 — also seemed calculated to leave commoners feeling, well, common. A reader commented on a story in The Guardian about the event: "This looks astonishingly vulgar. I don't know why they can't just have a quick church or registry marriage, a bottle of something bubbly and a nice lunch with friends and give the £250,000 to charity. Awful people."

The other aspect of Pippa Middleton's wedding that people found annoying were the strict rules guests reportedly had to follow. We're not saying that Pippa was a total bridezilla, but some of her requests seemed a bit much. For instance, according to The Telegraph, attendees were required to wear different outfits to the ceremony and reception. As celeb journalist Kelly Allen pointed out on X at the time, "Ugh, pricey. It already costs a fortune having a different outfit for every wedding and running." Other commenters wondered about the logistics of bringing extra clothing and where to change before dinner (side note: the bathroom line must have been crazy long). Pippa also established a controversial "no ring, no bring" policy. As Toronto etiquette expert Karen Cleveland told Weddingbells, "I can't help but feeling it's a little too limited. Tons of couples choose not to get hitched, which doesn't make their relationships any less valid." 

It also created a sticky family situation, since brother-in-law Prince Harry had just recently gone public with Meghan Markle. In the end, Pippa and mom Carole Middleton reportedly felt obligated to invite Meghan , who opted to attend just the reception so as not to create a distraction at the ceremony. Pippa also had a controversial seating chart which placed couples at separate tables, so Meghan and Harry couldn't sit together. "I'm a Brit. Every wedding I've been to, couples are seated together," argued one X user. And yet, another shrugged, "So what? Meghan Markle was extremely lucky to be there."