Everything You Need to Know About Royal Weddings, From A to Z!

There was a time when more was more, and royal weddings featured mammoth bridal parties. Queen Victoria had 12 bridesmaids, while the Queen and Princess Margaret had eight each, plus pageboys. However things are a little more pared down now, and it's customary to go for just a handful of bridesmaids and no more than two pageboys.

The Royal Mews is located just around the corner from Buckingham Palace, and is home to not only all the Queen's horses, but also 100 carriages. The carriages are most often used at state events, and every year for Trooping the Colour, but they are also the perfect way for a newly-married royal couple to be seen by the public. While Prince Charles and Princess Diana, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge opted for the 1902 State Landau, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have chosen to ride in the Ascot Landau, which Edward and Sophie Wessex used after their own Windsor Castle wedding.

While many royal wedding traditions remain the same, the matter of entertainment is one thing that has changed the most over the years. While the Queen's wedding reception featured the string band of the Grenadier Guards, and Charles and Diana's big day was accompanied by the music of American bandleader Lester Lanin, William and Kate's guests were entertained by a one hour set from Ellie Goulding. No news yet on whether a certain spicy five-piece will be playing and Harry and Meghan's big day.

It's the feast to end all feasts, so royal weddings menus are always impressive, with no expense spared. Seafood is the most popular starter, with lamb the most favoured main course, followed by strawberries for dessert. In recent years especially, there has been emphasis placed on using local and seasonal produce. William and Kate opted for miniature roast beef and Yorkshire puddings, fishcakes and glazed sausages among their canapes.

If you were thinking that royal brides and grooms always opt for decadent honeymoons in multi-star far-flung destinations, you would be (mostly) wrong! The Queen and Prince Philip, Edward and Sophie, and Charles and Camilla all chose the royal estate of Balmoral in Scotland for their post-wedding downtime, while Charles and Diana, Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, and Mike and Zara Tindall didn't leave Europe.

William and Kate, however, headed for the Seychelles.

Flamingo print and a hand-written font just don't cut it when it comes to a royal wedding invite. These coveted items are always off-white, thick, stiff, gilt-edged, and follow a very strict protocol when it comes to wording.

Too much flashy jewellery is deemed unsophisticated on a royal wedding day, so princess brides usually favour relatively low-key pearls and/or daytime diamonds – and then go all-out with the tiara. The Queen wore two strings of pearls that were a gift from her parents, Kate's 'something new' was a pair of diamond earrings from her parents, and Sophie Wessex wore a necklace and earrings made from black and white pearls that had been designed by her new husband.

Although a wedding day appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony was popularised during the time of Queen Victoria, it was actually Charles and Diana who first shared a kiss while they were up there. Andrew and Sarah followed suit five years later, and William and Kate exchanged not one but two kisses on their big day.

Purveyors of bric-a-brac will always do a brisk trade around the time of a royal milestone, but where it always used to be all about mugs, plates, tea towels and thimbles, there has been more quirky fare available in recent years. Around the time of William and Kate's wedding, pizzas, condoms, and sick bags were produced featuring the royal couple, while in the run-up to Harry and Meghan's big day collectors can choose from condoms, cereal, and wooden spoons with the royal couple's faces etched into them.

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Several days before a significant royal wedding, crowds start camping out around the wedding venue, reaching critical mass on the morning of the big day – with plenty of flags, picnics, patriotic umbrellas, pop-up tents and fancy dress on display. Around one million people turned out onto the streets of London for William and Kate's big day in 2011, and William and Harry went on an impromptu walkabout to meet some of them the night before the wedding.

Although impressive gun salutes are employed for many special royal occasions such as the birth of a baby, or a special birthday, using them to mark weddings is not a foregone conclusion. While Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had a gun salute on their big day, when inquiries were made for William and Kate they were turned down for reasons of health and safety and noise pollution.

Princess Margaret's big day was the first royal wedding to be televised, and over time, where street parties used to be the way for British people to celebrate up and down the country, viewing parties have risen in popularity, with outdoor screens popping up, pubs making the most of the big day, and folks at home celebrating with tea parties and fizz.

The tradition of Welsh gold being used for royal wedding bands was started by the Queen Mother, and continues to this day. The Queen's wedding ring was made from a nugget of gold which came from the Clogau St David's Mine, and even though that particular nugget ran out after it was used for the rings of Margaret, Anne and Diana, Welsh gold is still always used.

The Queen's official bodyguards date back to the fifteenth century, and are often used for big royal occasions. At William and Kate's wedding they helped show guests to their seats.

Hundreds of zoom lenses will be pointed in the direction of the royal couple on their wedding day, and photographers will spend hours figuring out the best angle to get the shot that will be used around the world forever.