Glamorous wedding dresses, grooms in their service uniforms, and vintage style bouquets. As the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh celebrate 62 years of marriage this week, Hitched.co.uk explores royal marriage celebrations and wedding trends from the 1940s.

Ration cards meant that food was limited for any wedding party, and in July 1940 there was even a ban on the creation and sale of iced cakes. Sounds very different to the average £20,000 budget and endless choices that we have when it comes to wedding planning today.

On 20 November 1947 the Queen wed the Duke of Edinburgh wearing a silk, A-line gown designed by Norman Hartnell. The ivory gown was embroidered with crystals and 10,000 seed pearls, and was followed by a 13 foot train.  A V-neck style front with long sleeves was quite traditional in the 1940s, whereas today brides-to-be have endless choices when it comes to making that all important decision on their wedding dress. White or ivory, halter neck or sweetheart, mermaid, ballgown, silk, chiffon, every style for every bride is available today.

Princess Diana donned a £9000 wedding dress designed by David Emanuel in her 1981 wedding.  The taffeta and antique lace gown was followed by a 25ft long train and was hand embroidered with sequins and 100,000 pearls.

In June 1999 Sophie Rhys Jones had 325,000 cut-glass and pearl beads sewn onto her ivory silk and organza dress coat, designed by Samantha Shaw. The wedding dress has always been one of the most important decisions that a bride makes during her wedding planning and a large portion of the wedding budget is usually set aside for this once in a life time gown.

1940s wedding receptions were filled with music from the likes of Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Vintage style wedding cars were the norm, and are still available from various wedding transportation providers today.

If you are looking for wedding inspiration, a wedding dress, wedding planning advice, a wedding car or a DJ in your area, head to Hitched.co.uk.

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