The Reception

After the ceremony, it is customary for the bride and groom to have a reception to spend time with guests and well-wishers. Prince Harry and Meghan enjoyed not one, but two wedding receptions, and both were truly amazing!

The new Duke and Duchess of Sussex had not one, but two wedding receptions. The first celebration took place immediately after the ceremony at St. George’s Hall in Windsor Castle, a lunchtime gathering hosted by the Queen for 600 guests from the wedding service congregation.

At 180 feet (55.5 metres) long and 29.5 feet (9 metres) wide, St. George’s Hall is the largest room in Windsor Castle. The Queen often uses the space to host formal state dinners with world leaders visiting from abroad. Though it was badly damaged by the fire at Windsor in 1992, it was later renovated in a modern Gothic style, according to the Royal Collection Trust.

Best Man Prince William served as compère at the first reception and there were speeches from Prince Charles and Prince Harry, with the former delivering a particularly moving tribute to “My Darling Old Harry…”

The lavish menu included a selection of sweet and savoury canapés in addition to the palatial lemon and elderflower wedding cake designed by Claire Ptak. All of the ingredients for the wedding reception were sourced from Royal Warrant-holding companies.

To begin with, guests were served a selection of savoury canapés, including Scottish langoustines wrapped in smoked salmon with citrus crème fraiche, grilled English asparagus wrapped in Cumbrian ham, garden pea panna cotta with quail eggs and lemon verbena, heritage tomato and basil tartare with balsamic pearls, poached free range chicken bound in a lightly spiced yoghurt with roasted apricot, croquette of confit Windsor lamb, roasted vegetables and shallot jam, and warm asparagus spears with mozzarella and sun-blush tomatoes. Following this, rather than having a formal sit-down dinner, a selection of bowl food was distributed.