Embarrassing uncles, a £40k dress, and no chatting to press on Pippa’s Big Day

IT was the society wedding of the year and perhaps the most expensive, which even intense security, variable weather and an embarrassing uncle failed to dampen.

The Duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister Pippa Middleton, 33, married 41-yearold millionaire groom James Matthews at St Mark’s Church in Englefield, Berkshire at lunchtime yesterday in front of a congregation which included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the former Wimbledon tennis champion Roger Federer and Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews, the groom’s brother.

She had arrived from the nearby family home in Bucklebury accompanied by her father in an open-topped, vintage Jaguar. She was greeted by a lively cheer from around 100 royal fans and bystanders who had been asked to carry ID and implored not to speak to the press.

For the fashionistas the bride wore a £40,000 Giles Deacon wedding gown with a Stephen Jones veil, a Maidenhair Fern tiara and Manolo Blahnik ivory satin shoes. The cost of the wedding was put at £300,000

The newly-weds emerged from the church following a 45-minute service, just as the rain stopped. Middleton’s perfect day had been under threat with the attendance of controversial uncle Gary Goldsmith. The family black sheep was filmed in 2009 appearing to cut lines of cocaine at La Maison de Bang Bang, his eight-acre hideaway in Ibiza.

Even the most lavish and secure of weddings couldn’t escape the embarrassing uncle factor as Goldsmith broke a social media ban, reportedly implemented by Middleton, giving his online followers updates and pre-wedding pictures on Twitter throughout the morning. Middleton’s engagement ring cost £250,000, almost 10 times the budget of an average wedding.