Kate's Wedding Dress Goes on Display!(Photo)

There's a new headliner at the Palace: the Duchess of Cambridge's wedding dress.

The ivory and white satin-gazar dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen is the centerpiece of the annual summer opening of Buckingham Palace tours for the public.

Starting Saturday, about 643,000 tickets become available – and given the 107-percent increase in sales over last year, when 413,000 visitors went on tour, insiders expect box-office records to be broken. 

On Friday, Kate, 29, and the Queen, 85, will tour the exhibit. 

Kate was instrumental in the decision to put the dress on display in the royal residence, where it stands under lights on a special platform in the Ballroom. Visitors are permitted within a few feet of the creation, which is topped-off with the Cartier "Halo" tiara that the Queen loaned the bride on the April 29 wedding day. 

Tours, which run until Oct. 3, cost $28.50 and include 19 state rooms, a special Royal Fabrege exhibit and a walk in the south side of the garden. Further details are available at The Royal Collection. 

"Visitors will see what a great example of British couture it is," exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut says of the wedding dress. "And how much detail and how much work went into the creation of this dress. The beauty really is in the detail." 

In rooms where the wedding celebrations occurred are now showcases of the handcrafted bridal shoes by the team at Alexander McQueen (size 8, with three-inch heels) and a replica of Kate's bridal bouquet fashioned in silk flowers by the wedding florist Shane Connolly. There's also a film about the creation of the dress, featuring Sarah Burton. 

In the state dining room is the tiered wedding cake. With the first cut, from Prince William's sword, still visible on its base, the cake is almost exactly as it was on April 29. 

The top three tiers, however, have been replaced with replicas by baker Fiona Cairns, as the couple have held on to the top two tiers, keeping with the tradition of saving some to serve at a first child's christening. 

The third section was eaten on the big day.

Sarah Burton, the royal wedding dress designer who will avoid the limelight

The long-rumoured yet never-quite-confirmed designer of Kate Middleton's wedding dress, Sarah Burton, took over as creative director of the Alexander McQueen label in May 2010, following its founder's suicide in February of that year.

Burton is renowned for her technical expertise and romantic and artistic sensibility – and lately for her efforts at subterfuge, too. Indeed, Burton's discretion is believed to have helped her win the coveted dress commission. The 36-year-old Mancunian had taken great pains to hide her identity in the build-up to the wedding.

But the game was effectively up the evening before, when Burton was photographed entering the Goring hotel, where Kate Middleton was staying, wearing a fur trapper hat that obscured her face yet which fashion insiders immediately identified as Burton's.

The designer, finally unveiled, was on hand to fold the train into the car as the bride travelled to the abbey, and then again inside the cathedral to tweak the train just before she walked up the aisle.

Burton, who was already a highly respected international designer within fashion circles, is now destined to become a household name. Her first two collections at the helm of Alexander McQueen have been praised for respecting the theatrical and detailed craftsmanship for which the brand is famous, while also taking it in a more feminine, delicate direction.

Raised in Manchester before moving to London to complete her studies at Central St Martins college, Burton joined the McQueen studio as an intern in 1996 on the suggestion of her tutor, then returned after her graduation. In 2000 she was appointed head of womenswear and acted as McQueen's right hand confident until his death.

She admitted taking over from McQueen at the head of a label was "an intimidating prospect", but it will have prepared the quietly spoken designer for a challenge that has had the world watching.

In her statement released moments after the ceremony, Burton said working on the design had been "the experience of a lifetime". But it is unlikely that she will aim to cash in on her status as a wedding designer superstar – she noted in her statement that she will not be giving interviews in the coming days. Rather, Burton, who is arguably now as famous as her late predecessor, is hoping she can remain out of the spotlight while her work speaks for her.

Royal Wedding: US embraces Anglophilia

Brits here have been besieged with questions about details of the wedding. I have fielded questions on every aspect of British Royal culture for weeks. American news networks, all covering the event live, have been scrambling for British journalists to go on their shows and explain it all, in their best BBC English accent, of course.

“Is she allowed to be smiling that much?” asked my American friend watching from Milwaukee. She is on a business trip, but both she and her husband here in New York got up yesterday morning at 5am to watch the wedding live.

“Even I, a Yank, get chills during God Save the Queen”, another friend said. It would have been nice if

Buckingham Palace had posted copies of the program online we could download them and follow along, he added.

“I love Jerusalem,” said an American friend watching with me in New York. “It’s a lovely song, very evocative.”

Another American said of Catherine Middleton’s dress: “Divine, the most sublime and elegant and pristine wedding dress ever. Alexander McQueen would be proud. [Sarah Burton] you deserve all the accolades - you have set a new and formidable standard for brides around the world.”

“How could anyone not watch it?” said Amina Akhtar an American fashion editor also up at 6am to watch Catherine Middleton arrive at Westminster Abbey. “American, British - it doesn't matter where you live, this was a wonderful moment for everyone. It was such a historic occasion and we get to see a happy couple get married and a new Princess looking simply stunning.

“Of course, I had to watch to see the dress. Her choice of Alexander McQueen was perfect’ very reminiscent of Grace Kelly and Queen Elizabeth I's wedding dresses. There's been a huge fascination with Royals in the United States, and the wedding intensified it. We love a good fairytale and that's exactly how this felt.”

At Tea & Sympathy, the British restaurant in Greenwich Village and Lyon the French restaurant next door, there was a live screening starting at 6am and a Royal wedding street party complete with $1,800 worth of bunting.

At 7am there were television news vans outside the restaurants and a helicopter circling above.

Nicky Perry was wearing a floor-length Union Jack coat and a St George’s flag dress underneath. “It’s very exciting all this, isn’t it? It’s wild. Everyone is really dressed up; and they keep coming up to me, telling me ‘Congratulations’ like it’s my bloody wedding!”

The whole block has been decked out in red, white and blue and every shop is displaying a Union Jack in honour of the Royal couple. Everyone was dressed to the nines, with little girls in princess dresses, men in bowler hats, silk ties and suits and women in feather fascinators.

The Consul General Sir Alan Colllins would be arriving at 1:30pm in a Bentley for lunch, said Perry. And his wife, Lady Collins would appear at 3pm because she wants her photograph taken with The Pearly King and Queen.

By 8am, Lyon, hosting the screening, was packed and the owners had to turn people away. There was a crowd watching the live feed through the windows. One woman had dressed her Dachshund in a crown.

Perry’s husband, Sean, was dressed as a Pearly King suit with a Union Jack tie.

“We are ready to party all day long,” said Perry.

Kate Middleton wedding dress is Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen

Catherine Middleton has chosen a bridal gown fit for a queen-to-be. Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen is the British designer who has created the Wedding Dress of the Century.

Ms Middleton's arrival at Westminster Abbey a few minutes ago revealed 'the dress' in all its sumptuous glory, to a waiting world estimated at two billion.

Ms Middleton stepped out of the vintage Rolls Royce Phantom VI and into the pages of royal and fashion history.

Fabulous, fashionable and fairytale, the dress was fit for a queen-to-be and combined the style of a modern princess with that of a 20th Century princess, namely Grace Kelly, one of Diana, Princess of Wales's early champions.

The dress featured a strapless, Victorian style corset, narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips - long a signature of the late Alexander McQueen's designs - underneath a high-necked, sculpted bodice in hand-made lace. The long, medieval-style sleeves and train on the softly pleated ivory and white satin gazar skirt, which was held by her maid of honour, her sister Philippa, enhanced Ms Middleton's regal bearing as she made her way, on the arm of her father, to the Abbey's Great West Door.

The design of the long-awaited wedding-dress combined majesty and modernity, royal heritage and romantic history, passion and pageantry. Ms. Middleton chose the British brand Alexander McQueen for its craftsmenship, respect for traditional workmanship and technical wizardry of cut. Following a tradition set by Queen Victoria when she married Prince Albert in 1840 in a gown of silk-satin woven in Spitalfields and lace hand-made in Homiton, the dress involved craftmenship from all over the United Kingdom, and paid tribute to the country's Arts and Crafts heritage.

The lace appliqué for the bodice and skirt was hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework, based at Hampton Court Palace. It was hand-engineered using the Carrickmacross technique, which originated in Ireland in the 1820s.

The lace incorporated individual floral motifs representing the rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock. It was also used for the brides shoes and to trim the veil. The main body of the skirt in ivory and white satin gazar was designed by Ms. Burton to echo an opening flower with soft pleats which unfolded to the floor and finished in a short train measuring just under three metres. With Ms. Middleton's veil of ivory silk tulle was held in place by a Cartier 'halo' tiara, which was loaned by the Queen. The tiara was made in 1936 and was bought by the then Duke of York for his Duchess, three weeks before he succeeded his brother as King. It was then presented to Princess Elizabeth, (now the Queen) by her mother on her 18th birthday.

The earrings, diamond-set oak leaves with a pavé diamond acorn in the centre were inspired by the Middleton family's new coat of arms and made by Robinson Pelham to echo the tiara.

The bouquet, a message in the language of flowers, designed by Shane Connolly, featured flowers of significance to both families: lily-of-the-valley - meaning return of happiness; Sweet William - gallantry; hyacinth - constancy of love; ivy - fidelity, marriage, wedded love, friendship and affection; and myrtle - the emblem of marriage and love.

The myrtle stems came from the evergreen shrub planted at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, by Queen Victoria in 1845, while another sprig was from a plant grown from the myrtle used in the Queen's wedding bouquet of 1947.

The gown worn by Miss Philippa Middleton, the maid of honour, was also designed by Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen, and was in heavy ivory, satin-based crepe, with cowl front and with the same button detail and lace trim as the bridal gown.

The four young bridesmaids' dresses were designed especially to echo the bride's dress, and were hand-made by the children's wear designer, Nicky Macfarlane and her daughter, Charlotte, at their homes in Wiltshire and Kent.

The pages wore a uniform in the style of that worn by a Foot Guards officer at the time of the Regency (the 1820s) and which drew its insignia from the Irish Guards, whose colonel is Prince William. They were designed inthe royal household and made by Kashket and Partners, who also fitted Prince William's uniform for the royal wedding.

The first glimpse of the spectacular gown ended months of anticipation, weeks of speculation, and endless rumours and gossip.

Since the engagement of Prince William and Ms Middleton was announced in November, feverish guesswork and hypothetical fashion scenarios had suggested most of the country's better-known designers, including Stella McCartney and Bruce Oldfield, a favourite of Diana, Princess of Wales, as having landed the coveted royal commission.

Ms Burton, however, remained the hot favourite.

Aged 35, the Manchester-born designer took over as creative director of the Alexander McQueen brand in May last year, following the tragic death by suicide of the maverick British couturier. She had been his atelier right-hand for 12 years.

The legacy of having worked alongside the man regarded as one of the true British fashion geniuses was quickly demonstrated. In just two seasons, Burton has shown the ability to infuse McQueen's radical ethos with a breathtaking sense of romance and sensuality, and a mastery of hand-craftsmanship.