The Wedding Dress of The Duchess of Cambridge Catherine Will Be On Display At Buckingham Palace

You watched the spectacular event in awe and now you get to see the dress in all its detail.

Kate’s stunning wedding gown is returning for an encore and will be on display at Buckingham Palace.

Get ready to study the £250,000 Alexander McQueen dress right up and close. From its 58 gazar buttons that run from the collar to the waste of the dress to the veil which is made of soft ivory silk tulle and stitched with flowers.

Kate's wedding dress

Simply beautiful and elegant

While most brides carefully wrap their bridal gowns in tissue paper and store them away with their memories, Kate’s will be shared with the nation all over again.

Visitors will be able to relive every joyful moment of the day, including the shoes and the royal wedding cake.

Record demand means advance ticket sales are more than double on last year’s summer opening, with 600,000 people paying £17.50 per ticket to troop through the doors over the next ten weeks.

That would comfortably beat the palace’s previous highest attendance of 420,000 in 1994.

The Duchess herself was treated to a sneak preview on Wednesday night when she stole another look at the dress that featured an intricate Grace Kelly-inspired lace bodice hand-stitched by the world’s best seamstresses at the Royal School of Needlework.

The craftswomen had no idea what their commission was for, such was the secrecy surrounding the design.

The bodice was cinched into a tiny waist above the full silk skirt.

The exhibition’s curator Caroline de Guitaut would not be drawn on what size it was, saying only: ‘Small.’

Then there are the shoes, barely noticed in the excitement of the day, which are worth a look in their full glory.

Also created by the McQueen creative director Sarah Burton and her team, the shoes feature yet more impressive lace detailing hand-stitched over ivory duchess satin.

The duchess's hand-stitched shoes were designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen and are size five-and-a-half

They appear to have been barely worn as, apart from stepping outside the Goring Hotel into her waiting car as a single woman, Kate spent most of the day walking on carpet.

Then there are the diamond earrings given to the bride by her parents, bearing a diamond acorn to show the Middleton family’s new coat of arms.

The earrings

In the Ballroom, where the couple’s reception was held, visitors can see the 1936 Cartier tiara, glittering with 1,000 diamonds that the Queen lent to Kate as her ‘something borrowed’ item.

1936 Cartier tiara on loan from the queen

The part of the cake which was sliced by William and Kate

The Duchess will join Her Majesty to formally open the exhibition this afternoon.

It also includes a short video, featuring Sarah Burton talking about her inspiration for the dress and Kate’s ‘hands-on’ involvement in the design process.

She explains that the Duchess had hands on involvement and wanted to create a gown with “presence and of historical importance” but one that had a contemporary feel.

‘We wanted to look to the past, yet look to the future as well,’ she says.

Finally to the State Dining Room, where visitors can see some of the eight-tiered wedding cake designed by Fiona Cairns.

The cake

Sadly, the top three levels on display are not the originals.

The uppermost two were kept by the newlyweds, in line with tradition which says you should keep them to serve at your first child’s christening, while the third was served to guests.

However, look closely among the sugary flowers on the bottom tier and you can see the mark left by the ceremonial sword the couple used to cut it – an unbroken link to a magical day.

The bouquet

Simply beautiful.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge William and Catherine on their wedding day