62-Round Gun Salute Marked Her Majesty’s 86th Official Birthday

Queen Elizabeth II officially celebrated her 86^th birthday recently. Her husband Prince Philip, who was hospitalized during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations, was seen standing by her side during the trooping of color ceremony.

The queen once again has chosen her favorite June beauty to spread her glory. While watching the traditional Trooping the color and Royal Air Force fly-past ceremony, her majesty was seen in a soft mustard yellow dress with matching hat. The three-strand pearl necklace and the pearl and diamond ‘Ladies of Devonshire’ earrings with a diamond brooch were the wonderful add-ons for the 86^th official birthday glory.

Standing beside his wife, Prince Philip looked healthy and happy. He was dressed in his official scarlet tunic and black bearskin cap beseeming his honorary rank of colonel in the Grenadier Guards.

Though the Queen was born on April 21^st yet it is a tradition to celebrate the monarch’s birthday during the summer season. The tradition started in 1748 in the United Kingdom. The official birthday date varies every year depending on the weather. Generally the celebration takes place between mid May to mid June.

This year the official birthday of Queen Elizabeth II was celebrated on June 16^th. All the royals and invitees enjoyed the traditional events during the celebration. The 62-round gun fire salute from the tower of London marked the Queen’s official birthday.

Trooping the Color was carried by fully trained and operational troops of the Household Division on Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall. The parade was followed by a fly-past by Royal Air Force that the Queen and other royal members enjoyed from the famous balcony of Buckingham Palace.

What Is a Shotgun Wedding & What’s The Right Jewelry For This!!!

Kelsey Grammer's wife Kayte has renewed her vows at a shotgun wedding in the Little Church of the West at Las Vegas. When I saw this news, I wanted to find out what a “shotgun wedding” actually was. And is there a special ring for this? I wanted to find this out as well. Historians say that a shotgun wedding refers to a ceremony where the bride and groom are not as excited about it, as you would expect them to be. So we can say that shotgun weddings are low-key affairs.

This ceremony was solemnized only to avoid the embarrassment of her unplanned pregnancy. In fact, this term was coined to describe a hypothetical situation where the father of an expecting daughter uses force or a shotgun to urge the man responsible for exchanging the vows.

The jewelry for the occasion can interestingly be anything. It can be a confiscated weapon or a paper ring as was mentioned in a few lines from the famous song, ‘Half of my heart’ by John Mayer.

Half of my heart is a shotgun wedding of a bride with a paper ring.

And half of my heart is the part of a man who’s never truly loved anything.

With time however, the term and how it is used has changed. It is now often used to refer to a spur of the moment wedding, one that happens without any elaborate preparation. In case of the lovely Grammer couple, they were really excited about their shotgun wedding. And like the traditional way, here we had a pregnant bride, as Kayte is awaiting the birth of twins.

Interestingly, they recently told the media that they'd always wanted a shotgun wedding. They finally had one where the bride wore a baby doll dress that highlighted her baby bump. Kayte wore a simple pearl stud with a pair of heels. She had flowers in her hair to complete her simple look.

It was kept very private – nobody was invited to attend the ceremony. Later on, the actor shared that he always wanted shotgun wedding pictures that he can show the kids later.

The Dung Beetle Turquoise Shell Gown of Charlize Theron in SWATH

If you want a reason to watch “Snow White and the Huntsman”, then it is Charlize Theron, her robust acting and the iconic and wild costumes.

No doubt Charlize brought the evil queen Ravena live on the screen, but it was the extraordinary vision and efforts of the designer Colleen Atwood that actually spiced up the queen’s evil glamour.

The three-time Oscar winner literally went wild when she was designing the costumes for Charlize. She created a turquoise and golden chiffon gown to depict the queen’s rotting phase. And for a perfect touch of dark drama, the gown was crafted from the shells of dung beetles.

Atwood told Hollywood Reporter the interesting story of this costume’s creation. She mentioned that the Director Rupert Sanders wanted a progressively rooting look for the queen’s character. He wanted the look to tell the audience about the queen’s physical and psychic decay and also her madness.

With this vision Atwood started her search, and while searching for unique materials in Thailand, she came across mounds of discarded shells of dung beetles at a flea market. She instantly got this idea of creating a crumbling dress with this material.

The dung beetles are eaten in Thailand as a source of protein. It is so popular that they are farmed here in a large scale. So availability was never a problem. Colleen could get as much required.

But it was really difficult for her sewers to sew them, because the beautiful jewel-like turquoise shells were ‘razor sharp’ and ‘treacherous’ to handle. The sewers literally had to drill the shells to sew them. They used gloves to protect their hands from the sharp cuts.

The end result of such painstaking efforts was a scraggy-shouldered, turquoise and gold chiffon floor sweeping gown that was made of brilliantly bright and shiny dung beetles shells. Sadly, we only get a dim glimpse of this marvelous creation in the movie.

Colleen Atwood, who previously won the Oscar for Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”, is probably in- line again for the next Academy Awards.

No Engagement for J Lo Yet

Jennifer Lopez was recently spotted wearing a diamond sparkler on her engagement ring finger. This naturally sparked off rumors almost immediately. However, the lady soon quelled them by saying that people shouldn’t be fooled by these rocks because she is not engaged.

The couple is certainly having a ball of a time together. But there is still time for them to walk down the aisle. If this happens, then it will be the fourth trip down the aisle for J Lo. She has exchanged vows with Ojani Noa, Cris Judd and Marc Anthony and has been dating Casper since fall last year.

In a recent interview, Lopez did talk about her attraction to Casper describing him as adorable. But she avoided going into the details saying that she does not want to talk too much about it as it is her private thing. Some people are saying that the 18-year age difference between the two may be an obstacle for this relationship to move on to the next level. However Lopez has stated that she does not feel or look older and she is acting the way she has always done. That’s why the others are optimistic that the age difference will not get in the way of their relationship.

Casper on the other hand seems to be simply awestruck by this Latin bombshell. He even said in an interview recently that she has great fashion sense, and he must watch out for what he is wearing.

Marc Anthony filed for divorce from Jennifer Lopez on April 9 this year. While answering questions about marring again, she mentioned that she does not know yet. Only time can tell, that’s what she said. She also added that she wasn’t thinking yet, as her relationship with Casper is still fresh.

Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman are Married

It was a beautiful weekend particularly for Drew Barrymore and Will Kopelman. These soon-to-be parents had tied the knot on Saturday in an uber-secret wedding ceremony.

The actress, 37 and her art consultant fian cé, 34 said ‘I do’ in a “classic, very pretty, garden inspired wedding” at Drew’s Montecito, California home. For her summer wedding, the bride and expecting mom had worn a long white custom Chanel gown pleated in muslin and organza, designed by Karl Lagerfeld.

She paired fine Chanel jewelry with her bridal costume. The dress was accentuated by black satin belt at the waist and organza, muslin, tulle and feathers embroidered flowers along the skirt of the dress.

Her selection of custom Chanel dress was a perfect fit, her new father-in-law is a former Chanel CEO.

The ceremony lasted for 45 minutes. It was officiated by Will’s family rabbi. Yifat Oren and Stefanie Cove were the wedding planners.

The guest list was creamed with names like Reese Witherspoon and husband Jim Toth, Cameron Diaz, Jimmy Fallon and wife Nancy Juvoven, Busy Phillips and husband Marc Silverstein.

After the ceremony and wedding photos, the newlywed had a 80s inspired reception. They left the house by 2 am for the nearby San Ysidro Ranch.

It was Drew’s third marriage. She had earlier tied the knot with Tom Green and Jeremy Thomas.

  

Will had proposed to Barrymore over the holidays with a 4-carat radiant cut D-Color Graff diamond ring. Since then, the couple was busy with wedding plans because Drew wanted to get married before giving birth to her child.

Now that they are man and wife, we wish them a bright and blissful future ahead and expect to hear happy news from them.