Article by Johanna Osborne.

2011 was a big year for celebrity weddings! The aisle was the new runway for dazzling gowns and innovative ways of tying the knot. Makes me want to get married all over again – and again!

It’s no wonder people are so excited and fascinated by weddings. It doesn’t really get any better than this does it? The theme is love and it’s accompanied by a great party, delicious food, terrific tipples and you are guaranteed a good time. Not to mention people look amazing and the fashion is a veritable feast for the eyes (or at least it should be – fashion offenders take note!). It’s no wonder people are gunning to be invited to weddings, and when the golden ticket arrives in the mail, us girls immediately start mentally planning what we are going to wear. … And with celebrity weddings it’s much the same. Bar the fact that we are obviously not on the guest list and hence don’t need the perfect outfit, we still find ourselves extremely “involved” in all the details, build up and post-mortem of the big bash. Being in the public-eye makes celebrities “free game” to our merciless dissection of their big day. Oh what fun it is to take the microscope a little closer, and give everything a good once over! The beauty about celebrity weddings is that they have the world’s best wedding planners (hello Mindy Weiss!) at their fingertips and can rock-out some of the most jaw-dropping and awe-inspiring events in record time. If only we were all so lucky!

2011 was obviously the year of the royal wedding and I must say, our Kate did not disappoint. Understated elegance, grace and dignity simply radiated from this amazing young woman. I couldn’t help but feel nervous for her the entire time, vividly remembering my own wedding day with a mere150 guests and the major jitters I had! I could not begin to imagine what it must have felt like having the entire world watching your every move, on what should be your most special and private day! And of course the highlight of all the hoopla – The Duchess of Cambridge’s Sarah Burton designed royal wedding dress was simply divine. Very much reminiscent of Grace Kelly’s gown in 1956, Kate kept it demure yet very elegant. The cut, matching veil and beautiful tiara were all perfection. Kate can take credit for her simple, chic and timeless wedding-look being the catalyst for steering admiring girls the world over back into the less-is-more direction. Kate certainly took the cake as one of the year’s most memorable dresses. We expected nothing less, and she certainly delivered the fairytale we were all anticipating.

However my absolute favourite of 2011 was another Kate and a very different type of royalty – she was the one and only Kate Moss. Could there be a more perfect dress, a more stunningly-styled wedding shoot and a more exciting event? When Vogue chomps at the bit to photograph your wedding, you know you have it going on in terms of style. And when Kate married her rocker Jamie Hinze, she certainly left no style-leaf unturned. Adding a touch of controversy by wearing the defamed and shamed John Galliano’s design, Kate proved to the masses she knew what she was doing. Rocking her vintage inspired gown like something out of Midsummer night’s dream made for awe-inspiring photographs, admired world-wide. Ethereal with just the right amount of glitz and garnish this creation harks back to bygone eras when glamour was paramount and everything was chic. This dress is top of my list for sure! Even Kate’s wedding rehearsal outfit was befitting of her boho-vintage-rockchic vibe she carries so well, with the bride and groom attending in matching teal outfits, looking like they had just stepped out from the cover of a Beatles Record. I think it’s fair to say that I just loved every single detail of this sumptuous wedding. If I could convince my husband to renew our vows in lavish fashion – this is exactly how I’d do it!

Who else got married in 2011? Oh yeah, there was that little old reality wedding at a tune of $10m if reports are to be believed. Kim and her now defunct husband of 72 days Kris Humphries made headlines worldwide – first for their “fairytale wedding” and a mere 2 months later for their quickie divorce. To be honest, I love myself some Kardashian, and am a self-confessed big time fan of this over-the-top family. The gene pool was extremely kind to all of them, and Kim was born to be a stunning bride. I loved her headpiece, and thought that she carried herself like the Hollywood royalty she has become. I was expecting to be blown away by her dress, but it was the event itself with the elaborate table settings, cake and flowers that stole the show for me. With so much lavish detail to compete with, Kim had her work cut out for her to shine though, but all in all I thought Kim made a very pretty bride. And I’m sure she will again in the very near future, when a more befitting prince sweeps her off her feet! One thing is for sure – the world will be watching to see who’s next in line.

The beauty about weddings in this day and age is that there is no right or wrong (Big Fat Gypsy Weddings anyone?!). Whatever makes a bride and groom feel gorgeous and happy on their way to wedded bliss is how it should be. Fashions come and go, trends change and opinions will always differ. Whether the path to happily-ever-after is one of va-va-voom or more low-key, the way to measure how successful it all was at the end of the day is whether the love is everlasting. And that’s something that will never go out of style.