The romantic tribute Fergie had added to her wedding dress

(Image credit: Getty Images)

There is a long tradition of royal brides adding subtle and hidden symbols to their wedding dresses. Princess Eugenie had a message embroidered in her gown, while Kate Middleton added one to her sleeves, and Meghan Markle's dress might have been understated, but her veil was simply full of significance.

Now I thought I'd take a look back at Sarah Ferguson's wedding day to Prince Andrew, and see how she chose to pay homage to her new and existing families.

Firstly, she interestingly didn't wear a tiara, even though it's tradition for royal brides to do so, and it's not like they're not spoiled for choice.

She wore a floral crown made of her future husband's favourite flowers, gardenias, to enter the church, though when she left it, she swapped it for a tiara, to symbolize her entrance in the royal family.

Next up, the dress itself was quite significant. According to the LA Times, the dress, by London designer Lindka Cierach, was beaded with the bees and thistles of the bride's coat of arms.

She also added elements to honour her new husband: anchors and waves as a nod to his position in the Royal Navy, were embroidered on the train, alongside his monogram, a large A.

Finally, she also had four S’s, for her name, made out of beads on her pearl-embellished bodice.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.