The Wedding reception

The Queen is giving a lunchtime Reception at Buckingham Palace for around 650 guests drawn from the Wedding Service congregation, representing the Couple’s official and private lives.


Guests will be served a selection of canapés, including:



•Cornish Crab Salad on Lemon Blini

•Pressed Duck Terrine with Fruit Chutney

•Roulade of Goats Cheese with Caramelised Walnuts

•Assortment of Palmiers and Cheese Straws

•Scottish Smoked Salmon Rose on Beetroot Blini

•Miniature Watercress and Asparagus Tart

•Poached Asparagus spears with Hollandaise Sauce for Dipping

•Quails Eggs with Celery Salt

• Scottish Langoustines with Lemon Mayonnaise Pressed Confit of Pork Belly with Crayfish and Crackling

•Wild Mushroom and Celeriac Chausson

•Bubble and Squeak with Confit Shoulder of Lamb

•Grain Mustard and honey-glazed Chipolatas

•Smoked Haddock Fishcake with Pea Guacamole

•Miniature Yorkshire Pudding with Roast Fillet of Beef and Horseradish Mousse

• Gateau Opera

•Blood Orange Pate de Fruit

•Raspberry Financier

•Rhubarb Crème Brulee Tartlet

•Passion Fruit Praline

•White Chocolate Ganache Truffle

•Milk Chocolate Praline with Nuts

•Dark Chocolate Ganache Truffle

Guests will be served Pol Roger NV Brut Réserve Champagne with a selection of other soft and alcoholic drinks.



The wedding cake and a chocolate biscuit cake will also be served at the Reception. The wedding cake, designed by Fiona Cairns, is made from 17 individual fruit cakes (12 of which form the base) and has eight tiers. The cake has been decorated with cream and white icing using the Joseph Lambeth technique. There are up to 900 individually iced flowers and leaves of 17 different varieties decorated on the cake. A garland design around the middle of the cake matches the architectural garlands decorated around the top of the Picture Gallery in Buckingham Palace, the room in which the cake will be displayed. The chocolate biscuit cake was created by Mcvitie’s Cake Company using a Royal Family recipe at the special request of Prince William.



During the course of the Reception, Governors-General and Prime Ministers of Realm Countries will be presented to The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall and the Bridal Couple. The Reception will include the cutting of the wedding cake and some speeches.



Guests at the reception will be entertained by Claire Jones, the official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales.
Approximately 10,000 canapés have been prepared by a team of 21 chefs, led by Royal Chef Mark Flanagan.




The Joseph Lambeth Method is derived from a style of decorating that was popular in England where chefs and decorators would use intricate piping to create 3-D scrollwork, leaves, flowers, and other decorations on a cake. A cake decorated in the Lambeth Method and accented with fresh fruit or flowers is the wedding cake of choice for anyone who wants a traditional looking, elegant wedding cake.

Each of the 17 different flower designs on the official wedding cake has their own individual meaning according to the Language of Flowers. They include:



•White Rose - National symbol of England

•Daffodil – National symbol of Wales, new beginnings

•Shamrock – National symbol of Ireland

•Thistle – National symbol of Scotland

•Acorns, Oak Leaf – Strength, endurance

•Myrtle – Love

•Ivy – Wedded Love, Marriage

•Lily-of-the-Valley – Sweetness, Humility

•Rose (Bridal) – Happiness, Love.

•Sweet William – Grant me one smile

•Honeysuckle – The Bond of Love

•Apple Blossom – Preference, Good Fortune

•White Heather – Protection, Wishes will come true

•Jasmine (White) – Amiability

•Daisy – Innocence, Beauty, Simplicity

•Orange Blossom – Marriage, Eternal Love, Fruitfulness

•Lavender – ardent attachment, devotion, success, and luck.