It was the intoxicating scent that hit you first, an uplifting, seductively floral tone of lily of the valley. Then you noticed the trees, what seemed like hundreds of hornbeams and English field-maples - all native and all still growing-that lined the aisles of Westminster Abbey. Overnight, the outdoors had been brought in, and there before us was the glorious spectacle of an English country landscape within the environs of one of the country's oldest, and most traditional, monasteries
Catherine Middleton's marriage to Prince William on 29 April 2011 was a triumph in every way. For a wedding so weighted down with symbolism, expectation and possibility, it was thrilling to see the choices they made work to such effect. However, the Duchess of Cambridge and her dress - as beautiful as they both looked - were not the only stars that day. For me, as one of the 1,500 guests invited to watch the ceremony, the flowers and the foliage stole the show.
The Duchess chose lily of the valley for its meaning: "You have made my life complete"
