Princess Madeleine of Sweden Married American Financier Chris O'Neill

Princess Madeleine of Sweden, the third child of King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia, married American financier Chris O'Neill in a lavish royal wedding this past Saturday, June 8th. 

The wedding ceremony took place at Stockholm's Royal Chapel, and then the newlyweds took a carriage ride to the harbour where they boarded a boat to take them across the water to Drottningholm Palace, where a dinner and dance reception were held for 350 guests.  The guests included many members of the European royal family, such as Prince Edward and Countess of Wessex from Great Britain, Prince Frederik and Princess Mary from Denmark, Princes Haakon and Princess Mette-Marit from Norway, and Princess Charlene from Monaco. 

Princess Madeleine wore a beautiful gown custom designed by Valentino Garavani.  The gown was "pleated silk organza with appliquéd ivory-hued Chantilly lace. The upper section of the bodice was lace with a deep-cut back. Narrow vertical pleats opened up from the accentuated waist, above the wide skirt, which ends with a four-metre-long train."  She also wore a stunning silk organza veil "edged with tulle scatted with point d'esprit dots and small Chantilly lace orange blossom."  Her tiara was also decorated with sprigs of orange blossoms. 

The groom Chris O'Neill is an American financier and  a partner with the hedge fund Noster Capital.  He was born in London and is the son of the late investment banker Paul O'Neill and Eva O'Neill.  His mother Eva is a German socialite and philanthropist who is friendly with royalty, such as Prince Charles.  Chris was educated in a boarding school in Switzerland before coming to the United States to attend Boston University and Columbia Business School.  Chris and Madeleine met in New York through mutual friends.


The bride's sister, Crown Princess Victoria, looked beautiful in "a greige rosé dress made from hand-dyed silk organza with layers of tulle in three shades, silk threads, Lurex threads, pearls and Swarovski crystals in amethyst and pale grey opal" designed by Elie Saab.  The most adorable guest is Victoria's daughter and Madeleine's niece, Princess Estelle, who wore a cute white dress and even had her own miniature chair at the wedding ceremony.  I am just impressed a child that young behaved so well through the whole ceremony.

Hello! Magazine has a great spread of photographs from the best moments of the wedding, as well as the official wedding photographs. 

Bryan Voltaggio on Top Chef Masters

Bryan Voltaggio, who finished second to his brother Michael on Top Chef season 5 in Las Vegas, will be the first former Top Chef contestant to appear on Top Chef Masters.  Washington Post has an interesting interview with him about the show, which will premiere on July 24th on Bravo. 

Bryan is competing against some pretty big heavyweights in season 5 of Top Chef Masters, and his charity is Share Our Strength.

David Burke (David Burke Townhouse, NYC);
Douglas Keane (formerly of Cyrus, Healdsburg, CA);
Sue Zemanick (Gautreau's, New Orleans);
Richard Sandoval (Richard Sandoval Restaurants);
Bryan Voltaggio (Volt, Frederick, MD);
Franklin Becker (The Little Beet, NYC);
Lynn Crawford (Ruby Watchco, Toronto, Canada);
Odette Fada (formerly of San Domenico, NYC);
Neal Fraser (formerly of Grace, Los Angeles);
Jennifer Jasinski (Bistro Vendôme, Denver, CO);
Jenn Louis (Lincoln Restaurant, Portland, OR);
Herbert Wilson (Sushi Samba, Las Vegas); and
Sang Yoon (Father's Office, Los Angeles).

I really liked Brian when he was on Top Chef, and I still think that was still the best season of Top Chef so far.  I hope he does well on Top Chef Masters.  The other one I'll be rooting for is Sang Yoon from Father's Office. 

Grant Hill and Jason Kidd Retiring from the NBA

Grant Hill and Jason Kidd, who shared Rookie of the Year honors in the 1994-1995 season, both announced their retirement within days of each other after 19 years in the NBA as members of the Los Angeles Clippers and the New York Knicks, respectively. 

I remember both of them when they first entered the league, Kidd with the Dallas Mavericks and Hill with the Detroit Pistons.  Kidd is likely to go into the Hall of Fame as one of the best point guards to play the game.  He averaged 12.6 points, 8.7 assists, 6.3 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 1,391 regular-season games, and won an NBA championship with the Mavericks.  He also won two gold medals in the Olympics.

Hill probably won't make it into the Hall of Fame.  Although he was an amazing player when he first entered the league, a series of injuries have derailed his career.  He still left with an average of 16.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.2 steals in 33.9 minutes per game, after playing in a total of 1,026 games (972 starts).  Hill never won an NBA championship, but he was part of the 1992 championship team at Duke and won a gold medal in the 1996 Olympics.  Hill was the one who passed the ball to Christian Laettner, who then turned and made a jump shot that sent Duke to the 1992 Final Four and to every NCAA tournament highlight reel since then.  Hill is also known as one of the classiest guys in the league, and it's impressive how much he has fought back from injuries again and again. 

"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" Turns 30

I have a soft spot for Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."  My best girlfriends and I sang that song a lot in college, especially during girl-bonding sessions. 

The song turns 30 this year, and the Kinky Boots cast surprised Lauper with an awesome music video (Lauper wrote the score for the musical).  The video features the Kinky Boots cast as well as some famous guests, such as Kelly Ripa, Whoopi Goldberg, Katie Couric, Hoda Kotb, Kathie Lee Gifford, and Holland Taylor.  Cast members of other Broadway shows also participated, such as Laura Osnes from Cinderella and Lilla Crawford from Annie.