ALEXANDRA SHULMAN: The big bash millennials simply can't do without
Last night we were at the other wedding. Not the union between the country's wealthiest young man, the Duke of Westminster, and Olivia Henson but my stepdaughter Tibbs's celebration of her marriage to Piers.
As it happens they married last week in a register office but let not the triumphant ceremony and glorious wedding lunch, nor an engagement party last summer, stand in the way of a big bash. So this weekend it was to Hastings for a knees-up.
Despite already having a delicious seven-month-old daughter, the allure of not just matrimony but a proper party was never in doubt. Weddings are the big occasion for millennials.
They fly around the world to throw bridal bouquets and stag nights. The festivities can take days. Don't even think about only one wedding dress – every day demands a whole new wardrobe.
Thankfully, the original plan for us all to fly to Kenya for a bash on the beach was shelved due to logistics – even getting us to the South Coast took quite enough planning.
Sienna Miller attends the Horizon: An American Saga red carpet at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival in May
The original bohemian women like Rolling Stones muse Anita Pallenberg (pictured) never bothered with blow drys and manicures
Despite the discrepancy in bank balances there will have been many similarities between our bash and the goings-on at Chester Cathedral and Eaton Hall. Given the Westminsters have ordained 'summer dress, no ties and jumpsuits allowed' as a dress code, (though surely morning suits were worn for church), I imagine the crowd will have looked similar.
There will have been enough incredibly attractive young people gathered to make some of us feel a) a bit old and b) delighted that such people still exist. But the Duke's guests will have had to pace themselves through a formal reception and evening bash, while we had a week between lunch and party to put on our dancing shoes and feast on pizza. The hangovers, though, will no doubt be much the same.
Memories best kept in a leather album
As a result of these wedding gatherings, I have a multitude of new photos on my phones. Not just the ones I've taken but the endless offerings that ping through on a group WhatsApp to show everyone else's snaps. Momentarily it's a delight but they won't compare to the traditional album to look back at in years to come.
I know a woman who has religiously kept up hers for 60 years and they are a joy for everyone to look through and a wonderful record of the ages.
It's one of those tasks we all say we will get round to one day – although I started mine as a teenager, I am now at least a decade in arrears.
Our digital footprints are valuable but there's nothing like a leather-bound book with – and this is important – names and dates, to hold the precious treasure trove of memories.
Sienna's look is difficult to get right
Clever M&S to have the Boho Princess, Sienna Miller, not only modelling a new collection for M&S but helping to design it. Just as Kate Moss did years back for Topshop, Sienna has handed over her favourite items to be copied by the team, in the expectation that we all want to snap up a bit of her style. And, of course, we do.
The range is selling out as huge numbers of us drift around in her lacy white Victoriana-style blouse, Indian print tunic, silk pyjama suit, or ombre slip dress and macrame bag, hoping that we have managed to elicit even a soupcon of her insouciance.
The range is selling out as huge numbers of us drift around in her lacy white Victoriana-style blouse, Indian print tunic, silk pyjama suit, or sombre slip dresses
The appeal of boho is that it is meant to be easy and youthfully careless.
The bohemian women who encapsulate it are people such as the painter Augustus John's put-upon wife Dorelia in her flowing gowns, the doomed Talitha Getty in her expensive hippie rags, and Rolling Stones muse Anita Pallenberg. They did not bother with blow drys and manicures.
Unfortunately the reality of boho is that it is very difficult to pull off. You have only to look at the pictures of Sienna snapped in her original outfits juxtaposed with the new collection to see that it's not the actual clothes but the person wearing them that gives boho its appeal.
I hate the idea of age limits on dressing but that embroidered smock and denim shorts, or slip dress with biker boots, definitely has a sell-by date.
What might once have looked delightfully boho suddenly looks a plain mess. What was once casually sexy can make you appear as if you haven't bought anything new since the 70s. Take it from me. I've been there.
Titans reduced to mere mannequins
The latest Louis Vuitton luggage campaign features two titans of tennis, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, shot by Annie Leibovitz. The pair are posed as hikers carrying colourful ropes in their LV monogrammed backpacks.
Roger Federer (left) and Rafael Nadal (right) bidding an emotional goodbye after the announcement that the doubles match would be the last of Federer's career
The chance to appear in this lucrative and stylish ad campaign will be some compensation for Nadal, who crashed out of French Open in the first round, but for two such incredible athletes, whose bodies are capable of extraordinary strength, it must be a little galling to find themselves set in aspic, two immobile mannequins.
A true crime that was creepily close
The Mail's The Trial of Lord Lucan podcast has triggered odd flashbacks. I was ten that night and we lived close to the Belgravia house where Sandra Rivett was murdered.
Although at the time I couldn't have known the details of what was going on, I was aware that there was something sinister happening down the road, and recall looking fearfully out of the bedroom window and hearing sirens.
Further information was gained from Ron, our nanny's boyfriend, who worked at the Gerald Road police station next to Lucan's rented flat.
It made the drama creepily close to home.
The Mail's The Trial of Lord Lucan podcast follows the disappearance of Lord Lucan and the murder of Sandra Rivett
Why I don't get a buzz out of bees
I know we're all meant to love our bees. Look at the King bonding with David Beckham over their shared apiary systems.
But as the weather warms and they start to come in through our open bedroom window from the hives in the park outside, my gentle, nurturing, honey-loving self is somewhat challenged.
