Luxarazzi 101: Wedding of Prince Louis and Tessy Antony

How time flies... For Prince Louis and Princess Tessy this week must be a very special one as they are celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary on Thursday having gotten married on September 29, 2006.

Photo: Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

The couple reportedly met for the first time when Prince Louis visited the Luxembourgish KFOR soldiers in Kosovo, where Tessy took part in the mission between March and August 2004. Tessy had been a member of the Luxembourgish army since June 2003. After the two had been a couple for about a year, the cour announced that Prince Louis and his girlfriend were expecting a child on September 21, 2005. Their son Gabriel was born on March 12, 2006, in Geneva where Louis and Tessy were living at the time.

Just a few days after the birth of young Gabriel, the couple announced their engagement on March 16. About a month before their wedding, on August 22, Prince Louis renounced his succession rights (as well as the rights for his descendants). He wasn't legally required to do so but he followed a precedent set by his uncle, Prince Jean, a good 20 years earlier. As Gabriel was born before his parents got married, he was excluded from the line of succession anyway while any additional children would have been had the Grand Duke given his official consent. After his parents' marriage, he was styled as Gabriel de Nassau without any title or the style of Royal Highness.

Compared to other weddings in the Grand Ducal Family, Louis' and Tessy's on September 29, 2006, was a relatively small affair, less of a royal wedding but more a family affair. The civil ceremony took place at the palais grand-ducal at 2.30 pm in the afternoon. It was carried out by mayor Paul Helminger and only close family members attended. Tessy was the first Luxembourgish bride to marry into the Grand Ducal Family in the (then) 116 years reign of the Nassau-Weilburg branch (and remains the only one up until this day).

Photo: Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Later that same day the religious wedding took place at the parish church in Gilsdorf at 5pm. (The same church was choosen for Gabriel's baptism in April 2006.) In keeping with the low-keyness of the day, Tessy wore an off-the-rack Jazmin wedding gown by Pronovias, a Spanish brand. While not one of our all-time favourites, there's something unique about the dress in the sense that it seems like the one she would have chosen whether the guy waiting for her at the other end of the aisle was a prince or not. (Bravo to Tessy for staying true to herself!)

While she chose her sister Patty as the witness, Prince Louis was supported by his brother Félix. The wedding was attended by all of Prince Louis' and Tessy's families supporting them on their big day. The wedding celebrations took place at the Château de Berg well into the night to which the married couple drove in an oldtimer by Citroen. The newlyweds honeymooned in the Seychelles.