We found the royal wedding to be quite annoying. Not the wedding itself (which was of course sweet, in a wow-the-Brits-really-love-their-royals kind of way) so much as the lead-up to it and the barrage of press releases—Get the Kate Middleton look!—that filled our inboxes in triplicate, à la Oscars season. Which is to say, the PR machine killed it for us. We couldn’t, in good conscience, turn around and feign rapture to you, dear Hintsters.

But the fact of the matter is the Cinderella gown by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen is truly beautiful—the veil, the train, the lace, the purity and lightness of it. We’re not exactly pomp and circumstance types, yet even we could see that it was just as princessy and traditional as the future Queen of England could ever dream of. Royal brides must have looked like this going back to the Renaissance and further. There’s something to be said for Old-World nuptials, and we’ll leave it to Sarah Burton to express it in this just-released statement:

“It has been the experience of a lifetime to work with Catherine Middleton to create her wedding dress, and I have enjoyed every moment of it. It was such an incredible honour to be asked, and I am so proud of what we and the Alexander McQueen team have created. I am delighted that the dress represents the best of British craftsmanship. Alexander McQueen’s designs are all about bringing contrasts together to create startling and beautiful clothes and I hope that by marrying traditional fabrics and lacework, with a modern structure and design we have created a beautiful dress for Catherine on her wedding day.

“The last few months have been very exciting and an incredible experience for my team and I as we have worked closely with Catherine to create this dress under conditions of the strictest secrecy. Understandably, Catherine has been very keen to keep the details of her dress a secret, which is every bride’s prerogative, and we gave an undertaking to keep our role confidential until the day of the wedding.

“Catherine looked absolutely stunning today, and the team at Alexander McQueen are very proud of what we have created. The dress was just one component of a spectacular day, and I do not think it is appropriate to comment any further beyond saying that I personally am very grateful and honoured to have been given the opportunity to work on this project, and I wish TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge every good wish for the future.”