Beautiful Sophie Hunter with Creative Directors Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli prepping her couture dress for her March wedding to Benedict Cumberbatch. #magicmoment #sophiehunter #benedictcumberbatch photographed by #AnnieLeibovitz for @voguemagazine

A photo posted by Valentino (@maisonvalentino) on Mar 26, 2015 at 2:06am PDT

Yay! I was hoping we would get to actually post a photo of Sophie Hunter’s wedding gown! And here we go. Maison Valentino posted this Instagram – taken from Sophie’s wedding gown fitting – several hours ago. This is the same photo that Vogue uses, just FYI. The bride wore silver-grey instead of white, and I really don’t have a problem with that. I also like that she had sleeves, although I could do without the high neck.

There are also some additional details about the gown which I found interesting. I mean, nothing is going to beat the quotes we already had, in which Sophie sounded really pretentious. But I thought you would enjoy this:

The dress, which featured an elegant high neckline, long sleeves and a sweeping train, is described as a “high-waisted medieval gown”.

According to Vogue, Sophie brought her paper mood boards to a meeting with the Valentino designers and during their three-hour brainstorm session, she showed them Anna Karenina-inspired dresses and Gustav Klimt landscapes. The result was the exquisite, pale silver dress, embroidered with motifs of vines and pomegranates.

Although Sophie was in the second trimester of her pregnancy, her growing bump was barely visible. The dress acknowledged her bump, but didn’t emphasise it.

“It seemed to encapsulate everything I’d been speaking about,” the English Rose said. “It feels very much of nature, and it’s so detailed and extraordinary that I’m still trying to get my head around how beautiful it is.”

Sophie was also presented with a matching silk velvet cape, in case of rain on her big day.

While Valentino usually takes at least six months to create a gown, Sophie’s couture dress was completed in just three. Celebrity photographer Annie Leibowitz was then flown out to Rome to shoot the fitting.

[From Hello]

I can’t believe Annie Leibowitz had to fly to Rome just to photograph Sophie’s fitting. Of course, Annie also had to fly to Amal Alamuddin’s dress fitting with Oscar de la Renta last year too. Why does Annie keep getting these assignments? Poor Annie. As for Sophie and her gown… now I want to see the silk velvet cape. And I never want any dress I wear to be described as “medieval.”

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and Instagram.