Michelle Kwan Dress: Olympian Weds in Lace Vera Wang (PHOTOS)
2-time Olympic gold medalist Michelle Kwan and her fiancé Clay Pell were married over the weekend. Kwan dazzled in a classic white gown.
Kwan and her new husband were wed over the weekend in Providence, Rhode Island. The couple exchanged vows at the First Unitarian Church, where Kwan walked down the isle in a fishtail Vera Wang gown.
The 5-time world winning ice skater said she decided on Vera Wang due to a long history with the designer; Wang is also responsible for creating many of Kwan's competition ice skating suits.
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"I wore so many skating dresses designed by her, whole skating shows and everything," Kwan, 32, told People magazine. "I have a long relationship with her."
Other Olympic champions also attended the wedding to share in Kwan's happy day. Over 240 guests attended the wedding including Brian Boitano, Dick Button, Dorothy Hamill and Peter Oppegard. Wang's husband, who is a director for strategic planning on the national security staff at the White House, a JAG and Lieutenant in the U.S. Coast Guard, donned full military attire.
Wang revealed that she styled Kwan's gown based on the fact that military formality would be involved.
"She is marrying someone whose family has a political history, and Michelle is living and working in Washington, D.C.," the designer told People. "[The dress] had to have a certain dignity and a certain classicism, and I think it was a lot about a new way of looking at tradition."
Kwan was prepared with two dresses for the occasion: one a formal wedding dress and the second a dress for the reception to preserve the delicacy of her gown.
"The fact that it's got an inordinate amount of handwork in terms of lace is really a tribute to the art of hand-piecing lace," Wang said, admitting that she had expressed concern about Kwan wearing it during the reception. "There is a princess-slash-queenly level of sophistication and quiet without sacrificing a lot of detail."
