Inside Pippa Middleton's Lavish Wedding

Prince George will be a pageboy,Princess Charlotte a bridesmaid and the $650,000 wedding reception will be in a grand marquee.Royal writer Katie Nicholl reveals the planning of Pippa Middleton’s upcoming nuptials.

It can’t be easy following in the footsteps of her famous older sister, the Duchess of Cambridge, especially on her wedding day.

Yet when Philippa Charlotte Middleton marries former racing driver turned hedge fund millionaire James Matthews on May 20, all eyes will be on the blushing bride.

With the help of her mother, professional party planner Carole Middleton, Pippa has organised a wedding fit for royalty and one that will be remembered as one of the most lavish society weddings of the year.

The 33-year-old Pippa, who has written a book on entertaining, has hired the most exclusive – and expensive – baker in the posh London suburb of Belgravia to make her wedding cake at a cost of around $8000, while the Middletons are believed to be splashing out more than $650,000 on the reception alone.

“No expense is being spared,” says a source close to the family. “The Middletons are treating the wedding like a serious production and it will be the best of everything. Months of meticulous planning have gone into the day. It’s going to be quite something.”

Save-the-date cards went out with the couple’s Christmas cards, while the highly sought after invites – printed by upmarket publisher Mount Street in Mayfair, according to one newspaper report – were posted to 350 select guests nearly two months ago.

Among those sitting on the oak-wood pews at St Mark’s Church in Englefield, a small village in the county of Berkshire in England’s prosperous south, 11km away from the Middleton family home, will be two future Kings – Pippa’s brother-in-law, Prince William and her nephew, Prince George, who will be a pageboy. Prince Harry has also been invited, along with Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.