Eye-watering cost of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding

PRINCE Harry and Meghan Markle’s nuptials in May certainly won’t be a cheap affair. In fact, it’s expected to land a place in the top ten most expensive weddings of all time.

IT’S NO secret that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s royal wedding is going to be a pricey affair, but the highly anticipated royal event is slated to surpass that of Prince William and Kate’s 2011 nuptials.

According to British wedding site Bridebook, Markle’s upcoming wedding is reportedly estimated to cost around $58.3 million, or £32 million, about $22 million more than Prince William and Kate’s reported $36.6 million nuptials. Bridebook also expects that the May 19 ceremony will land a spot on the top ten most expensive weddings list.

Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding was much cheaper. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The wedding site broke down the royal wedding expenses and highlighted that the most expensive part of the ceremony will be the extensive security measures that Bridebook claims will include snipers, undercover police and military tech, and possible drones, adding up to an estimated total of $54.7 million.

Other key wedding expenses include: Twenty silver-plated trumpets that will announce the event for $162,400, a pricey $90,900 lemon elderflower wedding cake from Violet Bakery in East London, an abundance of decorative flowers outside of St. George’s Chapel at Windsor for $195,000, a reported $545,700 to hire the glass marquee for the evening reception at the Frogmore House, $46,700 on sausage rolls and hot tea for all of the 2,640 invited members of the public, and lastly, a reported $545,000 to $727,000 on Meghan’s soon-to-be-iconic gown.

But despite the reported estimated price for Markle’s wedding gown, royal expert Katie Nicholl, author of Harry: Life, Loss and Love, thinks that the soon-to-be royal will be a little more low-key.

Meghan’s dress could be one of the major costs. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

“Meghan is very mindful of wanting to send the right message with her gown,” Nicholl told the Telegraph. “It’s going to be iconic and fit the backdrop of Windsor Castle, but it would send off the wrong message to wear a dress that in cost alone would upstage Kate’s.”

Kate’s Alexander McQueen wedding gown, designed by Sarah Burton, cost a reported $454,000.

The countdown to the royal wedding continues on as invitations have been sent out and guestlist rumours are underway.

This story originally appeared in Fox News and is republished here with permission.