Meghan Markle's mother Doria Ragland wells up inside St George's Chapel during royal wedding

Meghan Markle's mother Doria was seen in tears inside St George's Chapel as she waited to watch her daughter marry into royalty. 

Doria Ragland welled up before and during the ceremony in Windsor after an emotional build-up to the big day. 

Sitting with her hands clasped on her lap, she was visibly tearful as she watched her daughter take centre stage inside the chapel.

She watched the ceremony from the opposite side of the chapel from the Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. 

But when Ms Ragland was required to witness the signing of the register, there was a touching moment when Prince Charles offered her his hand.

The parents walked through to hand-in-hand to officially register their children as a married couple and they left the chapel side-by-side, behind Harry and Meghan.

Ms Ragland arrived having spent the night with Meghan at the Cliveden House Hotel – which advertises itself as a venue with a history of unapologetic debauchery and the scene of  the most heinous of scandals.

The Markle family has been embroiled in controversy of its own after Thomas Markle – Meghan's father – failed to show up for the big day.

Ms Ragland was thrust even further into the limelight as her former husband recoiled under a cloud of controversy and reports of ill health, after it emerged he had allegedly posed for paparazzi photographs.

He was due to walk his daughter down the aisle, but in a break from UK tradition, it was Ms Ragland who arrived at the wedding venue with the bride-to-be.

They arrived having travelled the short distance from the Cliveden House Hotel, whose website describes how the hotel has hosted "powerful personalities, debaucherous parties and scandalous affairs" for more than 350 years.

It was built in 1666 by the 2nd Duke of Buckingham as a gift to his mistress.

The privately owned Grade 1 listed stately home is surrounded by 376 acres of National Trust grounds

The accommodation decision is a break with UK tradition, which usually sees the bride travel with her father before he gives her away in the wedding ceremony.

Prior to the scandal, it was Ms Markle's wishes to include both parents in her wedding day. Prince Harry's press secretary Jason Knauf had said: “Both of the bride's parents will have important roles in the wedding.

“On the morning of the wedding, Ms Ragland will travel with Ms Markle by car to Windsor Castle. Mr Markle will walk his daughter down the aisle of St George's Chapel.

“Ms Markle is delighted to have her parents by her side on this important and happy occasion.”

He added: “It’s very important to her that both her parents have a special role in the day.”

Ms Markle's mother Doria Ragland met the Queen this week, along with other members of the royal family, having flown in to England before the wedding.

Wedding cake

The couple asked Claire Ptak, an east London pastry chef, to make an organic lemon and elderflower wedding cake incorporating "the bright flavours of spring", according to Kensington Palace. It will be covered with buttercream and decorated with fresh flowers.

It is believed to be the first time a Royal couple have eschewed tradition by not serving a fruit cake to their wedding guests.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge chose Fiona Cairns to make their 2011 wedding cake, a traditional multi-layered fruit cake with a floral design.

Read more about the wedding cake here.

Souvenirs and wedding china

The royal bride and groom-to-be have approved a range of commemorative china to celebrate their nuptials. 

The exclusive design in white and cornflower blue has a monogram of the couple's initials at its centre, tied together with white ribbons and surmounted by the coronet of Prince Harry.  

The decorative border of each piece is inspired by the ironwork of the 13th-century Gilebertus door of St George's Chapel and each is finished with 22-carat gold.

The Royal Collection Trust range, which is made in Stoke-on-Trent, includes a decorative miniature coffee mug, coffee mug, pillbox, tankard and plate. 

The Royal wedding souvenir phenomenon dates back to Queen Victoria’s wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, linked to the rise of mass production in Victorian Britain. It remains a thriving industry today, with an estimated £222 million spent on memorabilia in the run-up to the 2011 royal wedding, according to the Centre for Retail Research.

The honeymoon

Prince Harry and Ms Markle will delay their honeymoon to go straight back to work in the week after their wedding, scheduling their first public engagement as a married couple just days later.

The couple will go on honeymoon privately later this year, before a “busy” autumn including a trip to Sydney for the Invictus Games. But where will they go?

Namibia has pulled ahead as the odds-on favourite. The southern African nation is best known among travellers for the enormous Sossusvlei sand dunes of the the Namib Desert, but reports suggest that the couple are looking instead at a safari trip to Hoanib Valley Camp in the country's north west.

Botswana, where they holidayed in the early days of their whirlwind relationship, is also a good bet, (Ms Markle's engagement ring features diamonds from Diana's personal collection, and a stone from Botswana), but wherever they go, the newlyweds will be looking for seclusion away from the limelight as they start their married life together.

Other possible destinations could include Tuscany, Hawaii, Turkey and the Philippines.

Read more about the honeymoon options here.