Mr Chen copies dress by midday
Before the wedding reception was underway, a Chinese factory had started work on a replica of Kate's dress in preparation for mass production.
The royal couple had barely returned to Buckingham Palace when the team of seamstresses in southern China got to work.
The order: six copies of Kate Middleton’s dress.
The destination: Essex.
The customer is Sue Goodchild, a specialist in wedding dresses who once worked for Norman Hartnell, the Queen’s dressmaker.
Goodchild, 58, who runs House of Couture, a bridal studio in Hornchurch, started sketching her version of the dress the moment that Middleton stepped out of her Rolls-Royce on Friday morning.
Twenty minutes after the bride entered Westminster Abbey, Goodchild emailed two of her sketches to the factory in Guangdong province, outlining her version of the dress designed by Sarah Burton, creative director at the Alexander McQueen label.
Within half an hour his master designer had drawn the bodice of the dress and sent it to the cutters.
Chen’s team were soon slicing and stitching.
Bit by bit the bodice took shape on a mannequin. Threads and beads were swiftly being intertwined.
A worker used a sewing machine to stitch the lace into place while another pinned pearls and synthetic diamonds to the bodice.
“This takes 80% of the time. It’ll be three days to do it perfectly,” said Chen.
The wedding reception was beginning in London. It was already Friday night in China, but there would be no break for dinner at the busy factory.
Chen added: “We’re going to make six sets of the wedding dress in the next two weeks, then send them to Britain for approval. If they like it, we’ll start mass production.
“We think that these copies will have a huge market in the UK because British people will want to keep up with royal fashions.”
Goodchild expects the Chinese to produce a shop sample for her within the next 10 days. Customer orders for the dress will be made to their exact specifications and will take the normal six months to make, so could be worn at weddings this autumn.
Goodchild, who intends to sell the dresses in Britain for under £1,500, said:
“Kate looked absolutely stunning, very classy. I’m hoping to sell a lot of versions of her dress in the next few months.”
Other designers and dressmakers around the world set their alarms for the crack of dawn on Friday to work on their own versions of Middleton’s gown
The bridesmaid’s gown that was worn by Pippa Middleton is also likely to inspire numerous replicas. Goodchild said: “Kate has put her stamp on the Grace Kelly look but it will be easier for women to get away with wearing something similar to the Pippa dress.”