Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress Will NOT Be Made By Bruce Oldfield

Bruce Oldfield has broken his silence on Kate Middleton's royal wedding dress, finally confessing to Women's Wear Daily that he won't be making it.

The designer told the fashion newspaper, "It has been such a subject of rumor and speculation over the past months, but I am not designing it. We will all know [on Friday] -- and I thought I'd duck out of the 'possibles list' to give everyone 24 hours to place their final bets!"

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Oldfield was, at one point, the bookies' favorite with the odds 1-3 that he'd be making The Dress. In fact, Irish bookie Paddy Power put betting on hold thanks to a bunch of big-stake bets of more than £500, or $780. In December, a Paddy Power spokesperson said, "Although we didn't expect a betting plunge on the dress designer to happen quite so soon, when the stakes changed from fivers and tenners to hundreds of pounds, it appears as though the cat is out of the bag."

Oldfield also sat down with "Good Morning America" in February and remarked that when Kate Middleton steps out of the car and debuts her dress, it will be a "nightmare. I think nightmare. Whichever happens it's going to be a sharp intake of breath, isn't it? It's going to be...oh my god, what is she wearing? Or, oh, doesn't she look fabulous?" He did also say that he'd be dressing "a huge amount" of people at the affair.

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China Knock-off : The Royal Wedding's

Bollywood-style dancing and Bhangra music will be among the many ways in which Britons will celebrate the royal wedding on Friday in thousands of street parties organised across the country.

Street parties, a great British tradition for over a century, have also been organised by people who are opposed to the institution of monarchy.

In the past, such parties have been linked with royal and other national events. A 'street party' is organised by and for residents on the street where they live, promoting a community spirit.

Organised by people who cannot make it to London for the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, street parties will mean many streets and roads will be closed for traffic on Friday, including in London.

Virendra Sharma, the Labour MP from Ealing Southall, has written to residents of Southall to celebrate the event with street parties.

Members of Kate Middleton's family lived in Clarence Street years ago. He said the day will be celebrated by Asian drummers, dance and bhangra music.

Similar events have been scheduled by the Asian community in Bradford, Manchester, Birmingham and Leicester.

Over 5,500 formal road closures (825 in London) have been arranged by local councils to facilitate traffic-free events.

Eric Pickles, the Communities secretary, said: "Royal wedding street parties are a great British tradition. So if folks want to get together to organise a street party to celebrate next year's wedding, we have made it as easy as possible to do so without endless form filling."

According to Chris White, chair of the Local Government Association's Culture, Tourism and Sport Programme Board, councils across the country have pulled out all the stops to make organising royal wedding street parties as easy as possible.

Chris Gittins, Director of Streets Alive, said: "This tradition is so great for the country for building a sense of community spirit at the street level.

"Residents meet an average of eight new neighbours, our research has shown. Also, most residents, up to 85 per cent, attend which is unique compared to any other type of event."

Some local councils such as the Scarborough Borough Council provide training course for people who want to organise street parties.

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Royal Wedding Weather Forecast

Despite earlier predictions that sun would shine on Kate and Will's big day, revised forecasts indicate a strong chance of thunder storms and brisk winds. "We wouldn't rule out the odd lightning strike as well," says Aisling Creevey, a forecaster at MeteoGroup. "At the moment we're waiting to see how much sunshine is going to come off that day. If there's more sunshine there's more of a risk of heavier showers."

If rain does fall, a retinue of lackeys will cover the bride-to-be with over-sized umbrellas as she enters the Abbey—potentially denying well-wishers on the street a glimpse of Kate and the most talked-about dress of the century. Prince William and Kate would also have to re-think their procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace following the ceremony. Rather than riding in the open-top, 1902 State Landau carriage, the pair would instead cruise in the Glass Coach—the same one Diana, Princess of Wales, took to her wedding at St Paul's Cathedral in 1981. The rain won't affect Kate's transport to the wedding because she'll arrive by car.

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