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Prince William and Prince Harry got a real taste of Southern hospitality at the wedding of their close friend Guy Pelly in Memphis, Tennessee, on Saturday.
The royals were joined by their cousins, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, who are friends of the bride, hotel heiress Elizabeth “Lizzy” Wilson, for the lavish celebration at the Memphis Hunt and Polo Club.
William and Harry attended the 6 p.m. wedding ceremony, during which Wilson walked down the aisle as the Memphis Boys choir sang. The couple paid tribute to Memphis’s most famous resident, Elvis Presley, by wearing blue kicks – pumps for the bride and suede shoes for the groom, a source tells PEOPLE.
After the couple said “I do,” about 400 guests let their hair down at the reception in large white tents on the club’s grounds, PEOPLE has learned. According to a wedding worker, the party was extremely private and guests were asked not to bring their cell phones inside the reception area, which featured plenty of sofas and tables for a lounge feel.
Too bad, because there were probably some Instagram-worthy moments inside: The wedding cake was six tiers high spice cake topped with two white birds, whose edible feathers decorated the layers, and the grooms cake was made out to be the bust of a fox wearing a red riding coat, the worker says. Another source adds that guests dined on risotto, meat from carving stations and plenty of seafood, including fried oysters, catfish and shrimp. Along with the cake, attendees were treated to a dessert of chocolate cups filled with homemade ice cream.
William, 31, was the life of the party, hitting the dance floor all night and even jumping on stage during the Jimmy Church Band‘s rendition of “Shout,” the group’s frontman tells PEOPLE. While Harry, 29, spent most of the reception in a corner “enjoying the music,” William loved the rhythm and blues band’s soulful style so much that he invited Church across the pond for a performance.
“William had so much fun, he told me he wanted to bring the band to England,” Church says. “I was surprised with how humble he was, how kind. He thanked me just for giving him my card so he could call us up and have us out.”
Onlookers expecting Harry to be in full-on party mode – he infamously was caught playing strip billiards during a 2012 trip to Las Vegas – were surprised to see William living it up instead.
“He loved to dance in a group with all his British friends, but Harry stayed mostly at the bar, very low-key,” says a source. “He was quietly talking to pals, but it was his brother that was really having fun on the dance floor. People had speculated that Harry might get into some trouble, but the bride’s father said something to the effect of ‘not on my watch,’ but it was all in good fun.”
Weekend In the States
It’s been an action-packed few days for the royals, who began their visit to the United States on Wednesday, when a newly single Harry celebrated Pelly’s bachelor party with a group of friends in Miami. They dined on Chinese food before hitting a nightclub, where Harry “danced and seemed to have a rousing time” but didn’t do anything outrageous, a source says.
The following day, Harry recovered from the previous night’s festivities by sunning shirtless at the Soho Beach House before flying to Memphis. A source says Harry was low-key and pleasant while he was there, and though he chatted with various groups throughout the day, he “wasn’t seen hanging out with just one woman.”
William flew in from England via Chicago and snacked on nachos at O’Hare International Airport. He caught up with Harry on Thursday night when they hit up one of Memphis’s best known barbecue spots, Rendezvous.
And because no trip to Memphis is complete without visiting the home of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, the wedding party toured Graceland on Friday, rocking Elvis Presley’s trademark oversized gold shades.
That night, the princes joined guests at the Memphis Country Club, where the rehearsal dinner was taking place, a source tells PEOPLE. William and Harry hung out with the group on the club’s patio, enjoying cocktails.
Nightclub entrepreneur Pelly, 32, and the royals have been close for years, and he was even reportedly in the running to be one of Prince George‘s godparents. Although he didn’t end up making the cut, Pelly told the Daily Mail in September that he wasn’t nixed because he is a “party animal.” “I love babies and have calmed down quite a bit socially now,” he told the paper. “I think I will be a very, very good godfather – one day, at least. But it is their choice.”
Pelly’s bride hails from Memphis and is an heiress to the Holiday Inn fortune. She attended both the University of Virginia and Georgetown University before moving to London full time.
• Reporting by JENNIFER BRADLEY FRANKLIN, ALICIA DENNIS, LINDA MARX and SIMON PERRY