I’m so not a morning person. I haven’t been for as long as I remember. I got up earlier when I was a kid I suppose but for decades now I’ve been someone who loves to stay up late and sleep late the next day (this has been a problem for over eight years now, what with having two kids who enjoy mornings very much). However, this morning – even though I had nowhere to go for hours – I purposely got up with my alarm clock at 5 am so I could watch two people I’ve never met get married.
Yes, I got up before the sun just to see Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot.
Since I hadn’t gotten to bed until after 11:30 last night, I was groggy and bleary-eyed during the time that it took to boot up my laptop and head over to the live BBC stream on YouTube (God I love the Internet). As soon as I saw William and Harry in their car leaving Buckingham Palace I woke right up though and it was worth it to be a bit tired just to be able to watch their wedding.
I don’t know how to explain why I’m interested in the Royal Family. I wouldn’t want to be a part of it, I really don’t think I could handle the pressure, the scrutiny, and the whole deal of always being told how to act. William seems to handle it quite well, Harry appears to blow it off by being the unpredictable wild child, and from what I can tell so far Kate is going to deal with it with the self-confidence she has. However, despite not wanting to be a royal person myself (well, maybe when I was a little girl. Or when I’m washing dishes and wishing I had a house full of servants) I am fascinated by this family. It started with Diana and I remember hearing she had died as I sat in a bar downtown. I also remember getting up in the middle of the night to watch her funeral so of course I was going to get up to see her first born son marry his own princess-to-be.
The ceremony was wonderful and beautiful and I am a sap so I was a little teary in parts. The speeches and sermons and lessons were fantastic and I enjoyed every minute of it. I had to get Hayley ready for school but the ceremony was wrapped up before I had to usher her out the door. She missed the balcony kiss but Breanna and I watched it together (and then she re-watched it repeatedly on YouTube, I think I’m in for trouble in the future) and then I showed Hayley after school. The three of us did sit and watch the whole wedding together though, eating scones on the couch.
I also remarked on Facebook and Twitter that Harry was going to wind up single again if he didn’t put his eyeballs back in his head and stop drooling over Pippa Middleton – who looked unbelievably gorgeous.
I know not everyone is into watching the Royal Wedding and that’s okay, I don’t mind if people have no interest. However I saw a few people here and there snidely making comments about how it must be nice that we can all just forget about Libya, murders, Japan, etc etc since all news coverage was set aside to cover the wedding. I completely disagree. I don’t think it’s disrespectful to leave the tragedies for a few hours. They’ll still be there at the end of the day. Meanwhile I started my day with a big smile because for once I turned on the news channel while I prepared breakfast and instead of horror and despair I saw hope and love and joy. I think I might need to re-think my compulsion to watch the national news in the mornings because it really changed my outlook first thing out of bed. There’s something to be said about happy news for a change.
In the meantime, although Hayley enjoyed the wedding tremendously, it seems to have had a huge effect on Breanna. After the wedding was over (and once she was done staring down the balcony kiss), she changed out of her pajamas which is rare for her to do of her own free will. She pranced out of her room with a long fancy dress on, brushed her hair until it gleamed, and has been wearing a tiara for so many hours that I’m wondering if I’ll be able to convince her to take it off at bedtime. She has also been referring to herself as Princess Breanna and practiced curtsying a few times.
And in the time that it took me to type this up she watched this a few more times.
I think she fully intends to find herself a prince. Now I just need to get myself a really awesome fancy hat.
It was a terrific wedding. If you could describe a wedding in Westminster Abbey as low key … this might be it.
I totally enjoyed watching Harry. There couldn’t have been a better person next to William and to keep him as relaxed as he could be. He had that little demon look several times.
I’ve read the remarks of several (in their own minds) critics.
I thought her sister did a positively amazing job with the little girl attendants (one little hand in each of her’s), with the flowers, with the train and with her level of confidence. OK, I went ga-ga over her.
I was also impressed (as always) with how well the logistics have been worked out for an event of this magnitude.
Oh dont you worry, I too watched the entire thing (along with numerous other specials and coverage). I thought the whole thing was beautiful, so elegantly done, and made me smile all weekend! 🙂