Royal Wedding

Kiss on the Balcony

Today was the royal wedding day of Kate Middleton and Prince William with no last name.   Even though he does not have a known last name, he is second in line to the British throne, after his father Prince Charles.  There was a ton of hype and it was on tv for about 8 hours, beginning at 2am US central time.  I did not get up to watch, I recorded.  Thank goodness for DVR's!!   And if we missed it during the day, just about every channel is doing a highlights thing tonight.

Almost every guy I know does not understand the fascination with a wedding for a couple from a country we are not part of and that we don't know personally.  All I can say is that it is a girl thing and I am a girl.  Every little girl at one time dreams of marrying a prince and wearing a fairy tale dress and today we got to live through Kate.  She is the daughter of a "commoner", a much bigger deal in England than here, an the Prince chose her.   He could have made an offer of marriage to just about anyone he wanted and he chose her.  There is something magical about that.   They started as friends and dated for like 9 years, went through a couple of breakups and at the end of the day, found their way to today.   And the cool part was that they appear to be really in love, having learned from the disastrous marriage of his parents that it takes love and friendship and respect to make a marriage.  I have high hopes for this one.  They are already millions of miles ahead of Charles and Diana.

Wow

Her dress was gorgeous and perfect for what today was about.  No bare shoulders but not the Diana disaster either.  It fit her perfectly and she was regal.  Hair down, earrings from her parents, tiara from the gram in law, the queen.  Her maid of honor was her sister, Pippa.  Her prince was in uniform, his little brother by his side.
According to the professional lip readers (!!!) while Will and Harry were at the front of the alter, Harry turned when Kate was almost there and whispered to his brother "Wait til you see her".    And then when Will did see her he whispered "You look beautiful", words every bride wants to hear from her groom.  And then he joked to his future father in law something like "I thought we were going to have a small family affair".  There were plenty of smiles during the hour long service with lots of stuffy clergyman and one really cool named the Right Rev Richard Chartres who knew them and spoke from his heart.  And of course, a ton of really boring music.  But finally we got to see them leave in a horse drawn carriage, a surprise ride in Prince Charles' vintage Aston Martin with Prince William driving and Kate in the passenger seat of the 2 seater car.  There were balloons and a "just wed" sign on the back, probably the work of Prince Harry.    It was quite amusing on the dvr when they came driving out of Buckingham Palace grounds...no one appeared to know a thing about it!!   And most special, 2 kisses on the balcony.

I think the stuffy British monarchy got a big shot in the arm today, full of promise and hope.   A nice wedding overall.    And I was just watching on tv!!