Royal Wedding

I know, I know, I know...this is a bit late. Almost 1.5 months late, but better late than never right? Oh, this is JaNae` writing this lovely blog this time. I didn't even realize that Beth had written one in early May. That's so sweet of her to write one dedicated to our friends and family.

As you can see from the title, I will be talking about our experience at the Royal Wedding. And what an experience it was. I think the best part about the Wedding was that we received another day off. This gave those that didn't want to be a part of the wedding a chance to leave London, or England. The weekend before the Royal Wedding, we had a 4 day weekend because of Good Friday and Easter. The weekend of the Royal Wedding, we had the wedding itself and I believe the holiday was called 'beginning of summer'. But if you planned your holiday just right, you could have taken a very long holiday of 11 days and only 3 were used for PTO (paid time off).

Back to the RW (Royal Wedding). After debating for a few weeks whether to attend or watch on TV, the day prior we decidedd that we should attend. My adventurous wife wanted to camp at Buckingham Palace so that we had a spot for when they kissed on the balcony. (A tradition started by Princess Diana and Prince Charles). I am not that adventurous and wanted to just get up the next morning and make our way to the palace. As we watched the news, we saw many people had decided to camp on the streets and in the park the night before. Well, I love my bed too much and so I got my way. The next thing we had to plan was what time were we willing to wake up. Beth wanted to wake up at 3, although I didn't think it was that necessary I later agreed to waking up that early with her to make the trip. (And no, the tubes were not running yet. They don't start until 6 am.) We made sure to pack waters, cameras, umbrellas, and a few snacks. We were ready to do this!

The morning of, the alarm goes off and Beth hits snooze. We ended up not waking up until 5:30am and headed out the door an hour later. We decided to walk to Westminster since it was closer and see just how many people were there and if we could get a good spot. If we couldn't then we would make our way to Buckingham Palace. For those of you that have not been along South Bank, Westminster Bridge, or the Abbey, it is usually jam packed due to the amount of tourist attractions. The Police had blocked off the streets so there were no cars to be seen.

As we made our way towards Westminster Abbey and Parliament, we began to see the crowd and the line of police along the streets. Thankfully, it was not incredibly packed just yet so we were able to mosey around for a bit and find a good spot. Our spot was standing on a ledge along of the buildings across the street from Parliament. We had scored big time. We were able to see over the heads of those in front of us. It was even better knowing that the wedding party and guests would drive by our spot and we had the opportunity to get some pictures.

As we waited for the wedding party and guests to arrive, we met a few good people from Cambridge. They told us about Princess Diana's wedding and funeral and where they were when it happened. Another lady even told us how she was at the crowning ceremony of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Of course, they were delighted to hear that the Queen gave Prince William and Kate the title of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

By this time, my sister has Facebooked me asking me to fill her in on the details as she was watching it at home. We Facebooked each other back and forth and we even Skyped. I tried to do video but it wasn't working for whatever reason. As the cars started to make their way to the church, she was giving me the play by play as to who was in the car and what they were wearing. When Prince William and Prince Harry drove by, the crowd went wild as if their team just won the championship game. (You can watch our video on the 'Coming of the Princes' on our FB page) You could feel the excitement from everyone and in a strange way it brough everyone together no matter where you were from. (And yes, Jasmine is still giving me the play by play)

Watching the Queen and Duke of Edinburge, Prince Charles and his woman (yes, I forgot her name), and the rest of the wedding party just made it so exciting to be a part of it. Finally, Kate's car passed us and boy did she look beautiful. At that point, I was so happy to be standing on the street with thousands of people who also wanted to be a part of this moment.

The ceremony was played over the loud speakers in the streets and some parks had big screens so you could watch it. Once the words, 'I will' were spoken, everyone cheered again! And now we just waited for them to make their way to Buckingham Palace.

The parade started with the guards taking their positions and marching down the streets on their massive horses. A few minutes later, the newlyweds were being escorted to the palace. That was a pretty neat thing to see. Once they and the wedding party passed, everyone made their way to the palace.

We made our way through St James Park (which is directly across from the Palace) and it felt like the State Fair. Port-a-potties and food vendors were all around. What a sight! It seemed as though everyone had made it to the park and was waiting for the go ahead from the police for us to walk in the streets towards the palace.

We make our way to the palace finally and try to get our spot to view 'the kiss'. Unfortunately, the Queen Mother statue was in our way along with the media and their cameras. We were crammed in one spot and everyone was touching each other and most of us did not see the kiss. At that moment I felt a bit bad and realized that maybe we should've camped out at the palace so that we could get a good spot for the kiss. Oh well, I guess I learned my lesson.

For pictures of the RW, check out our Facebook page.