7:00AM: Okay, I'm up. I have to say, this is the earliest I have been up on a Friday in quite a while. Check my emails, take a quick look at the morning news and get cleaned up for the day.
9:40AM: By this point, I have had a good breakfast and I am getting ready to go to Royal Victoria Park where much of the City of Bath is going in order to watch a simulcast of the wedding on the big screens. Weather forecasts call for clouds and possibly some rain. The clouds are there but, for now, it remains dry.
9:45AM: We arrive at the park and meet up with some other students from our program. From there we walk into the main park proper. This allows me to get my first look at the crowd forming up for the day.
It looks small now but by 10:15, things have picked up.
10:30AM: Harry and William have arrived at the holding area of Westminster Abbey. Soon, Kate will be getting in her car along with the rest of her part of the cartage. People have really packed together now. There is a stage with two giant screens on either side of it with the wedding on. People have packed lunch picnics and are bringing out the champagne, beer, cider and wine that they brought with them. I begin talking to some of the locals about the lead up to the wedding. Many seem to not care to much about it. For most, it seems that, coupled with last weeks St. George's Day, this is just an excuse for two 3-day weekends in a row. On guy mentions that he just got back from the Ladbrokes (Like an OTB back home, basically a bookmaker). He had placed a five pound bet that unchained melody will be their first dance song. That gives me inspiration for a future article: Here in England, they will bet on anything.
10:40AM: Kate Middleton gets in her car to the Abbey. People are sneaking their first looks at her dress. There still hasn't been a good view of it.
10:50AM: Kate arrives at the Abbey, she takes a while to get out of the car. As this is happening, the screens are unplugged and fade to black. Immediately, I can feel the malice in the crowd and people start booing. I begin, for the first time since I moved here to fear for my life and look to the edges to find swift exits should I need them. Luckily, just as she gets out of the car, the screens are fixed. The boos turn to cheers as people applaud the dress and the future wife of William of Wales. By this point there had been moments of cheering, namely when Harry and William appeared and, most importantly, when the Queen appeared.
11:00AM: I realize that back home, it is 6:00AM and that mom is just getting up for work. Luckily, she will be tuning in just as Kate walks through the West Door of the Abbey. From here on out the wedding occurs. Funny things occur throughout the crowd. The second hymn is "Guide me, O Thou Great Redeemer" which sounds familiar to me at first. I then realize that it is commonly sung on the terraces of all football grounds with the lyrics changed to "You're not singing anymore" and is directed at the other fans. Some fellows wearing England National jerseys begin singing football chant lyrics to it instead of the traditional. Someone gets a huge payout because the first celebrity shown during the ceremony isn't Posh and Becks but is instead Rowan Atkinson at 100/1. Thats right: Mr. Bean and Blackadder just made some people in England very rich.
12:20PM: The main thrust of the wedding is over and the couple has reached the carriage. They start to get in when the screen goes blue with an advertisement welcoming the Bath Philharmonia to the stage to play wedding music. As the announcement to welcome the orchestra to the stage is made, the crowd again turns rowdy. For the first time ever, the Bath Philharmonia is openly booed as they take the stage. Again, I am looking nervously for exits. Luckily, sensing tension, someone turns the wedding back on while the group plays.
1:00PM: From here on, the orchestra plays with a small intermission as the couple is presented on the Buckingham Palace Balcony and share their first kiss as a married couple. Throughout the rest of the day, the park will be filled with bands and dancing. An interesting note is Tony Moore who is set to appear at 2:10 to sing one song "(I just) Died in your Arms Tonight". I'm sorry...what?! Really?! Your going to play that on a wedding day. Turns out, Tony is the former keyboard player for both Iron Maiden and Cutting Crew (who's only real hit was the aforementioned song). Still, seems kind of odd.
By the evening, I have returned to the house and a few of us have gone out and tossed the cricket ball around in the backyard. It was certainly a once in a lifetime experience for someone like me to see the Royal Wedding in England. Who knows, if things go well and the couple has a child in 2013, maybe I will be returning to collect on a bet I place two years before. Cheers to the Royal Couple!
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