I will…

I didn’t get up at 4am.  Well I did, but I turned on the TV and then fell back to sleep waking up when the alarm went off at six… just as the first dignitaries arrived.

Knowing I had a full day ahead, I threw myself in the shower, dried my hair and was installing my “Fascinator” to the side of my head just as Prince’s Harry and William were arriving at Westminster Abbey.

Ohhhh how handsome!  (Did you know Harry was single?)

I liked the dress… in fact, the simplicity of it was perfect.  Kate seems to be pulling off tradition with a wee modern twist and her choice to wear the Queen Mum’s tiara was lovely.  More than that… more than the dress and fashion everyone was looking at… all I could see was the wonderful, amazing, delightful, beautiful smile on Kate’s face… she would have made a paper bag look elegant with that smile alone.

It was so different from the nuptials of Diana and Charles years before… neither knowing each other… hardly speaking in the carriage… shy and uncomfortable.  Kate on the other hand seemed confident and quite sure of herself while chit chatting with a grinning Wills… both seemingly sharing a wonderful  secret.  He… simply stating she was “beautiful” when arriving at the altar (I was thrilled when he said it but desperate to know what Harry was saying to Wills only moments before!)

While I bought into the fairy tale marriage from years before… this one seemed real… solid… better.  They know each other, live together, went to school together, go to the pub together and chances are have bangers and mash together!  It’s a modern day twist on a Cinderella story full of traditional pomp and pageantry that turns into a big old disco at the end of it all… complete with Anastasia and Drizella… I mean… Beatrice and Eugenie.

I thought of my own wedding throughout the ceremony.  Not because I had young boys singing with high pitched voices, a tree lined walk down the aisle, Elton John in attendance along with various guests in fabulous hats, foreign dignitaries and a Prince awaiting me at the other end…  but because I’d truly believed in the fairy tale… smiling greater than ever with so much hope for the future.

At thirteen, watching the wedding of Charles and Diana with my Mom, I’d never have guessed they’d split, there’d be an affair and horrific scandal, Diana would die a tragic accident and Charles would marry Diana’s nemesis.  I’d have never believed such heartache was possible but such is life and even when it does everything opposite to what you’d imagine… opening your eyes to the realization that there’s no such thing as fairy tales… there’s still a world of hope.

In the smile of a radiant woman on her wedding day.

And her handsome, dashing Prince.