Kiss me Kate

It would be like ignoring the big pink (is it a pink one?) elephant in the room which is why I am mentioning the Royal Wedding.

Come on, we all know it is coming, we are all grateful for the extra bank holiday (except Steve who is unreasonably mad that he is working it as well as all the other bank holiday weekends) and, a lot of us are either newlyweds or getting married in the near future.



The deely boppers - oh yes



I am going to be controversial - I am looking forward to it. I have got my crown deely boppers, my veil (always looking for an excuse to wear it again) and various union jack/crown themed accessories and items. In fact, I see no reason for anyone to get all het up about it. This, as with the majority of holidays and events, registers as a-super-excuse-for-a-party-so-why-wouldn't-you-embrace-it category.



Kate's ring



My ring

 In all honesty, while I am a tad jealous of Kate's beauty, figure, hair and general loveliness, the two of them are doing what a million people do every year and good for them.

If I was terribly truthful, I actually feel a bit sorry for her. I mean, lets just start with the actual wedding itself - how much say has she had in it? Any of it really. From venue to dress to colour scheme to type of service to food to guests to everything, I loved deciding on all those things and, as Steve and I are both stubborn as hell, we did things exactly the way we wanted to. Yes, we made sure that we accommodated everyone's needs but, to be honest, that wasn't a hardship because it was what we ultimately wanted; for all our loved ones to feel happy and welcome and involved.

Will and Kate's official engagement photo

So we didn't do an official engagement shoot, but here we are a few weeks after we got engaged

Kate will have had very little of that. She had a mini choice in venue - Westminster or St Paul's. No small village church for her, no special place where her parents married or her grandma is buried, worse still, no option of a civil ceremony. The guest list - she'll have been able to put her hundred or so must haves in but the truth is, she won't have met three quarters of the people going to her own wedding. The dress, probably more scope for individuality but lets remember - Royal Weddings call for covered shoulders, long skirts and modesty. The reception, there will be no speeches, no drunken uncles on the dance floor, no jumping about to Beyonce's 'Single Ladies', excitedly pointing at your shiny new wedding ring (as I did at my own wedding...).

I mean, it is unlike anything we would consider a wedding.

I was lucky, I got to pick my entire day from the outfits to the favours from the cake to who I got ready with in the morning.

Us on our wedding day which I wouldn't have changed for the world

And the pressure on her going into their marriage; stressing over whether they can have an exotic honeymoon or will that look bad in the current economic climate, full on royal duties - no job where she can retain a level of normality and sanity, the pressure to produce an heir, I mean there will be no option of surrogacy, IVF or adoption if, for whatever reason, she can't have babies.

So, when I watch the wedding with my Nana (a royalist if ever there was one), glass of champagne in one hand and deely boppers firmly on head, I will be thinking of the woman behind the veil; granted, I'm sure she knows what she is getting herself into, but she is just a person who is marrying the one she loves.

And that is always something to celebrate.