"What do you like better Christmas or Wedding Season? The answer would be wedding season."

Its the moment you've all been waiting for...or at least the moment I've been waiting for....my post about the Royal Wedding!

 I boarded the night bus at 10 p.m. to be in London by 6 a.m. the next morning.  The ride was a little rough but unlike airplanes I've never had much trouble sleeping in cars so I was able to get a solid amount of sleep. This turned out to be very fortunate since I needed all my energy to deal with the royal wedding madness the next day.

Part of the crowd surrounding us

We got into London a little late (closer to 7:00 am) and Jake and I headed immediately over to Buckingham Palace to try and find a place to stand.  We were a worried that we wouldn't be able to get a good spot since people had been camping out all week, and our fears turned out to be justified.  There wasn't any good room in front of the palace which is where we most wanted to be, so we headed into St. James Park to try and find a better spot.  Fortunately the park wasn't quite as crowded yet so we managed to find a good spot about three rows back right on the parade route.  Considering we got to our spot around 7:30 a.m. and the wedding activities didn't start until 10ish we had a long wait ahead of us.  Of course this was made a little bit easier by all the awesome people surrounding us.  One couple was obsessed with Jake's southern accent and made him say Alabama over and over again (they didn't believe I was from Georgia tool).  Another older husband and wife were kind enough to educate me on the recent history of royals in the UK and share their experiences of when they came to see Princess Diana's wedding.  Truly fantastic.

By the time 10:30 rolled around we were all getting pretty excited about the festivities.  We had a great location on the mall right by St. James's Palace so we got excellent views of all the royals leaving for the wedding.  I saw Harry and William in their red Rolls Royce, the queen in her yellow hat and of course the first glimpses of Kate's dress.  I pretty much died and went to heaven in those first few minutes.  Then once everyone arrived at Westminster Abbey the ceremony began which they were nice enough to broadcast on massive loudspeakers to all of us on the parade route.  It was a great moment hearing all the British people say the prayers along with those in the abbey and cheer when Will and Kate said I do.  After the ceremony ended the parade began and it was so spectacular.  The whole procession was huge and fully equipped with honor guards, horse cavalries, flags and of course the royals in their carriages.  Once again I had a great view of all the action and I swear Harry looked right at me as he drove by......The only downside to my spot was that because everyone was waving in front of me it was hard for me to get good pictures, I managed to get a few, but nothing like you could find online.

Best picture I could get of the royal couple but you can still kind of make them out!

After the parade ended Jake and I attempted to hurry over to Buckingham palace to watch them wave on the balcony, but ended up getting caught in a massive crowd of people.  I have never felt more like cattle, but fortunately we managed to weave our way through and get to the palace just in time for them to come out.  Our view wasn't as great as it was on the parade route but I still got to see everything which was marvelous.  Overall the entire experience of being in London for the wedding was simply amazing.  It was stressful, insane and crowded but the entire mass of people was just so happy and there was so much to see and nothing can beat the vibe of actually experiencing a historic event like that in person.  I am so glad I went and I know I will never forget it.

Walking the parade route at night

After the wedding ended Jake and I managed to meet up with our friends Daniel and Mary (truly a feat considering just how many people were in St. James's Park) and headed to lunch and then to our hotel.  The hotel was about a mile away from Westminster Abbey which was very nice since it meant we didn't have to deal with public transportation.  After a much needed nap at our hotel we all spent the night walking around the area and getting a delicious hamburger meal in Piccadilly Circus.  The highlight was definitely walking the parade route after dark when the streets were still closed and pretending I was part of the royal family.  Cheesy I know, but still incredible to imagine driving down that route with millions of people cheering for you all around.

Group outside of Westminster Abbey

After a fantastic nights sleep on Friday we all woke up early Saturday morning and headed over to Westminster Abbey.  I didn't get to see the abbey last time I was in London so it was the one thing I wanted to do when I was there.  The line was super long but we decided it was worth it and since we had cards with us the wait wasn't that bad.  The abbey was everything I wanted it to be and more.  It was beautiful and  historic, and I almost died when I saw Queen Elizabeth I's tomb.  I've only dreamed about visiting her tomb since I was nine years old.  Also, the abbey was still set up the way it was for Will and Kate's wedding so we got to actually walk down the aisle and see Kate's bouquet and where they said their vows and everything.  It was fantastic.

After the abbey we only had a few more hours until our bus left that night so we just went to lunch, did some souvenir shopping and then after Mary and Daniel left Jake and I saw a movie to kill some time.  We saw the Eagle which was entertaining but a little unbelievable.  More of a wait till DVD type of movie. 

So after a long night of bus riding and a rough sleep I arrived back in Edinburgh this morning at 8 a.m..  Today I'm just focusing on getting organized for the week since I'm going to be super busy until POLLING DAY on Thursday.  I cant believe its already almost here.  I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on the campaign but just remember four days from now we'll know if Alex has won!

Talk to you all soon!