Wedding Belles: The Royal Debriefing

As always, I like to do a debriefing for MAJOR events:

Were you one of those crazies that woke up at 4 AM last Friday?

You'd better believe it.  Although technically I woke up at 4:15 because I completely forgot to set my alarm.  But I was so excited, I woke up on my own just in time to see them LIVE at the altar together.  I was DVRing it, so I was able to rewind and see THE DRESS emerge.


Why did you wake up if you were DVRing?

Our DVR has been really sketchy lately.  Something is up with our recorder and it keeps missing programs.  When it missed The Good Wife last week, the uber important one where Alicia found out about Peter and Kalinda, I knew I couldn't take any chances.

Is the Royal Wedding still on your DVR right now?

Um, yes.  I see it staying there indefinitely.  All four hours of it.  Diana's wedding is there as well.

You mean you watched that Pop-Up Video style special on TLC?

In all honesty, I watched it twice last week.  It was a really well done special, after all.  I was only a baby when she got married, so I missed it the first time around.  The girls and I watched it the night before to get psyched for the big day.


You let your children watch that?

Yes.  Looking back I realize it was a mistake.  Piper started asking too many questions.  Before long I was admitting that Diana ended up divorcing Charles and then dying a few years later.  Piper burst into tears and sobbed for a good ten minutes upon hearing the news.  Chloe became obsessed with marrying a prince and got really mad at me when I told her it was highly unlikely she'll marry one.

Did you wake the Belles up for the wedding?

No, but I did let them watch some coverage before they went to school.  I fixed a special breakfast, complete with Martinelli's, and we toasted the new couple before they headed out for the day.


Your neighbors reported seeing some interesting costumes that morning.  Please explain.

Okay, well, I might have allowed Piper to wear a very tasteful princess ensemble to school that morning.  In my defense, it made her extremely happy (and she was recovering from the Princess Diana blow, remember).   I'll admit I was wearing a fancy dress as well (with a sweater over it because it was SNOWING that morning):

Chloe wore normal clothes.  And there were no fascinators.  I repeat, ZERO fascinators were worn that day.


Hmm, not your finest parenting, eh?

Well, no, but again, it was snowing that morning and I figured we could all use some cheering up.  Later on, when I set up the "Royal Tea" picnic we did for lunch (complete with homemade chocolate chip scones, cucumber sandwiches, and more of that Martinelli's), I told them we were celebrating our British heritage.  You can't fault me for celebrating our heritage.

Yeah, we watched the wedding while we ate, but so what? WE CAN'T DENY OUR HERITAGE!


How do you think this affected The Belles Elopement Plan?

Uh, I think I undid all the work implanting the idea that weddings are overrated that we had done thus far in one day.  With four daughters, we were attempting to downplay the concept of weddings.  Oops.  Now I think we need to start saving for The Belles Wedding Tiara.  Perhaps a PayPal button on this blog is in order . . .

What was your favorite (favourite?) part of the wedding?

Well, aside from the fabulous fashion--how spectacular were Kate's two dresses by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen? And Pippa's gown?--I really appreciated the Bishop of London's sermon on marriage.  I loved that a celebration of a man and a woman coming together to form a family and create life was on every network.  I loved how he applied the quote from Catherine of Siena to marriage.   And the bit he included about how western society has forgotten God and attempted to replace that void with romance made me really happy.  I think that's a huge problem.  (For more on that premise, see this book).  To have all these lovely thoughts delivered in a fab British accent was the icing on the cake!

Speaking of cake, did you eat some that day?

Yep.  I had a Toasted Coconut Sweet Tooth Fairy cupcake leftover from Easter.  Definitely one of the highlights of the day!


Why has it taken you a week to post this?

It's been quite a week.  There were funerals (the sweet, sassy 94-year-old gal in my book club passed away), concerts (UCA spring concert, which was divine), flashmobs (yep, I got to witness one at The Governor's Leadership in the Arts awards luncheon yesterday!), birthdays (my sister's!  And prep for the two of the Belles, who have them this next week) on top of all the regular stuff, which kept me on my toes and off the blog.  My sister-in-law says she can always tell when I get really busy because the blog goes silent.

And there you have it! The Royal Wedding Debriefed, Kell's Belles style!