I’m finally getting around to posting some of my vacation photos! It’s been a while in the making since as soon as we got back, I had wedding season start. I thought I’d start with answering the biggest question I’ve been asked, ‘were you there for the royal wedding?!’
Yes and no. We were in London the week leading up to the wedding day. Our first full day in London we went to Westminster Abbey where the wedding would take place.
They were already setting up electrical for all the camera/news crews that would be coming. And the lines to get in might have been a bit longer than normal. We waited 45 minutes to get in. They were already setting up flowers inside the abbey. Crazy huh?! You florists out there must know some trick to make sure the flowers stayed alive for the week. Of course, there were so many places we went that won’t allow photos to be taken on the inside and Westminster Abbey is one of them…so sorry no photos!
There were already a variety of protesters camping out, and as the week wore on, royal fans started camping out too to stake out the prime viewing places.
As the week progressed, they started doing what they called ‘roaming (or random) security blockades.’ Streets that you may have driven on just a few hours prior would be blocked off at random times. Cones would be placed out and traffic would be diverted. Buckingham Palace was no exception.
In fact, you can see below that due to the wedding, areas were temporarily closed off. In the top photo, the green boxes you see are media boxes that were put up in preparation for the royal wedding day.
It was amazing to get up close to the gates at Buckingham Palace. We toured the interior of Buckingham Palace in a small intimate private tour on Sunday evening (less than 20 people in our group) and it was amazing! And when we were done with our champagne, and it was time to leave, we four were escorted right out the front of Buckingham Palace and through these same gates. It sure made us feel like ‘someone’…if you know what I mean!?! It was crazy to have all the fans outside the gates see us coming out and wonder who we were.
Security was definitely beefed up everywhere we went.
The walls surrounding Buckingham Palace wouldn’t be fun to try and climb anyway! Check out the spikes! By midweek, you could see guards marching down The Mall.
I’m not sure they normally wand you when you go into other London tourist attractions, but carrying my camera gear around made for some attention apparently.
But alas, we left London on Thursday, the day before the wedding. We were originally planning to leave London on Friday, but with that being the day of the wedding, we thought security would be a nightmare, so we opted to leave the day before. We headed to York via train and lounged with locals at a pub to watch the Royal Wedding on the television. We were at the Lowther along the river in York.
Everyone was into the Royal Wedding!
At the moment for the balcony scene, where William and Kate would share their kiss, I made sure to snap the moment on camera. I love that the clock was on the wall so we’ll remember this exact moment!
Viewing the wedding from the bar was probably much better than trying to stick out in the crowd near the palace. A great ending to the royal wedding experience.
We’re you there? Share with me your experience on this eventful day in the comment section below. On your way out, don’t forget to GRAB my FREE Manifesto Guide for everyday inspiration!
