On April 29th, the world watched as Prince William married his long time love Kate Middleton. The royal wedding had been a media fixation since the couple announced their engagement in November. No one was more excited then the British. With endless media coverage, keep sake trinkets available on every corner and with April 29th being turned into a bank holiday, Royal wedding fever was everywhere.

“I guess I was kind of annoyed about it until the day of, just because it had way too much media coverage. I know it was a massive (inter)national event but it was everywhere and was a bit much. All other news ceased for about a month [prior],” Lyndsay Penman, a student as Rossett School in Harrogate, England said. “In the end though, I got quite into it. I’m not exactly a fan of the royals, but it’s hard to stay away from something when it’s everywhere and everyone is having fun with it.”

After months of media buildup, excitement over the nuptials got to seemingly everyone.

“My mum, who I thought would be the last person interested, days before got so excited and made us Sky+ [TiVo] everything royal, which was everything on TV,” London based college student Zoe Ansah said.

“The whole country was pretty excited. I didn’t really get it, because it was the wedding of two people we don’t know. I think it was more about national pride,” Penman said.

Another appealing aspect of the wedding was the fact that Middleton was a non-royal. Middleton, with her private school education and family worth millions, was a “commoner.” For the media, it was a Cinderella story come true.

“Royalty is the only thing bigger than celebrity on our tabloid-infused, materialistic side of the world. When you’re friends with a celeb, you may get papped [paparazzied] coming out of a club or lunch with said celeb, or at most offered a reality show. When you’re friends with royalty… you get sent around the world, 1st class treatment included all expenses paid, and endless perks only known to them. There’s a sense of respect, the class system at it’s 21st century finest,” Ansah explained.

On the day of the wedding, students and many adults got the day off from school and work. Penman ended up watching the ceremony wit her family.

“We turned on the television and had the obligatory “doesn’t she look lovely!” conversation, but in the end, 3 hours later she still looked lovely, it was just a different person telling her so. It was a pretty ceremony though,” Penman said.

Though Ansah was in London on the day of the ceremony, she avoided the center of town and Buckingham palace area, knowing it would be packed. Though she originally planned on occasionally checking the progress on TV, she ended up watching the whole thing.

“It was amazing, the service was awkward, and so was the kiss and the insane amount of times they drove around in a circle whilst Kate bowed her head at passing officers, but such is life. My family watched downstairs on the main screen for a ‘full experience’. We got calls from American relatives asking whether we were invited!” Ansah said. “My mum kept telling everyone ‘the best seats to the wedding’ were in her living room and I think she was right. Traveling into town would have been a traffic/public transport nightmare.”

Though buzz on this side of the Atlantic died down soon after the nuptials, it’s still significant news in Britain. After all, it is an historical event. Though it may seem strange to Americans, as Ansah says, “Figureheads or not, our great-grandchildren will be learning about them in history textbooks.”