how to celebrate a royal wedding with the natives

I don't know if you heard anything about it, but about month ago, Prince William married Kate Middleton. Maybe you heard something in passing... 

Being the first big royal wedding in my lifetime, it was already an event I was looking forward to - but then I decided to get even closer to the action and head up to Manchester to partake in the festivities with the natives (Gemma and her family). 

After the actual ceremony, though, is when the real fun started. So I've compiled a few pointers that helped make our party such a success

Tips for a wildly successful 

Royal Wedding Party

1. The key to any royal wedding is your look. Now, if you followed any of the royal wedding gossip, you'll know that Kate did her own makeup. Personal preparation is not only important for the bride, but for all the guests. Some royal wedding must-haves are Union Jack nails and crowns. 

2. A royal wedding is a day you're going to remember for a long time, so not only do you want to look good, but you want to celebrate with all your favorite people. Of course you want to have all the royals at the top of your guest list, but if (for some reason) they can't make it, I would suggest inviting all your closest family and friends and forcing them to wear these amazing royal face masks. 

By the end of the party, after all the  champagne and wine (this is a royal event, please keep it classy), you really might believe that you're throwin' deuces with the queen and Wills. 

3. To keep the excitement high even after vows and the first kiss, we suggest keeping some games running throughout the party. Royal-themed games such as Pin the Crown on the Princess make a great addition to any royal wedding party. But even if your game doesn't have an obvious royal theme, just force your guests into those royal face masks while playing - as seen in this royally-masked version of the egg-spoon race.

I hope these simple royal wedding suggestions will help you throw a party to be the envy of your friends, enemies, neighbors, and random passers-by for the next royal wedding*

*

Where I've been and what I haven't been telling you

Oh hey faithful readers of das Blog (I appreciate all 5 of you!), you might have noticed that my posts have been increasingly infrequent since the beginning of March (or at least that I annoy you less with plastering links to my blog all over your fb newsfeed or twitter). Or you might have noticed I keep saying "so and so is here/I'm going to this awesome place, but I'll tell you more details about that later" and then never actually tell you any details. 
 
For the past two months my life has been a whirlwind of traveling and having visitors. So as yet another teaser to the excitement that is my life, I wanted to recap what the past two months (oh so very briefly, don't worry) and promise to finally start giving you those aforementioned details (that I know you're all on the edge of your seats biting your nails for.)
 
So here it goes...
 
It all began with Edinburgh [March 7 - 14]

the season opened with a trip to see Shahida in Scotland, but since I've already posted quite a bit about this trip, you'll know that...






Then Fulbright had a conference in Berlin [March 20 - 24]

I've eluded to this trip a few times, but never actually posted about. Why's that? Well, you may or may not remember that I forgot my camera and was forced to document my 4 days in this awesome city on two amazingly tacky disposable cameras with 27 exposures each. That's 54 pictures for four days and countless sites. Rather limiting for the person who took almost 200 pictures in the 24 hours I spent in the Scottish highlands last September. So until I manage to take these cameras to get developed, this is all you get from Berlin. 
 
-- Here I had my longest "down time" of 10 days without visitors or traveling. It was ok --

I had my first visitor when Kristen came [April 4 - 8] 

Kristen studied German at UGA with me. We both did our study abroads the same year, Kristen in Bamberg and me in Zürich. While she wasn't at all new to the area, I had so much fun being able to spend time with her in her "European home" (and I could empathize with her excitement as I'm dying to get back to Zürich). 



Then I met the boys in Munich [April 15 - 18]

Patrick and AJ decided to begin their 2011 European tour in Munich, so I got to make my first real trip to Munich (I say real because Oktoberfest and a Harry Potter premiere don't really count as trips to Munich). 



 We eventually made our way back to Forchheim
[April 18 - 20]


I got to show Patrick and AJ around Forchheim and various other Franken cities for a couple days. We made it to Bamberg and Nürnberg...






Then we were off to Vienna [April 21 - 24]

After several days of having them on "my turf", the boys and I got to discover Vienna together. I've been there once before, but it was several years ago and right before Christmas, so I really enjoyed the city and all it has to offer in the spring! Definitely going back. 


I ended up back on that island in the north in Manchester [April 26 - May 1]

Ok, really I was about an hour outside Manchester, but I got to visit Gemma and the fam and experience the royal wedding in it's natural habitat. 







And it all ended with Shahida again [May 4 - 8]

To round out these exciting couple months, Shahida came to Forchheim to visit last week. It was so great to see her and have her here, but I honestly don't know where the time went! 

Happy Royal Wedding Eve!

Oh hey, so yeah, Patrick and AJ came to visit. We went to Munich, Forchheim, Nürnberg, Bamberg and Vienna. But let's move on to the more pressing issues: tomorrow is the royal wedding!! 

I arrived in Manchester late Tuesday night and it was immediately apparent that the entire country is abuzz with excitement. There have been flags strung outside every pub (which Gemma assures me is not normal... to my disappointment), every shop window has posters offering their congratulations to the happy couple, and royal wedding paraphernalia is always within reach. 

(of course I've seen and done other things in the past 2 days that didn't involve eating, sleeping, and breathing royal wedding, but at this moment that's not important!) 

I'm going to bed now with the excitement of a small child on Christmas eve. My crown is neatly in place and my royal wedding mug (a gift from Gemma's grandmother) on the side table with William and Catherine watching over me - waiting for royal wedding Santa to come spread the joy and cheer of this momentous occasion. 

Tomorrow's activities are plentiful as we start the day early with the actual wedding viewing, to be followed by a gathering of family and friends, and an array of royal wedding games from pin the crown on the princess (Gemma's genius idea) to royal wedding quizzes. 

Wishing the happiest of Royal Weddings to you and yours!