No ordinary walk in the park: Celebrating the Royal Wedding in London.

“Checkmate, Kate–you’ve taken the King!”

— A banner in the crowds outside Buckingham Palace

“What are you doing for the wedding?”

It’s been a popular question in London all week, and the answers have ranged anywhere from “What wedding?” to impressive tales of setting up camp overnight outside Buckingham Palace or along the processional route.

I’d been debating my own plans for a while. Having gone to see Prince William when he was in Wellington to open New Zealand’s first supreme court building, I felt somewhat indebted to him, like I needed to be there on his big day.

Obviously, he needed me there, too.

And so I considered braving the chaos outside the palace or along the processional, in hopes of getting a photo of the couple to go with the one I have of William wearing a traditional Maori feathered cloak and performing a hongi with one of the elders. But then a good friend suggested a picnic in Hyde Park, where we could take in the events of the day on a big screen, but with a blanket beneath us and food and drinks to entertain us. I said I would go, but still wasn’t sold that I’d made the right choice.

Not until I crossed into Hyde Park this morning, that is.

As we watched the wedding unfold on the screen in front of us, seeing the scores of people who’d waited in one single spot for hours for that one sighting of the couple, I was glad to not only be able to view the ceremony in its entirety, but to be in a place with such an incredible atmosphere, with a buzz in the air impossible not to catch. As we started packing up to leave, I knew without a doubt this would be a day to remember.

I’ll remember the colors, the sea of red, white and blue that was Hyde Park all day. So many flags–whether paper or plastic or cloth–waving and whipping in the wind, large polyester flags tied around necks like capes, umbrellas and hats and dresses and boxers all made in the design of the Union Jack. There wasn’t much this morning that didn’t bear the British flag…

I’ll remember the costumes, all the brides with gauzy veils, little girls (and big ones, too) in princess outfits, so many plastic masks of Will and Kate’s faces with creepy holes where eyes should be, the men in top hats and swallow-tail evening coats, the women in fancy dress with their fascinators perched just-so on their heads…

I’ll remember the chorus, the rounds of cheers that went up into the air like balloons when William and Harry first came into view on the screen, the awkward quiet that followed Charles and Camilla’s first appearance, the roars when Kate stepped out of the hotel, at the first small smile she shared with Will, at the roaring of spitfires swooping down over the park in remembrance of the Battle of Britain…

I’ll remember the camaraderie, the craziness of 120,000 people funneling into Hyde Park for the same reason, of strangers sharing champagne with each other as confetti rained from the sky, dancing to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” with my arms around new and old friends from New Zealand, an older couple from London, a young bartender from Latvia, all of us jumping like idiots…

…and I’ll remember the feeling of celebration that was so fun to get caught up in. So what if I’m not from England? As I looked around at the crowds, at people with the Union Jack in one hand and their own flag in the other, whether it was Canadian or Australian or Colombian, there was little doubt that today, we were all British.