The order of service: https://www.royal.uk/sites/default/files/media/order_of_service.pdf

I looked at the pdf listing of the music and it all looks lovely. I didn't watch or listen to the ceremony.

My family lost interest in royal weddings somewhere around 1776. A good year that was.

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Everything in the service folder was exemplary - except the 'kingdom choir'... what on earth were they doing there! That such an not-holy lyric was sung on this occasion in this place should be unbelievable - nay, unthinkable.

I take it you don't live in the southeastern U.S. Such mixes of the good, the bad, and the ugly are common. I have learned to appreciate the good, and ignore the bad and ugly.

No, I don't. Not to say that such mixes aren't common in other places.

I thought it interesting that the Cellist played Ave Maria.

Also, We should have done a shot game on how many times the media mentioned that Megan was bi-racial. I would be completed wasted right now.

Here’s the video of it.

For a low-church Protestant service, it was excellent.

I see that a fellow named Blackadder played trumpet. Yet Rowan was nowhere to be seen. (Atkinson, as well as +Williams.)

@MJO We were singing lessons, Blessing Holy Water, Litany of the Saints and sung Mass at the time, EF Vigil of Pentecost. Have avoided looking at the videos on Youtube, and have just heard a few negative comments. Your review has confirmed my suspicions.

Rowan Atkinson would have been an interesting presider: “awful wedded wife” and all.

I can't imagine anyplace other than England where the taxpayers would keep a family of perfectly ordinary people in splendor to perform ceremonial functions. I fully understand what my Revolutionary War ancestors fought against - inherited privilege and bad religion.

I appreciated and loved the chapel, organ, altar, altar frontal and the candle sticks and gold plate upon the altar, the carved choir stalls, stained glass and of course the extremely fine men and boys choir. The small orchestra was excellent (especially since I am also a former professional violist), but only approve of instrumentalists at non-mass services like this wedding. I thought, while very good, the gospel choir and its selection was inappropriate and out of place. While I appreciated the Episcopal Presiding bishop's fervor, I do think he was too long winded, rambled and in full "gospel mode." I noticed how his "gospel mode" made the prim and proper brits uncomfortable within the context of the formalism and dignity of the service. The 19 year old cellist was excellent!

Finally, and I hope I'm not condemned too much for saying this, however, what does one expect when a church allows feminist activist progressives and others of the same anti-biblical ilk, intrusion and dominant control within its walls and over its ministries. I personally place some blame for all of this upon the shoulders of the queen and society in their efforts to be "modern" and "relevant." The bishops, clergy, doctors and scholars of the pre-world war l and ll Anglican Church would have general not allowed any of this and would certainly be rolling in the graves. I personally am aggrieved as to what has become of Christian churches in today's world; except maybe perhaps the Eastern Orthodox churches.

The wedding was interesting, informative and somewhat entertaining to me (I also noticed the somewhat plastic body language of the quasi Hollywood jet set crowd). Nevertheless, with all my heart, I wish and pray for the couples happiness, best and Holy Spirit filled lives.

Family of ordinary people, sounds like the U.S. president, Obama seemed to behave like a king at times.

Yes, he did, unfortunately. he could be quite insufferable, at times.

I know the Queen pays tax, at least since the fire at the castle. Before that, she didn't pay on some income. But the whole idea of royal blood is archaic nonsense. The royals perpetrated that for their own benefit for centuries. Their blood is quite ordinary, no different from anyone else's and is more German than English, to begin with.

The English church has had a slow decline and its counterpart in the U.S. has lost over a third of its members, maybe more. I point to the UK as an excellent example of how political correctness can destroy a country. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was the most powerful empire on earth. Now it is a small country caught up in navel gazing and liberalism. Sad, to be sure, but I don't want any of that political correctness imported to the U.S. I think, and hope, that the tide is turning and we are beginning to battle PC culture aggressively.

they were abused, and hordes of them fled to Canada - which a generation or two later the young US tried to snatch as well.

No one wants Canada, icicles and all.

And, I don't think that any of us would care to partake of what passes for entertainment at state dinners at the White House.

Now you know free food would draw you out in a heartbeat. I hear it is pretty good.

A country without a king is like a family without a father.

Don't look to the English royals for any examples of good fatherhood. Their family has often been quite dysfunctional.

Political correctness is a serious evil, which I try to combat at every turn. I think the new administration in Washington is making a similar attempt. How successful it will be is anyone's guess. All it takes is for the people to say enough and put a stop to it. It is, after all, our money the PC crowd spends. As for the church, a good liturgist hanging would get the attention of the others. LOL.

A great measure of derisive commentary has concerned the sermon by RtRev Curry, particularly about his demeanor. To say it was enthusiastic might prove an understatement, but not in the way most critics have couched it. Take the time to consider the exegesis of the term "enthusiastic," and then consider well whether the bishop's demeanor was more or less than Christ-like, not to mention the import of the sermon. Must Christ-like always look and behave like Robert Powell's genteel model?

I'm sure you'll correct me if I err, but to be "enthused" is to be imbued "in God," aka "filled with the Spirit." One doesn't only emulate Disraeli when enthused; besides, his dialectic (from Chardin) about love and its fire or ardor was spot on for a time where correction nee criticism is often mistaken for charity. As always, Jackson, YMMV.

I also saw this on Twitter:

Something else to note about the #RoyalWedding -- there are no "unity candles", no cheesy hymns, no silly off-hand comments made by the officiants. Catholic parishes, please take a note from our "High-Church" Protestant brethren-- a beautiful wedding is indeed possible.

Of course, it was still low-church.

I hate to disabuse you all, but - There was nothing 'high church' about this wedding. No chaunting, much playing fast and loose with the BCP marriage rite, a variety show of very un-religious music by a variety show of performers, no incense, and not even an Anglican mass - and Canterbury's bizarrely embroidered vesture could have been for some wierd extra-planetary religion on Star Trek. No, it was very low church - most of the music being good or alright and all being done in some sort of decentliness and order. And that is not to mention the astonishing cultural presumption of the Episcopalian primate's style of preaching.

Of all the music, both good and bad, the young 'cellist was the best performed - but! what was a 'cello recital doing within a wedding rite?

Makes me glad I didn't watch it, and probably never will.

Melo, you might want to read Cdl Newman's thoughts on 'enthusiasm'....

Dad, enlighten me, please.

You mean Msgr. Knox, don't you, Chonak?

[Yes, thank you.--RC]

I have always considered George III to be the true Father of Our Country - for reason...it was he after all who granted us our independence - and to think that we didn't even have the decency to thank him for it.

He didn't grant us anything. We took it from him by force.

A good friend maintains the Stuarts are the rightful monarchs, not this family of displaced Germans. He has a point.

I just saw that the British taxpayers are on the hook for $45 million for this wedding. Apparently, $40 million was for security. If they think it worth the cost, it's their money, although I am sure they could have put it to better use. But hey, fools and their money are often parted.

Archbishop of Canterbury? Was he there? I call him Archbishop Yoda, since the resemblance is stunning.

"He didn't grant us anything. We took it from him by force."

And, the substantive political truth is that it was the Duke of Portland's (first) ministry that decided to acknowledge the reality.

Of all the music, both good and bad, the young 'cellist was the best performed - but! what was a 'cello recital doing within a wedding rite?

The couple and a few others actually slipped out of the chapel at that point. My guess is that they went to sign the register, which, unlike in the United States, is a required part of the ceremony (please correct me if I'm wrong).

https://ceremonyplanner.yourchurchwedding.org/stage-5

So the cello music was simply an interlude to cover a few minutes where the assembled congregation would have seen nothing.