Kate Middleton and Prince William give their first public kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Royal Wedding on Friday (April 29) in London, England.
The 29-year-old bride stepped out on the balcony in her Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding gown and her Cartier “Halo” tiara.
William gave Kate a quick peck on the lips before going in for a longer kiss after a couple minutes of waving to the thousands of people outside the palace.
The newlyweds were joined by their families for their first public appearance as a married couple.
There are those who will watch next week's royal wedding with crossed fingers and bated breath, meticulously timing the length of Prince William and Kate Middleton's first kiss, breathlessly waiting to see the color of the queen's hat, and calculating the length of the train on the bride's wedding gown, all in the hopes of seeing a fairy tale come to life.
But there will be tens of thousands of others, similarly glued to their televisions, equally anxious and obsessed with the same details but for a very different reason: money. Lots of it.
Millions of dollars will be bet on the April 29 wedding, in what is expected to be the largest non-sporting gambling event in history, eclipsing wagers for the Academy Awards.
Bookmakers across the United Kingdom and around the world have set odds on virtually every variable in the wedding, from the shade of white for Middleton's dress -- 2-3 for ivory, 3-4 for cream -- to the length of her train. Even whether Prince Harry, William's younger brother and best man, will drop the ring during the ceremony (25-1 says he will, 1-50 says he won't.)
Gambling is perfectly legal in the U.K. and most towns have a betting parlor on the main street. Most of the wagers already placed online have come from British gamblers, said Ed Pownall, the politics and entertainment oddsmaker for Bodog, the world's biggest gambling website.
But thousands of pounds are being wagered from elsewhere around the world, particularly India.
Indeed, many of the countries where the Queen's image is still on the currency -– including Canada, which has seen a spike in bets recently -- or which were former colonies such as India are betting heavily.
Gambling, for the most part, is illegal in the United States. U.S. casinos don't take bets on non-sporting events such as the Oscars because the results are already known to a handful of people. But online betting at sites based overseas is a legal gray area, and many Americans go to Bodog and similar sites to bet on things such as the winner of "American Idol."
Royal Wedding: Queen Leads All Bets
"We are seeing a real interest in the royal wedding from the U.S., especially given how much coverage it's getting over there," Pownall said. "All three networks are going to be showing the ceremony."
The most popular bet so far is about the color of the hat Queen Elizabeth will wear. The leading choice is yellow.
Following a rumor that the hat would be yellow, the odds changed from 10-1 to 6-4, meaning they're now almost even.
The biggest long-shot gamble: Middleton becomes a runaway bride, leaving William jilted at the altar. That bet pays out $1,000 for every $1 gambled.
Live coverage of the event means bookies will be creating new bets as the ceremony takes place. The wedding is a national holiday in the U.K. and bookmakers are betting that gamblers -- or punters, as they're called in Britain -– stay home and make continuous bets.
"To be honest," Pownall said, "most weddings are actually quite boring. If you can have a bet, it creates an added interest. Betting on who will cry, the dress color, the length of the sermon helps to hold your interest."
But it's not just gambling that will allow armchair guests to participate in a little celebratory debauchery.
A group of friends created a page on Facebook a few weeks ago outlining the rules for a royal wedding drinking game. Since then, about 188,000 people have joined the group to learn the rules and add some of their own.
Rules include taking a drink every time the queen appears on screen, and taking three swigs whenever Friday's wedding is compared to the 1980 nuptials of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer.
In other countries, McDonald's franchises sell different things. Big Macs are made with lamb in much of India. In Greece, a Greek Mac consists of several smaller patties tucked into a pita. In Hong Kong, you can get a burger sandwiched between compressed sheets of glutinous rice. At a McDonald's in Hong Kong, you can also get married.
I'm shaking: The happy meal couple share a slurp at their wedding buffet
While they were quietly launched last January, "McWeddings" are quickly emerging as a fad among members of Hong Kong's young, fast-moving set. The "Warm and Sweet Wedding Package" works out to a little over $1282 per service, a price that includes inexpensive wedding gifts, pink invitation cards branded, naturally, with the company's distinctive yellow arches, decorations featuring the Hamburglar and other iconic characters, and an unholy heap of McDonald's menu classics. For an extra $165, the bride can rent a "white balloon" gown. A balloon wedding cake will cost an additional $88. For a bright pink McDonald's-themed backdrop, the couple must fork over a $321 supplement.
According to Reuters, "McWeddings" may actually make sense for cash-strapped lovers:
"With two wedding parties confirmed for this year and around 70 other couples in talks, the American fast food giant is hoping this sideline will take off at a time of economic uncertainty, particularly with traditional Chinese weddings and banquets often imposing a huge financial burden on young couples."
What we want to know is, a year from now, will the same franchises give these couples the opportunity to divorce with the same speed and ketchup-flecked cuteness with which they got hitched? We're thinking that each marriage should come with a coupon for divorce lawyers willing to work for unlimited shakes and half their normal hourly rates: if the coupon is redeemed before the 1st of the following year.
chicagonow.com— Apparently fall is the new trend for wedding season. And if I needed further evidence, I could simply look at my ever-growing stack of wedding invitations over the next two months. I'm starting to feel the wedding burn out. —
A Chinese bride has made a bid for the record books when she turned up for her wedding wearing a 1.4 mile-long gown.
Zhao Peng, the groom, and his family spent over two months stitching together the trail of the dress to break the former Guinness World Record for the longest wedding dress which is 1,579 meters long displayed in Bucharest, Romania earlier this yearPhoto: BARCROFT
Aerial view of length of the train of a wedding dress Photo: REUTERS
More than 200 guests took over three hours to unroll Lin Rong's wedding train and pin on 9,999 red silk roses for her wedding, Xinhua news agency said.
Groom Zhao Peng said he wanted to challenge the current world record of 1,579 metres.
"Both the length of the dress and the number of silk roses pinned on the wedding dress can make history. But it doesn't matter whether I can successfully register it on Guinness," the 28-year-old railway worker from northeast Jilin province was quoted as saying.
Zhao said he had sent an application to Guinness World Records and would also send a video of his wedding with his 25-year-old school teacher.
Zhao Peng, the groom, and his family spent over two months stitching together the trail of the dress to break the former Guinness World Record for the longest wedding dress which is 1,579 meters long displayed in Bucharest, Romania earlier this yearPhoto: BARCROFT
Aerial view of length of the train of a wedding dress Photo: REUTERS
"I do not want a cliche wedding parade or banquet," the groom said, "nor can I afford the extravagance of a hot balloon wedding."
But even so, his family was initially not too impressed at the far from frugal 40,000-yuan (nearly $6,000) price tag.
"It is a waste of money in my opinion," his mother said. "Though I understand that he wants to show his love on the big day."
Lin Rong, the bride, laughed and cried at the romantic gesture.
Zhao said he was actually inspired by the world's record of the longest wedding dress made in Romania in April when he planned his wedding.
He bought the materials and asked his relatives for help in making the wedding dress by hand, which has taken three months to finish.
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All you art collectors out there. Here is a chance to get a Giclee copy of some of Ian M Sherwin work. Ian is planning on doing a whole series of Marblehead, Massachusetts paintings. His work is amazing.
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