Royal Wedding Date: Prince William & Kate Middleton To Marry April 29, 2011 At Westminster Abbey

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton will take place on Friday, April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey, according to the British Monarchy Twitter. The couple's engagement was also first announced on Twitter.

The Associated Press writes:

Royal officials said Tuesday the couple chose the date because they wanted a spring wedding. It also the feast day of St. Catherine of Siena, whose name Middleton shares.

Queen Elizabeth II married at the abbey, the 1,000-year-old church in central London where British kings and queens are crowned.

William and Kate decided against celebrating their nuptials at St. Paul's Cathedral, where William's parents married in 1981.

Prime Minister David Cameron already declared the wedding date to be a bank holiday, the Daily Mail reported.

British brides-to-be were worried about the wedding date. The Associated Press tracked down ladies trying on wedding dresses to find out what they had to say:

"If their wedding was on my wedding day, I don't know what I would do!" said Anna Whitcomb, 28, trying on wedding dresses at a London department store. "I know all my family members and guests would want to watch the celebration and would be distracted."

"I'm supposed to be the princess, and now I have a real princess to compete with," she added.
Chelsea Slipko, also looking for a wedding gown at the store, said she couldn't deal with sharing a date with the royals.

"It's like having your birthday on New Year's or your anniversary on Valentine's day," she said. "It's not just your day anymore."

In fact, one mother of a bride-to-be actually asked Prince Charles to keep her daughter's date clear:

"My daughter said, 'please keep June 18 free, no one will come to mine," Nila Gosrani told the heir to the British throne as he was touring a museum. Charles said he would pass the message along.

Looks like she lucked out!

Comments

[guitarguy22]

01:59 PM on 01/22/2011

I'm probably going to catch flack for this, but I need to know something...why are we supposed to care about this? How is this news? My girlfriend's family spent almost 40 minutes the other night discussing the wedding, succession lines, and when I asked why any of it was important they all looked at me like I'd grown a second head. I guess I'm just confused at how someone else's wedding, across an ocean, in another country, with a member of a family that has no influence on American life is deemed "news?" They were all so concerned with rumored wedding plans and such, and I couldn't help but check out. Why are we supposed to care about this?

[AggieReal]

12:42 PM on 01/16/2011

I could give a rat's betoutie...

[youvebeenflagged]

02:47 PM on 01/03/2011

f u ** the monarchy

[Miserable Swine]

05:32 PM on 01/20/2011

Amen to that! For too long we`ve had to put up with the tomfoolery and outright dodginess of the `Royal` family. We`ve got something like Oprah / Jerry Springer where people come to air their issues; if they didn`t have the money and `status` (lol), they`d be prime candidates.

[AndyB62]

07:14 PM on 11/29/2010

Thank god the Prince has found a gorgeous woman. There has been a complete lack of hotness ever since Princess Di's unfortunate passing. God save the hottie!

[twoyg2]

06:50 PM on 11/29/2010

Why don't i care about the grandson of my foreign head of state getting married.
It is about time Australia grew up, kicked out these foreign leaders and got an Australian head of state for the Australian nation.
The monarchy is a disfunctional group of rich, spoilt, inbred elitist who will now expect the British tax payers to foot the bill for this waste even while those same tax payers are hit with massive budget cuts which are meant to repair the damage caused by the rich and greedy hangers on of this antiquated institution

[Loni Wolf]

05:43 AM on 12/11/2010

ah, but think of the tourism money the royals bring into the UK!! That ALONE makes them worthwhile.

[Miserable Swine]

05:33 PM on 01/20/2011

The only problem is that one visit to the UK is enough to put people off coming a second time (at least in the cases of London and Portsmouth).

[calgary]

04:24 PM on 11/29/2010

I'm busy on that day, they will need to change the date. I'm OK with the venue hence they don't need to change that.

[liberalpolicysucks]

01:14 PM on 11/29/2010

how is this news?

[Miserable Swine]

05:34 PM on 01/20/2011

It`s not.

[Half-Alien]

10:44 AM on 11/29/2010

Welcome to the Reptilian Clan!

[fuzzychickens]

12:03 PM on 11/29/2010

That's what Diana said. LOL.

[ZubinTomato]

03:52 PM on 11/28/2010

I still can't believe she chose this LOSER over me.

[Miserable Swine]

05:36 PM on 01/20/2011

LOL! Just wait till his hair falls out! As a slaphead I`ve always worn my `follicly-challengedness` with defiance: shaving my head has turned me into something of a kind of `Kojak of the South Coast` (after Socrates, Telly Savalas is my favourite Greek; the patron saint of bald guys).

[mlaiuppa]

06:42 PM on 11/27/2010

I imagine it's early enough that plenty of brides can switch their days. Plus...how many would choose a Friday to get married. It's usually Saturday or Sunday if you want people to show up. Not many people are going to take the day off from work to go to a wedding. Unless it's a Royal Wedding. And for most royal guests, taking a day off from work isn't an issue.

[Darwinita]

08:21 AM on 11/29/2010

Imagine again. Most weddings are booked the year before or earlier.

[duxguts]

11:18 PM on 11/26/2010

Another tourist attraction.

[TeacupKitten]

02:28 AM on 11/26/2010

Yes, that's Diana's funeral venue. Ah the irony.

[mlaiuppa]

06:43 PM on 11/27/2010

Well, they wouldn't want either the church Charles and Di were married in or the church Charles and Camilla were married in.

[TeacupKitten]

10:11 AM on 11/29/2010

Yes, every church is cursed by an anti-fairytale

[MJinCanada]

10:29 AM on 11/29/2010

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were married there. In fact, the first royal wedding at the Abbey was in 1100!

http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/royals/weddings

[Wozzeck]

12:25 PM on 11/25/2010

Steve Bell's cartoon series on the wedding:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cartoon/2010/nov/22/steve-bell-if-kate

[Blackorpheus]

11:34 PM on 11/24/2010

William looks increasingly like a royal stiff. Can't the British monarchy ever relax?

[MJinCanada]

10:32 AM on 11/29/2010

Life in a goldfish bowl.

Plus finding out that you've been playing "hot potato" with a Fabergé egg, for example, makes a person less impulsive.

[AndyB62]

07:15 PM on 11/29/2010

Centuries of inbreeding.

[gmundenat]

08:09 PM on 11/24/2010

William should take a few years and play the field. I knew he was doomed when they supposedly split a year or so back, only to get right back together...She had by the short and curlies. Just watch, she'll be pregnant right away--thus cementing her future before he wakes up. Most women marry for money, and Ms. Middleton is no exception. Most men marry for sex, and William is no exception.

[Cipo]

03:08 PM on 11/26/2010

You actually follow this tripe? How adult of you........

[Darwinita]

08:22 AM on 11/29/2010

Don't project your issues on other people. I seriously doubt that the Prince of Wales has the same marriage criteria as some guy on the internet.

[Miserable Swine]

05:38 PM on 01/20/2011

Maybe...then again, maybe not. Who can know what fiendish machinations grind and creak in the minds of `the great and the good`?!