Etiquette, wedding crashers and smartphone apps

With the big day nearing for Prince William and Kate Middleton, the internet is abuzz with royal wedding stories. As a confessed wedding obsessive, I’ll be keeping up with what’s being talked about. This week’s round-up includes squashing bad manners, royal wedding crashers and a flood of smartphone apps.

Will the nearly 2,000 people in attendance at Westminster Abbey when Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the knot behave themselves?

Etiquette experts are offering attendees advice on everything from how to approach a member of the royal family to tweeting in the church, says CTV.

“St. James’s Palace says the guest list is an eclectic mix of European royalty, military personnel, charity workers, diplomats and friends of Prince William and fiancee Kate Middleton. Some invitees will have been born into families that teach children to curtsey as soon as they can walk, but others may need a bit of help navigating the etiquette and protocol that such an important day demands. Etiquette rules are designed to make social occasions flow more smoothly and to put everyone at ease.”

But for those guests who just don’t know how to act properly, behaviour expert William Hanson tells CTV:

“Remember that the royal family are masters of co-ordinating this kind of event. They know how to deal with people from all sorts of backgrounds, from all around the world, and they know how to help people do the right thing.”

While invited guests are studying their manners guides, some of the uninvited are plotting ways to get around security and in the door on the royal couple’s wedding day.

Even pop star Katy Perry has made plans to crash the nuptials of the future king and queen, says the Daily Mirror.

“Wills and Kate might want to beef up security on their big day – because Katy Perry wants to crash the royal wedding. Katy tells Capital FM’s Rich: ‘I’m not invited but am I going to be there? Yes. I’m definitely crashing that wedding.'”

Since the security is sure to be rather tight, E! News Online suggests the singer instead buy an audio version of the wedding that will be available shortly after the service.

“The entire royal ceremony, including the vows, blessings and all musical accompaniment, will be available on iTunes and other digital-download sites just hours after the 29 April service, after which it will be available on CD, cassette and – gasp! – vinyl on 5 May.”

And for the wedding obsessive who just can’t get enough royal news in the run up to the big day, the Daily Caller says developers have created countless royal wedding-related smartphone applications.

“More than a dozen smartphone apps are offering to bring fans everything royal wedding-related wherever they are – so they can check the days and minutes until Prince William and Kate Middleton’s 29 April wedding, hoard news and pictures about them and instantly share their favourite royal wedding tidbits on social media networks. One iPhone app – ‘Alarm Royale’ – even lets people set their phone alarm clock to a wedding march or royal-themed music like ‘God Save the Queen’ and ‘Rule Britannia’. Once a person wakes up, the app also shows them a new fact about the royal couple every day.”

And just who is using these royal applications?

“While the US and Britain are the largest markets, people are downloading the apps from as far away as the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.”

Looks as though people all over the world simply can’t help but keep track of how many minutes there are until Kate and William say “I do”.

This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.