Wedding of William and Kate Turns Local Bar Into a 'British Columbia'

William took Kate to be his lawfully wedded wife. Kate took William to be her lawfully wedded husband. And the marriage of the royal couple took Columbia and turned it into, well, British Columbia.

How else to explain a bar with every table filled at 6 a.m. on a Friday morning – a bar with people sipping tea and bottomless mimosas and bloody Marys, wearing hats, eating bangers and mash and scones, and craning their necks to watch the ceremony making official the bond between Prince William and now Duchess of Cambridge, Lady Catherine.

And this nearly completely female crowd chose a fittingly British-themed bar to watch the wedding: in downtown Columbia. 

"It's kind of a once-in-a-generation thing, you know?" said Gary Ouellette, one of Union Jack's owners. "The last one was years back. We may not have another opportunity like this. Maybe it was not as popular with the staff opening up this early, but we're really surprised at the turnout. It being so early, we thought a lot of people would watch at home or would have to go to work."

Why wake so early to see the proceedings across the pond?

“To see the wedding,” said Jean O’Donnell of Franklintown.

No other explanation was needed.

Pat Pritchett lives in Catonsville now, but she’s originally from England, south of London.

“I need to be here,” Pritchett said. “Because I can’t be in London.

“It’s all the royalty,” she said. “It’s all the pomp, circumstance. It’s the atmosphere. The atmosphere is electrifying.”

The buzz in the room halted the moment Lady Catherine appeared in Westminster Abbey, ready to make her walk to the altar.

Hands rested on chins. They whispered as she began her walk. They quieted again as the couple met together at the altar. They gasped as William had difficulty getting the ring on his bride's finger. They toasted with champagne as the ceremony neared its close. And they applauded as the newlyweds walked out of Westminster Abbey.

“I think it’s perfect,” O’Donnell said. “For these two, to have a commoner marrying into royalty. People are so accepting. So different from [Princess] Diana.”

Union Jack's will be re-airing the wedding from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday as part of a happy-hour "Royal Girls' Night Out."