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These Royal Wedding Watch Parties Are No Joke

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Tomorrow is finally the big day for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Their wedding will be broadcast around the world at noon London time, when most Americans would be asleep on a Saturday. That has not deterred folks like Diana Platt.

DIANA PLATT: The hardest part was finding some authentic scones.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Platt is with the Kansas City Public Library. She says they'll be opening at 5 in the morning for tea, those scones and a livestream of the nuptials. Now, you might think no one would get up at 4 in the morning to go to a party at a local public library. But you would be wrong.

PLATT: We originally thought we'd probably get maybe a dozen people, but we've had over a hundred RSVPs.

KELLY: Cindy Lytle of Columbus, Ohio, is having a much smaller party. But you better believe she and her seven cousins are getting dressed for the occasion.

CINDY LYTLE: The two men will be wearing top hats, and the ladies will be wearing bridesmaid headdresses.

SHAPIRO: She had a party for William and Kate's royal wedding in 2011. She even got up early with her 3-month-old baby to watch Prince Charles and Lady Diana get married in 1981. Tomorrow she will be celebrating several hours after the event thanks to her DVR.

LYTLE: 'Cause I'm 30 years older (laughter). So let the real die-hard folks get up at 4 a.m. I'm going to sleep in a little bit.

KELLY: Bride Meghan Markle is from Los Angeles, and people there will be getting up at 4 a.m. - or, more accurately, maybe staying up until 4 a.m. Paula Gardner owns the Cat & Fiddle pub in Hollywood, which will be having one of the larger parties in the area.

PAULA GARDNER: We're calling it the royal slumber party. And everyone's invited to come - oh, however you want to come, of course. Fascinators are welcome, PJs, onesies, lingerie, whatever.

SHAPIRO: And if you want to laugh, the comedy club Oh My Ribs! will be hosting its own all-night party in LA with performances starting at midnight. Owner Lisa Gopman says she had a hard time selling the idea to comedians at first.

LISA GOPMAN: Everyone's response to me was like, you guys are crazy because they were like, what? We're starting the show at midnight, and it's going until what time? But now everyone's like, wow, this is, like, a really fun idea. They're excited. We're encouraging, like, pajamas. Or you can dress up if you want to. But I think a lot of people are doing a combo. Like, I'm going to wear pajamas, but I'm going to wear, like, a fancy hat.

KELLY: OK, if you don't care about royal weddings and are wondering why anyone would make this much of a fuss over two complete strangers, Cindy Lytle and her seven cousins have this answer for you.

LYTLE: There's so much bad news in the world now. Good grief. Who doesn't get excited about a little romance? And then all this special royalty stuff, it doesn't happen every day. And I just think it's kind of exciting.

SHAPIRO: Just no longer get-up-at-4 a.m. exciting. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.