How You Can Celebrate The Royal Wedding In Chicago
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Royal wedding fever is hitting Chicago hard.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will tie the knot at 6 a.m. Chicago time, so most royal family fans will be watching the big wedding from the comfort of their own homes. Still, you can get a taste of the British tradition of high tea and watch the royal wedding later in the day at a number of watch parties.
Tea time is held daily from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Bridges Lounge at LondonHouse, a luxury hotel on the Chicago River downtown.
Just up the street, the Commons Club at the Virgin Hotel will hold an uncommon high tea at 2 p.m. Saturday. The party will feature petite versions of the now famous elderberry lemon royal wedding cake. Reservations are still available.
The hotel's finance director said the British company has seen a lot of interest in their high tea as the royal nuptials approach.
"Tea time at the Commons Club is going to be awesome. We've got it totally filled with all kinds of things referencing the wedding. We actually have little mini cakes that are in the tradition of what they're having for their cake. So it's just going to be an amazing time ," Ginny Minnich said.
At the Drake Hotel, they are holding a month-long celebration called Royal-Tea in Palm Court, specially designed for mothers, daughters, and other royal watchers.
It allows customers to experience the British tradition of afternoon tea in the same hotel that has hosted countless aristocrats for nearly a century. There also will be a royal wedding-themed gala Saturday evening.
"Princess Diana stayed here in 1996. The royal reception dinner and gala tomorrow will also feature the meal that was served with her, so it's a kind of interesting tie-in to experience the history that she experienced at the hotel as well," Drake Hotel assistant marketing director Christine Smith said.
CBSChicago.com will stream live coverage of the royal wedding Saturday morning, starting around 3 a.m.