The royal wedding's most talked about moments

All of us want to believe fairy tales exist, and Meghan Markle's relationship with Prince Harry finally gave us indisputable proof. Needless to say, we pretty much all watched the royal wedding just so we could see magic with our own eyes.

According to Forbes, 29 million Americans tuned in to watch Harry and Meghan tie the knot. That's almost three times as many viewers as the average episode of Game of Thrones attracts, and the whole thing happened in the early hours of the morning. Apparently, things worth watching really do happen before your first cup of coffee (or tea, if you happen to be sticking with the British theme). The wedding was so popular in America that U.K. audiences couldn't hold a candle. Only 18 million Brits tuned in, but that still made it one of the U.K.'s biggest televised events.  

Royal weddings don't come around very often and when they do, they're a massive affair. Harry and Meghan's nuptials cost an estimated $45 million, but was it worth it? Well, we'll still be talking about it for years to come. From the tear-inducing nods to Prince Harry's late mother to the groom's swoon-worthy lip bite to Serena Williams' unbeatable beer pong skills, these are the most talked-about moments of the royal wedding.

Prince Harry committed a major wedding no-no when he invited his ex-girlfriends to his fairytale wedding. Not only did Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas have to attend the event (who turns down an invite from a prince?), their reactions were inevitably televised. Honestly, how did they keep it together? Well, by showing some serious sass.

Harry ended his relationships with Davy and Bonas on good terms, which could be the sole reason they attended his wedding in the first place. At the ceremony, Davy donned a dark navy blue dress — just about the darkest color you can get away with at a royal wedding. Though she split from her prince years ago because she wanted no part in the media scrutiny, her wide-eyed expression and undeniable frown during the ceremony was caught on camera. Of course, it instantly went viral (even drawing comparisons to the Friends episode with the wedding dresses). She also allegedly failed to curtsy for the new duchess, but did give her a big hug. When it came down to it, Davy was all of us when we see our exes doing well.

Though both Davy and Bonas probably could have used a stiff cocktail after watching their former flame tie the knot, apparently neither was invited to the reception.

Meghan Markle's veil was absolutely stunning. The 16-foot silk tulle headpiece was designed by Clare Waight Keller, the first female artistic director of Givenchy, and, though it certainly looked regal, it actually had a deeper meaning.

In April 2017, Prince Harry was appointed as youth ambassador to the Commonwealth, which encompasses 53 countries that were once under British rule. This also includes Botswana, where Harry and Meghan first fell in love. Because the couple plans to work extensively with the Commonwealth, Markle wanted to include them in the wedding festivities. Her cathedral-length veil was hand-embroidered with flowers representing each of the 53 countries.

For example, Australia was represented by the golden wattle and Pakistan was represented with jasmine, but the duchess also added a few personal touches. The front of the veil was embroidered with crops of wheat to symbolize love and charity. She added wintersweet, a flower that grows in front of Nottingham Cottage on the Kensington Palace grounds, and the California Poppy, California's state flower.

Though Meghan walked down most of the aisle alone, she wasn't really alone. Keller, who came up with the idea for the extensive embroidery, admitted the Duchess of Sussex loved the idea of "all of those countries walking with her through the ceremony."

Meghan's bridal bouquet was a tasteful mix of elegant white flowers, but it was also created with Princess Diana in mind. According to a statement released by Kensington Palace, Meghan opted to include Forget-Me-Nots, Princess Diana's favorite flowers. If that wasn't enough to make all of us reach for a Kleenex, Prince Harry actually hand picked several of the flowers from their private garden at Kensington Palace.

The bouquet also included sweet peas, lily of the valley, jasmine, and myrtle. The myrtle is a long-standing tradition that started with Queen Victoria. The sprigs included in Meghan's bouquet came from two places: a garden planted by Queen Victoria and plants grown from the queen's 1947 wedding bouquet. It doesn't get sweeter than that … until you consider what Meghan and Harry did with the flowers after they tied the knot. The couple donated their wedding flowers to hospice patients at St. Joseph's Hospice in London.

The Duchess of Sussex didn't have a girl gang accompanying her on her big day. According to reports, she opted to forgo the maid of honor tradition because she didn't want to choose just one person from her group of close friends (which includes A-listers like Serena Williams and Priyanka Chopra).

As for the bridal party, the former actress stuck to the royal tradition of enlisting children. Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who call Kate Middleton and Prince William mom and dad, were part of the festivities. Meghan and Harry also included Harry's godson, Jasper Dryer, and goddaughters, Zalie Warren and Florence van Cutsem.

Meghan didn't just include royalty in her gaggle of mini-bridesmaids and page boys. She enlisted some of her best friend's children: stylist Jessica Mulroney's twin boys, Brian and John, and daughter, Ivy. Ivy was a stand-in maid of honor who got to hold Meghan's bouquet during the nuptials. The duchess' goddaughters Rylan and Remi Litt (daughters of good friend Benita Litt) also served as bridesmaids. The average age of the bridal party was just 4.9 years old.

Most of us were kind of wondering when Meghan was eventually going to admit that she was living in a real-life fairy tale. The dress, the horse-drawn carriage — come on! Things pretty much became a literal Disney movie when photos surfaced of a 15-year-old Meghan posing outside of Buckingham Palace while on vacation. None of us could stop thinking about how she had no idea that her prince was sitting inside, just waiting to fall in love. 

Well, Meghan finally sort of admitted that she's a real-life Disney princess in her adorable wedding speech. According to The Sun (via Business Insider), she told her party guests, "I have found my prince." It was a clear nod to Snow White's iconic song "Someday My Prince Will Come." It was also a total break from tradition, considering that brides don't usually pick up the microphone.

Harry's speech was equally as adorable, and he told his bride, "I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

Meghan Markle may not cause the same type of scandal as her estranged family. She's not pulling guns on her significant other or slamming her half-sister in the press, but she is causing controversy nonetheless. Meghan's type of scandal is decidedly less interesting (and filled with way less drama unless you consider running out of hairspray a punishable offense).

Meghan scandalized the masses when she opted to wear a messy bun on her wedding day. The style was notably more unkempt than Kate Middleton's sleek wedding updo, and many questioned whether or not the whole thing was an accident. Hair doesn't always do what we want it to do, after all.

But Serge Normant, Markle's wedding day hair stylist, set the record straight, and he had no qualms about shutting down the haters.

"It's a messy bun, we call it. Messy in a controlled way," he told the Daily Mail. "Making sure it doesn't become a whole mess after a few hours! I don't overload the hair with products in general and certainly not on this day."

The effortless style took just 45 minutes — loose tendril and all.

George Clooney isn't exactly the type of person you'd want to whisk away your new wife, but alas, such is the life of Prince Harry. The sexiest man on the planet attended the late-night royal wedding reception with his wife, Amal, and tore up the dance floor. He apparently shared a couple of moves with Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton, but sadly couldn't win over all the ladies. He was swiftly rejected by Fergie, the scorned Duchess of York. Don't take it too hard, George. She was supposed to be banned from most royal functions after that bizarre toe-sucking scandal.

But Clooney wasn't the only star getting down on the dance floor. James Corden, one of England's most important national treasures, allegedly egged on a dance-off between Prince Charles, Prince William, and Harry. Of course, they had some alcohol to ease their nerves. Guests guzzled rum-ginger cocktails (a nod to Harry's red hair) and munched on "dirty burgers" and candy floss during the black-tie affair.

The whole shindig was such a wild event that even Elton John stopped in for a surprise performance.