tonight on "nightline," magic moments. the carriage, the crowds, the cake, the dress, the bride, the groom, the queen. after so much anticipation, the royal wedding was a fable come to life. a spectacular day, sealed with a kiss. and another kiss. plus, hats, hats, hats. elegant and classy, gaudy and sassy. the toppers stole the show. we have the best and worst. plus, my secret encounter with a princess, fifth in line to the throne. her royal hat highness. and, homegrown royalty. the commoners from bucklebury.

the butcher, the grocer and the pub owner. long-time friends from the princess's small village, get the royal treatment for a day. a special edition of "nightline" starts right now. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran and bill weir in new york city, and cynthia mcfadden in london, this is "nightline," april 29th, 2011. >> good evening from london. here at westminster abbey, today, prince william wed his college sweetheart, catherine middleton. at 2 billion people arnold the world watched. no doubt somewhere their parties are still going on here in london. it was a flawless fairy tale of a day. the public mood, buoyant. but at the end, it was not just a public spectacle, but the most intimate of scenes. two young people, professing their love, whose whispers to each other today, some of which we can tell you tonight, reveal

so much. in the beginning, it was all anticipation. it is possible that we may get a glimpse of the bride as she gets into the car. but since we weren't invited to the wedding, we wondered, where would be the perfect place to watch? with the people, of course. and so, we hit the streets. on motorbikes. our first stop, hyde park. where over 200,000 people gathered. do you mind that we crashed the party? >> would you like some wine? >> reporter: we crashed the party of two young women who had spent a lot of time getting ready. it was the ultimate drive-in. on the scene, a fairy tale. the prince in uniform, making his way with his ginger-haired brother to a date with history. royalty by blood, bonded forever by tragedy, best friends through it all. it was to be a day when a very

private couple and a tight circle of family and friends were going to allow us to finally look in on them. and there they were. prince charles and his wife camilla, the controversial. in the church, along with the late princess diana's brother. and how cute were those flower girls, looking slightly overwhelmed by all the commotion. leading them into the abbey, kate's sister, pippa, the maid of honor. last, of course, the queen, dressed in canary yellow. suddenly, on this day, she seemed very much a sweet grandmother. the moment everyone was waiting for belonged to root woman. the bride. her final moments as a commoner. if you look closely, you can see pippa tell her big sister what we were all thinking. you look amazing. that kind of private moment spoke volumes. you could see the sisters are best friends, like the princes who were waiting at the other end of that long aisle for them. she was already very nearly a

princess, even before the vows were exchanged. the look on her face, the grace, the quiet confidence. and, the dress. kept like a state secret until she entered the abbey. and on her head, a halo, a tiara designed by cartier, on loan to catherine from the queen herself. the train, ten feet. the walk, almost four minutes. the feeling? magic. the prince, according to protocol, does not turn when the bride enters. and family friends have always said harry was the miseconomy use one. "she's here now," he whispers. finally, the groom seeps hees h. when you saw them standing there, the way they looked at each other, for a moment, it wasn't about the spectacle, but simply about the beauty of two young people who seem so deeply in love. >> i william arthur phillip lou louis.

>> reporter: their vows were simple. sweet. >> to have and to hold from this day forward. >> for better for worse. >> for better for worse. >> reporter: pronounced man and wife. there were huge crowds cheering outside. and the country's new duchess of came bridge was smiling, too, to be known as her royal highness. the bells tolled and tolled. you could see the intimacy, the ease they have with each other. you look happy, she said. as their horse-drawn carriage swept them through the streets of london, william looking out for his princess, even as he reminded her, "you have to wave back," he told her, "even if it's too much for you." and so, she waved to the crowds, gathered on their path back to buckingham palace, for an evening of partying awaiting them.

meanwhile, the street parties were just getting started. we roared up to this modest community west of london, where catherine middleton's great grandparents lived. working people. and 57 clarence road. >> people on clarence street are kind of bursting with pride at the fact that they've got this connection. clarence street to clarence house. >> reporter: that's pretty cool. it was a party. dancing, celebrating. and all over london, to different music, for different reasons, it was the same. young and old, taking a moment in these hard times, to smile. >> we always treat the girl as their own girl. we treated that she is our own girl who is now going to be the queen, like a daughter. >> reporter: the parties were

fun, but we thought the real action might be back at buckingham palace, where a crowd of 1 millimeter people gathered. so, we raced back to see that first official public kiss. we can hear the crowd starting to roar. they've just appeared at the balcony. stepping onto the balcony, even the poised princess was stunned by the size of the crowd facing her. "oh wow," you could see her say. and they gave the crowd what they wanted. "shall we kiss," asked the prince? and so they did. and then, a second. twice as long. did we miss the kiss? >> yes, you did. >> reporter: by how much? >> seven minutes. maybe four. four to seven minutes. there were several kisses, i understand. >> reporter: in london, at least for today, a happy ending. a belief for one young couple in love this was only the beginning.

prince william apparently has a good sense of humor. leaning to his bride's father at the altar today and saying "i just thought it would be a small family affair." just ahead, we meet the top milner in the world, and we had an unexpected run-in with a very important royal, who turn ed almost just as many heads as the important royal, who turn ed almost just as many heads as the bride. doing their part. this year jpmorgan chase increased its lending commitment to small businesses to twelve billion dollars. and we're raising billions more for local services to help hospitals expand and schools grow. investing in the places we all call home. this is the way forward.

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>> announcer: this special edition of "nightline" continues from london with cynthia mcfadden. >> reporter: well, the royal wedding came with no shortage of spectacle, but one style outdid them all. those hats. flat hats, tall hats, hats with

foliage. hats that looked as if they had sprung to life from a jackson pollack canvas. many of them were made by phillip tracy, the royal's favorite london hat maker. and now i can tell you a little secret i've been keeping. when tim gunn and i visited phillip, we had an extraordinary run-in with none other than princess beatrice, fifth in line to the throne. today, she made news for wearing that hat, the one that already has its own facebook page, with tens of thousands of members. well, here's what happened. >> phillip, what can you envision cynthia in? >> reporter: oh, i love it. >> isn't that fabulous? whose hat is it? >> we can't tell you. >> beatrice, hello. a real life english princess. >> you know -- are you excited

about your hat? >> i isn't seen it yet. >> reporter: oh. >> it's looking good. she trusts me. >> yes, i do. always. >> reporter: have you saved your hats? >> yes. i am a very lucky girl to have some pretty amazing hats. >> reporter: are you excited? >> yes, very excited. >> reporter: well, we won't keep you. thank you so much for talking to us. >> honor to meet you. >> reporter: and by the way, it turns out that fabulous hat i had on was actually zara phillip's hat, the 12th in line to the throne. it was fun. now, we turn to less prominent folks, but very important today, from bucklebury, a quaint village, 50 miles outside london, where catherine middleton grew up. she invited several of the local shopkeepers to come to her wedding, and they stood out. we met four in a million. today in bucklebury, a hometown girl made good, as a commoner became a princess. catherine middleton has put this

beautiful green hamlet, barely a hiccup of a town, on the map. we went to bucklebury earlier in the week to soak up the feeling of the place. but already it felt like a hollywood back lot. we were not the only cameras in town. are you excited? >> we are, of course we are. one of the biggest things to happen, really. re really. >> reporter: she invited the couple that owns the local grocery store. were you surprised to get the invitation? >> absolutely. >> reporter: were you? >> yeah, absolutely. when my wife saw the envelope, she screamed and i came running to find out what was going on and there it was. this sort of nice envelope with the initials on it. >> reporter: the butcher, martin fiddler. >> there's some nerves now. new people we're going to meet. >> reporter: and the village pub owner. >> a friend of mine said the

other day, said, do you realize how many billion people on the planet and you are just 1 of 2,000 going to the wedding. it's just fantastic. >> reporter: john runs the old boot inn. >> kate has been coming here a long time because she's been born and brought up around this area. and william has been coming in here with her for, since they've been -- since they've been going together, for the last six, eight years. >> reporter: and today, he had a seat in here. jo john, the butcher, the shop keeper, kept company with the likes of elton john, the beckhams, and royals from around the world. >> the best moment for me was when kate and her dad pulled up, we heard the roar of the crowd and almost shook the abbey. and seeing her, i was in the front row, i could see her getting out of the car and see mike there. >> very touching. but really lovely to be sitting among all the people there. >> reporter: they were whisked away. they signed an exclusive deal

with a british broadcaster. and pub owner john was fast becoming a network star. >> do you like the tie? >> beautiful. >> reporter: even interviewed by our own diane sawyer and barbara walters. >> i wonder how you got invited. did mrs. middleton come in, say -- >> reporter: but somehow it just didn't seem right not to come home to celebrate. >> just told this to everybody when i go back tonight how wonderful the roar of the crowd when they drew up and when they left, the whole abbey shook. it lit the abbey up. >> reporter: around return to bucklebury he did. >> on tv. >> reporter: life is the same, yet, it isn't. a girl from bucklebury tonight has gone to bed a princess. but then, she'd always been special to them. there's no place like home. next up, an exclusive visit to the pastry chef who created that incredible wedding cake, and reveals the secret language

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they say, you can't have your cake and eat it, too, but frankly, the choice is rarely a quandary, no matter how beautiful the cake. the exception might have been the cake we all saw today, the royal wedding cake, which was as beautiful as it was carefully created. here's nick watt. >> reporter: after the canapes, the cake. not just any cake.

the cake of the century. the royal couple chose fiona cairns because she's a pastry chef and graphic designer, famed for artsy ideas. >> mary is making daisies, which symbolize innocence. and hanna over there is making acorns. >> reporter: which symbolize strength. there's something called the language of followuperlowers. >> catherine drew up a list of flowers that she wanted included. >> reporter: 17 different flo r flowers symbolizing love, marriage, happiness. there's even a sweet william. these ladies have spent weeks crafting them out of sugar paste. >> at the time, i thought, how are we going to make heather and lavender? >> reporter: no one is suggesting kate is bridezilla. it's much easier when the bride has a clear idea of what she wants. and she does. how involved has catherine been in this? >> very involved.

she briefed us very closely right at the beginning, so, it's really her creation. >> reporter: any sleepless nights? >> yes. >> reporter: what could go wrong? >> if you are thinking that we might break something. we do have extra parts. we've thought of that. >> reporter: and underneath the flowers, the dell cat white and cream hues, traditional fruit cake. you are involved in baking the cake? >> yes, i was. >> reporter: three different types of raisins and currants, beautiful brown sugar, roasted nuts, fresh peel, cherries, butter, ginger and lashings of brandy. delicious. soaked, then baked for seven hours, not too dry, not too soggy. are you confident that catherine will not have a soggy fruit cake? >> very confident. we've perfected this. >> reporter: then weeks in a so-called maturation room. if i could choose a room to be

stuck in for a few weeks -- smells of booze and cake. pretty good. and the ladies are resting their fingers. they don't even know how many hundreds of hours have gone into this cake. it just doesn't matter. i'm nick watt for "nightline" in le england. >> and nick didn't bring us a piece. thanks for watching abc news. we hope you watch "good morning america." and you can find our comprehensive royal wedding coverage on abcnews.com. have a good weekend. and good night, america.