For those of us, who will never dine at the palace, it was a funny but telling tidbit that made the whole three-ring circus relatable.

NBC “Today” co-anchor Meredith Vieira noted a British tabloid had hired a lip-reader to watch the royal wedding service. By her account, when Prince William, the new Duke of Cambridge, took his place at the altar alongside Catherine and the bride’s father, Michael Middleton, he joked, “We were supposed to have just a small family affair.”

Royals are human, after all.

An estimated 2 billion people watched the wedding of the new century, with what seemed like only slightly fewer journalists on hand. Many news organizations streamed the ceremony online as well, with correspondents Tweeting and updating Facebook pages.

But television remained the mass media of choice. BBC anchor Huw Edwards kicked off the network’s coverage at 3 a.m. Pittsburgh time, welcoming the 180 viewing countries.

Not counting this week’s run-up of everything from wedding-themed films on Turner Classic Movies to several biopics of the Kate/Wills love story, the actual day-of stories played out in three parts. First, there was the pre-show. BBC got a one-hour jump on everyone else, with networks major and minor logging in around 4 a.m.

Clear winner here was BBC, which had just about everything in its favor. American networks can hire all the royals experts they want, but this was an occasion that just cried out for the venerable BBC’s historians and general grasp of what the wedding means to William’s future subjects.

Among its packaged interviews: Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury, who said, “No matter how large the global audience, essentially this is about two people making a hugely important, deeply personal commitment, and it [the wedding] has to be personal for them.”

On the more gossipy side, the Beeb talked to hairdressers James Pryce and Richard Ward, who have been doing Kate’s hair for years. Mr. Pryce said the future princess dropped by “four or five times” to try out wedding styles. As for speculation on the dress, designer Phillipa Lepley — who obviously was not chosen to create what is sure to be an icon — correctly predicted Alexander McQueen’s Sarah Burton as a strong favorite.

As guests filed into Westminster Abbey, very few were easily recognizable to American audiences (Sir Elton John, David Beckham and wife Victoria), so it was more fun to gasp at the wild hats and “fascinators” worn by almost all of the women.

Designer Philip Treacy’s bizarre little creations perched atop many a head, including those of Camilla Parker-Bowles, Mrs. Beckham, Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton and royal cousins, the Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice.

Almost all of the networks followed the wedding party’s progress to the church in similar fashion, but ABC made a major faux pas by lingering a moment too long inside with Queen Elizabeth before cutting outside, where Kate was just stepping out of the car for the big dress reveal.

Still, Barbara Walters had just told a cute story about William dropping by for tea “with Granny” as a young boy, so ABC could be forgiven.

Fox News had Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, on hand to compare the fairy tale images of some other famous brides.

“Isn’t it spectacular? It moved me actually to tears. But I’m a big old softie at a wedding and it was spectacular. And doesn’t she look sensational? I mean, you said to me earlier, Grace Kelly. Absolutely Grace Kelly. Classic, elegant, sophisticated.”

There was no clear winner among broadcasters during the ceremony, as it was the same (and blissfully, almost comment-free) on all channels. Katie Couric of CBS did pipe up a couple of times at the beginning.

When the bridal couple and their parents retreated to the Chapel of St. Edward the Confessor to sign the registry, there developed about six minutes of awkward space-filler time. With the bride and groom out of sight, the cameras zeroed in on the Queen leafing through the program. And look — more silly hats.

Commentary began in earnest after the party left Westminster Abbey around 7:25. With about an hour to fill until the stars of the show reappeared on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, there were video recaps and much speculation on whether Kate and Will would kiss.

ABC did have a cute interview with John Haley, who owns the Old Boot Inn near Kate’s tiny home village of Bucklebury. Although Kate and Will “come in, lots,” to his bar, he said he didn’t dream he’d get invited.

“It just blew me away. I said ‘Don’t be stupid, John. You won’t get an invitation. You’re just a barman.’ “

He got a front-row seat.

When the newlyweds finally greeted the masses at 8:26, they drew cheers with a brief kiss. This was followed by an even better smooch, prompting CNN’s Piers Morgan to note, “If I were still the editor of a major British newspaper, my headline would be ‘Get a Room,’ because those two can’t keep their eyes off of each other. … fabulous.”

Mr. Morgan, who has picked up Larry King’s mantle as CNN’s go-to prime-time talk show host, really shined in the post-wedding coverage. He, anchor Anderson Cooper and correspondent Cat Deeley were funny and relaxed and appropriately snarky.

Picking out a wedding guest, the party girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, Mr. Morgan said gleefully “the great thing about her — she’s got a new nose for the wedding. There it is! Because of a sustained drug problem, her old nose fell apart.”

“Now how do you know this?” Mr. Cooper said.

When you have a former British tabloid editor and reality-show host on your staff, turns out you have the perfect “expert” for a royal wedding.

As far as this being the first royal wedding involving social media, a Facebook official told the London Telegraph that more than 2 million users in the United States were updating their status to include mention of the event.

Everyone from Joan Rivers to former Spice Girl Emma Bunton to teens in Wisconsin sent congratulations via Twitter, and the medium was informative, too. When the newlyweds took an unannounced spin in Prince Charles’ vintage Aston Martin, the NBC Royal Wedding Twitter feed noted the car runs on bioethanol fuel.

Online, almost every major newspaper and network carried live streaming coverage of the ceremony, some working better than others.

Now that the massive coverage of the royal wedding went so well, let’s hope the next one doesn’t take another 30 years.

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