Two Irish women living in Manhattan will be setting their alarms for 5 a.m. on Friday morning to catch the first glimpse of the bride.

“I’m giving in to all the hype,” Josie Smyth, originally from Co. Louth, told the Irish Voice.

“I think we can all relate to Kate Middleton because she is not blue-blooded and so she is a very relatable person.

“And she is kind of fulfilling a fantasy that many young women have,” says Smyth. “We all have the dream to have a billion eyes on us on our wedding day.”

Smyth and her co-worker Mary Callanan plan on rising early for the special occasion.  They are both eager to see what Kate’s wedding dress will be like.

“She can have any dress she wants, designers are lined up for her,” says Callanan.

“The fact that Kate has Diana’s engagement ring and that she is so young and beautiful adds to it.”

Callahan’s friend who lives in London sent some memorabilia over for the girls to wear on Friday, including William and Kate masks that the ladies plan to don on the big day.

But is the widespread media coverage too much? Callanan certainly doesn’t think so.

“No, we need some positivity. What is overkill is the recession, “she told the Irish Voice.
“This is a great insight into another world. I like the fact that there is still a monarchy and that this part of history still exists,” the Galway woman added.

A coincidence that she booked her trip to London for the weekend of the royal wedding, Clodagh Martin is jetting into the city on Friday morning.

“I thought that I might try to get up to Buckingham Palace until my friend reminded me that there would be people camping out for days beforehand and that I would need a camera with a really good zoom!” Martin told the Irish Voice.

Martin, originally from Mayo, has persuaded her boyfriend to change their plans in the hopes of experiencing some of the wedding fever.  She admits he is “no-way interested” in the royal affair.
“We are planning on heading into the city early to see what the buzz is like,” she said.

Despite the hype, several New York Irish bars and restaurants contacted by the Irish Voice are not celebrating the royal event. From the Bronx to Midtown to the East Village, a resounding no was the response received when they were queried if they had any special plans for the event.

Bonnie Rozales, the manager of a Midtown Irish bar said her customers don’t seem overly interested.

“We are more of an Irish pub, so there isn’t that same level of interest,” she told the Irish Voice.

Personally she said she would have had more of an interest in the occasion if “it hadn’t been covered for the last month.”

Despite her lack of interest, like most women Rozales will be interested to see Kate’s wedding dress.

“I am definitely going to peek at it,” she admitted.