Harry and Meghan’s wedding was one of the social media events of the year, prompting 3.4 million posts on Twitter alone between the start of the day and the end of the ceremony.

The excitement truly began as guests began their preparations, with Serena Williams confirming her attendance by tweeting that she was “getting ready for my friend[‘]s wedding”, and then updating with a picture of herself and her husband dressed up and “ready”.

Actor and fellow guest Patrick Adams also got in on the act, posting on Instagram about his friend and former Suits co-star Meghan: “I’m beginning to think she might not actually be out getting milk.”

As the arrivals began, David Beckham’s appearance particularly seemed to cause a stir on Twitter, but among the adoration was a reminder from old club Manchester United that there was another big event that day – the FA Cup final.

Nineteen-year-old cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who was praised for his performance of Ave Maria at the ceremony, seemed to have the nation rooting for him as he posted that he was “on my way to perform at the #RoyalWedding”.

With the ceremony under way, an undoubted high point for social chatter was the powerful address of American bishop Michael Curry.

Twitter said his speech, entitled The Power of Love, was the most-tweeted-about moment of the day, and one celebrity who clearly enjoyed it was supermodel Naomi Campbell, who tweeted: “BISHOP MICHAEL CURRY GIVING ME LIFE 🔥🔥♥🙏🏾”

Elamin Abdelmahmoud tweeted: “A black reverend preaching to British royalty about the resilience of faith during slavery is 10000000% not what I thought I was waking up for, the royal wedding is good.”

TV presenter Jeremy Clarkson, however, seemed less impressed with the length of his speech, tweeting: “What if this American vicar never stops?”

Many reflected on the romance of the couple’s story. Pointless star Richard Osman tweeted: “I know the #RoyalWedding is not for everyone, but we all saw Harry lose his Mum so young, then grow up into this kind, cheeky, thoughtful guy. Now he’s found this incredible woman, and it brings a tear to my cynical eye. Have a great day everyone (also, enjoy the cup final).”

The Chicago Tribune got thousands of retweets with some matter of fact reporting: “Northwestern graduate marrying British guy rn.”

And one Twitter user, @ovotiann, perhaps summed up the feelings of many when she wrote: “This all started with Meghan’s friend setting her up on a blind date with Prince Harry. My friends are actually useless.”

  1. Bishop Michael Curry delivers sermon (40k tweets per minute)
  2. Ave Maria performed by Sheku Kanneh-Mason on cello (28k tweets per minute)
  3. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are announced as husband and wife (27k tweets per minute)