Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Announce A Wedding Date, & It's *So* Soon

It's been less than a month since Prince Harry and Meghan Markle officially announced their engagement to the world — complete with a picture-perfect garden photo call, and a super sweet joint television interview — but it sounds like the couple isn't wasting any time narrowing down the details of their upcoming nuptials. According to E! News, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced a wedding date Friday in a statement from Kensington Palace, and it's the latest update in what will no doubt be a highly-anticipated event worldwide. The big day will be May 19, 2018 — and, according to earlier confirmed info, the wedding will be taking place at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Solidifying their wedding plans isn't the only thing that's been keeping the couple busy though. Not long after their engagement announcement, Markle joined Prince Harry on her first royal "walkabout" according to CNN, making an appearance at the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair in Nottingham. And according to People, Markle also attended the Queen's annual Christmas Party for her staff at Windsor Castle earlier this week, where she mingled with "several hundred guests" — including Queen Elizabeth herself, and a number of other royals. But in addition to being yet another opportunity to become accustomed to life as a member of the royal family, the party may have also been a way for Markle to scope out a particularly important location: it was held in the same area of the castle where she and Prince Harry will have their wedding reception.

Although the couple's May wedding date isn't very far off, there's also another clear sign that Markle will likely already have been fully welcomed into the royal fold by the time she walks down the aisle. According to People, Markle will be joining Prince Harry and the rest of the royal family at Sandringham for Christmas, marking the first time a royal has been allowed to invite a partner they weren't actually already married to.

The couple's relationship seems to have moved along pretty quickly, but it's clear that they have no doubts about their future together. During the couple's post-engagement interview, they discussed the prince's proposal at their home, Nottingham Cottage, and it sounds like they were definitely overjoyed. According to E! News, Markle said, "I could barely let you finish proposing! I said, 'Can I say yes now?!'" As for Prince Harry? He said, "The fact that I fell in love with Meghan so quickly was confirmation for me that all the stars were aligned. Everything was just perfect."

As it turns out, the couple's choice of wedding date might end up being really good news for Brits who had hoped to have the chance to celebrate (or, at least to get the opportunity to have a day off work). According to The Daily Post, British Prime Minister Theresa May had previously shot down hopes that she'd allow the day of the royal wedding to be a bank holiday (though Prince William's 2011 wedding to Kate Middleton was a holiday, according to The Telegraph, as was Prince Charles' 1981 wedding to Diana). But in a decision that bucks the royal tradition of weekday weddings, Markle and Prince Harry's chosen wedding date actually falls on a Saturday — which at least means that fans of the couple may not have to take a day off to partake in royal wedding festivities.

The mid-May wedding date also takes into consideration another important royal event though: the birth of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's third child in April.

There's still a lot of unanswered questions about the upcoming royal wedding — who will design the dress? Will we get to watch the wedding on TV? Who will get a much-coveted invite? — and, well, those details might not be revealed in advance. But the good news, at least, is that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding date really isn't that far off. And something tells me it's going to be fabulous.

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