Royal watchers across Canada were bleary-eyed Friday as they rose especially early, put on a pot of tea and tuned in to the wedding across the pond.

For those in the East, it meant setting the alarm clock a little earlier. For those in the West, it was an all-nighter.

Approximately two billion people around the world were expected to tune in for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton -- now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

A recent poll suggested up to 40% of Canadians were to be part of that group.

Marie Bolton of Walkerton, Ont., rolled out of bed at 3 a.m. to catch the proceedings from the very start.

"Everyone told me 'Don't wake up so early. You'll see it eventually.' But you don't get the full experience that way. You need to see it all in order," she said from her living room Friday morning, still glued to the TV.

"I'm a coffee-holic but I can't bring myself to get to the kitchen, away from the television."

Was it worth it?

"Absolutely. I'm not a crier, not emotional by nature. Oh, but there were tears this morning," Bolton said.

Josh Traptow in Calgary had an exam Friday morning, so he couldn't pull the all-nighter many of his friends were doing.

"I was up at 4:30 a.m., so I didn't see the whole thing. But I saw the balcony kiss. So that was good," he said.

Others in his circle of royal-watching friends didn't even bother to go to bed.

"There was a number of people I've been speaking to this morning who started watching when the coverage here started at midnight, and they just watched it all the way through," he said. "I imagine there will be a number of Calgarians who will be tired at work today."