From pomp and pageantry to fancy dress and face paint – and lots and lots of red, white and blue – Royal Wedding fever came to a climax yesterday as around a million people flooded the streets of London to see the big day unfold writes Charlotte Cross.

And I was one of four Express & Star reporters sent to mingle with the throng.

While the others would be chatting with spectators and getting comments, I was tasked with providing live minute-by-minute updates to our readers back home in the Midlands via Twitter.

I hadn’t thought there would be too much to say before the Big Day itself, but the atmosphere was electric from the minute we set foot off the tube in Green Park on Thursday morning and it was too exciting not to get started straight away.

Hoards of tourists were milling around, eager to take in every drop of the occasion, while some eager Royalists had already set up camp along the Mall and outside the Abbey.

Using the magic of TwitPic, I was able to send images back to the folks at home of those who would be at the front of the throng when the Royal wedding procession went past.

There were people with funny hats, people in full wedding get-up and some people who had gone whole-hog and dressed up their four-legged companions as well – all of whom were more than happy to pose and have a quick chat.

Then, yesterday, I was back on the scene outside Westminster Abbey from shortly after 6am, tussling with the masses for a decent vantage point.

Standing in the same spot for four hours waiting for the main event to begin could have meant difficulty finding things to talk about – but there was such a vibrancy and euphoria in the air it would have been tough finding things NOT to say.

The main advantage of using Twitter was being able to pass on tidbits of things happening that people watching on TV probably wouldn’t get to know otherwise.

When children started fainting as they were being crushed, and when the crowd burst into the National Anthem along with people inside the abbey, or the frantic struggle by thousands of people to get their camera high enough to capture Kate’s dress, the people at home were right there with me, hearing and seeing exactly what I as a member of the crowd was experiencing.

It also meant the Express + Star was able to report on these little tidbits and give readers a fuller view of what was happening on the ground.

All in all, it seems to have been a hugely successful experiment.

There were some challenges – the limited battery of smartphones and the Twitter service being blocked at points being just two – and it wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea of course.

But mostly, it was well-received and we got some great comments about our coverage of the event as a whole.

Special mention should go to Todd Nash and the internet team, who I was frantically texting when Twitter went down – and of course my reporter and photographer pals down here putting together the coverage for yesterday’s paper.