The Royal wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry is now just over a week away, which means the final preparations for the big day will no doubt be being tweaked and polished as you read. The ceremony, which takes place on Saturday May 19, will be held in Windsor; it will include two wedding receptions and a carriage procession, as well as the service.

Prince Harry and Ms Markle have broken tradition by choosing to hold their wedding on a Saturday, as royal weddings usually take place during the week. 

The wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge was held on a Friday and the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales was held on a Wednesday; on both occasions the public were given an extra bank holiday.

While Downing Street have said there are no plans to give Britons a day off for this year's royal nuptials, pubs and bars will be allowed to stay open until 1am on Friday May 18 and the day of the wedding itself.

Amber Rudd, the former Home Secretary, opened a consultation on the plans in January. She said: “The Royal wedding will be a time of national celebration, and we want everyone to be able to make the most of such an historic occasion.

“I hope that this relaxation of the licensing hours will allow people to extend their festivities and come together to mark what will be a very special moment for the country.”

Here is everything you need to know about how the big day will unfold.

The service

The service will take place at St George’s Chapel in the grounds of Windsor Castle, which last hosted a royal wedding in May 2008 when Peter Phillips - son of The Princess Royal - married Autumn Kelly. Prince Edward also wed Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, there in June 1999; plus Prince Harry was christened there in 1984 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie.

Members of the public who have been invited to watch from the grounds of Windsor Castle will  begin to arrive from 9am.

Guests will arrive between 9:30am and 11am by coach. Two driving routes have been suggested, with guests required to meet at the Windsor Farm Shop – founded in 2001 after the Duke of Edinburgh had an idea to support local businesses by selling produce.

There, three miles away from the venue, guests will be put through security checks and asked to show identification; they will then be ushered onto buses to travel to Windsor Castle, where they will alight at the castle's Round Tower and enter the chapel through the south door.

Instructions reportedly sent to the guests ban cameras and bulky bags, adding that guests will be asked to "surrender mobile telephones and any devices used for image capture".

The rules further specify that guests should not wear medals, in a list of suggestions about accessories that includes: "No swords."

At 11:20am, members of the Royal Family will arrive and enter the chapel through the Galilee Porch. Some will arrive in state car from the Royal Mews, including Bentleys, Rolls-Royces and Daimlers.

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