We attended an official royal event for the first time. Here are 3 things we enjoyed, and 5 reasons it was a let-down.

We attended a Trooping the Colour review on May 21, ahead of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, which marks her status as the first British monarch to have a 70-year-reign.

Trooping the Colour is an annual parade for the Queen's official birthday on June 2, which typically ends with the royal family waving at fans from the balcony at Buckingham Palace. The event, overseen by Major General C J Ghika, was carried out by up to 1,450 soldiers, some of which were on horseback, while classical instruments and bagpipes were played by up to 400 musicians, according to the event's website.

We attended the review ahead of the main parade on June 2 hoping for a regal display and a rare glimpse of Queen Elizabeth II, but the most memorable thing we saw was a wealth of horse dung.

Attendees could choose from £5 standing tickets, or around $6.25, or £10 seated tickets, approximately $12.50. We opted for standing tickets, a decision we would not make again with the gift of hindsight.

According to instructions emailed to attendees, there was a strict dress code stipulating that men should wear a lounge suit and women should wear a day dress. The email warned: "If you do not adhere to this dress code, you will be refused entry."

We arrived at Green Park station, the closest underground station to Buckingham Palace, in our day dresses and comfortable shoes and headed towards Horse Guards Parade, the patch of land outside the Old Admiralty Building where the event was taking place.

We walked through Green Park to get to Buckingham Palace and saw attendees in formal dress colliding with the general public using the park for their Saturday morning runs.

While the parade route was clear, it was difficult to gauge how to enter Horse Guards Parade in time for the spectacle. We asked around five different sets of officers working on the day how to get there and they simply pointed in a general direction without adding clarity.

While the number of horses used in the parade made it seem like an opulent affair, the glamorous atmosphere was brought crashing down by the sheer volume of horse dung across the space.

The route to Horse Guards Parade was littered with horse dung to such an extent that you had to watch your step and hold your breath to avoid encountering it one way or another.

Once the event was underway, an officer took center stage on horseback and a child nearby shouted: "Look mommy, the horse pooped." Not the most elegant touch to a royal event, we thought.

After a 5,000-step journey from the underground station to join the back of the queue, we found that it moved pretty fast and the admissions were very efficient. This brought the mood back up and meant that attendees didn't get too impatient in the hot weather.

This short wait also afforded us time to change out of our sneakers and into flat shoes and heels to better suit the dress code.

As anyone rushing to make their flight will probably agree, airport security is one of the most stressful parts of going abroad. Passing through security for the event felt a lot like that as our bags were searched and scanned, and we had to walk through metal detectors.

While this step was understandably necessary to ensure public safety, it felt like we were about to board a budget flight rather than attend a ceremonial royal event.

A detail we appreciated was that attendees in the packed standing area were offered any spare seats in the bleachers. We expected the rules to be rigid at formal events such as this one, especially as we had paid less than those with seats, so this was a welcomed gesture.

A large part of the event took place in silence, and guards would shout commands that people who are not military experts wouldn't understand. But once the music started playing, it seemed like a traditional British affair and started to feel more like a celebration.

A particular highlight was the Scottish bagpipes, which added fun and flair to the occasion.

A black horse-drawn carriage appeared at various points during the parade to review the officers. We assumed the Queen was in the carriage and would later emerge to take a seat on a raised chair located on the left of the space. This didn't happen.

According to the event's website, the parade was reviewed by Major General Christopher Ghika CBE, the Major General Commanding the Household Division. Instead, the Queen would the formal Trooping the Colour on June 2, which we didn't realize until it was too late.

Many other attendees could be heard asking if the Queen was inside the carriage, leaving some guests feeling disappointed.

Not even the bagpipes could distract us from the fact that the event was poorly organized. There was no water or food available — we shared what water was left in one of our bottles, and people nearby were eating food from containers.

Many families with young children also attended the event, and there was no shade protecting us from the glaring heat that day.

After a while, we were unable to enjoy the event because we felt dehydrated, sunburnt, and hungry. One of Insider's reporters even had to take out her earrings as the event ran on so long that they became too heavy to wear. While we expected that the royal family would likely have a more glamorous time at events like this, it felt like a distant reality for the general public.