White Wedding but No White House: Jenna Bush Marries
Henry Hager is all set to infiltrate the Bush family this coming Saturday when he says, ‘I do’ to Jenna Bush, the 26 year old daughter of George W Bush and First Lady, Laura Bush.
Jenna, who is one half of a twin, with Barbara being the other half, will marry Hager, son of the head of the Republican Party in Virginia, in a private family affair at the Bush’s 1,600-acre ranch in Crawford, Texas, near a lake at the ranch, in front of a giant cross made of Texas limestone that will serve as an altar.
Of course, a small family affair to the Bush’s actually means 200 guests and family members and 14 attendants for the bride where Barbara is said to be he maid of honour and Jenna will be wearing an Oscar de la Renta gown with a short train.
Jenna met Henry during her father’s 2004 re-election campaign and he proposed to her in August 2007 while the pair were on a hiking holiday on Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine when he popped the question with a diamond which had been reset in a ring that also features sapphires. The original ring was a Hager family heirloom.
Hager graduated from Wake Forest University and worked as an aide to Bush’s former top political adviser Karl Rove is set to receive a master’s degree in business administration later this month from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. His 30th birthday falls the day before the wedding.
When asked earlier this year about his part in the wedding plans, George W Bush said jokingly: “I had to face some very difficult spending decisions, and I’ve had to conduct sensitive diplomacy. That’s called planning for a wedding.” Maybe he should have shown some of those skills when overseeing the national budget!
The location comes as somewhat of a disappointment to her mother, Laura, who admits that she half hoped Jenna and Hager, whom she calls “soul mates,” would get married at the White House. But Jenna said she was raised in Texas and having a White House wedding just wasn’t her style.
“It means a lot to Henry and me to be outdoors,” Jenna said in an interview with Vogue magazine. “We wanted something organic and low-key.
“There’s a glamour to it, I know,” she said of White House ceremonies. “But Henry and I are far less glamorous than the White House.”
Wow! What a refreshing observation compared with the limelight seeking weddings of most Hollywood stars who would probably all but kill to be married at the White House.
ABB