Down-Home Wedding Day For Jenna Bush, Henry Hager

Jenna Bush and Henry Hager are officially married as of Saturday, in a day marking the first wedding of a daughter of a sitting president in 16 years.

The most recent was the first President Bush’s daughter, Dorothy - Jenna’s aunt - who tied the knot in 1992. This wedding was a bit different.

Away from the spotlight, the Jenna Bush-Henry Hager wedding reflected their penchant for privacy and preference for the casual over grandiose.

Crawford, Texas

The down-home setting was a lakeside ceremony at President Bush’s secluded 1,600-acre Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Jenna Bush just couldn’t see herself getting married at the White House surrounded by antique furniture and oil portraits of presidents.

In Crawford, the corn is thigh-high, roads are named Cattle Drive and the Texas flag is painted on the rooftops of barns.

“This is a joyous occasion for our family,” George W. Bush said Saturday morning.

“It’s also a special time for Laura who this Mother’s Day weekend will watch a young woman we raised together walk down the aisle.”

Jenna’s twin sister, Barbara, was maid of honor and 14 other women were in her “house party.” The best man was Henry Hager’s brother.

Henry Hager, Jenna Bush

More than 200 family and close friends converged on the family’s ranch for the nuptials of Henry Hager and Jenna Bush.

The president and the bride picked “You Are So Beautiful” for their father-daughter dance, according to band leader Tyrone Smith of Nashville.

Smith and his 10-piece party band, the Tyrone Smith Revue, were asked to do “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes” by Taj Mahal for the newlyweds’ first dance.

Smith, who witnessed the ceremony, said later that Henry Hager was dressed in a dark blue suit with powder-blue tie and Jenna Bush wore a “very simple and elegant” white dress and no veil.

 

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