List of weddings at the White House
This is a list of weddings that have taken place at the White House, the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States of America.
White House weddings[]
Eighteen documented couples who have had documented weddings in the White House. Nine have been children of presidents, three have been a niece or nephew of the president or first lady, two siblings, two staffers, one friend and one president. Of the twelve children of incumbent presidents who married during their parent's presidency in locations other than the White House, two had receptions in the executive mansion.[1]
Public weddings in the White House, particularly those of the president's children, "have been feel-good occasions for the country and the commander in chief, casting presidents in the sympathetic role of father."[2] President-elect Richard Nixon encouraged his daughter, Julie, and her fiancé, David Eisenhower, grandson of Dwight D. Eisenhower, to postpone their December 1968 wedding at New York's Marble Collegiate Church and instead have it after his inauguration at the White House, but the couple did not wish for the publicity of a White House wedding.[3] Her older sister, Tricia, is the most recent White House bride to be a child of the president.
These events are occasionally referred to in the press as "America's 'royal' weddings."[4]
List of weddings at the White House[]
19th century[]
- 29 March 1812: Lucy Payne Washington (sister of Dolley Madison) married Thomas Todd.
- 9 March 1820: Maria Hester Monroe (daughter of James Monroe) married her first cousin, Samuel L. Gouverneur. The first wedding of a child of a president in the White House.
- 25 February 1828: John Adams II married his first cousin, Mary Catherine Hellen, in the Blue Room.
- 10 April 1832: Mary A. Eastin (niece of Rachel Jackson) married Lucius J. Polk in the East Room.
- 29 November 1832: Mary Anne Lewis (daughter of a close friend of Andrew Jackson) married Alphonse Pageot in the East Room.
- 31 January 1842: Elizabeth Tyler (daughter of John Tyler) married William Waller in the East Room.
- 21 May 1874: Nellie Grant married Algernon Sartoris in the East Room.
- June 1878: Emily Platt (niece of Lucy Webb Hayes) married Russell Hastings in the Blue Room.
- 2 June 1886: Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room. The only wedding of a president to take place in the White House
20th century[]
- 17 February 1906: Alice Roosevelt married Nicholas Longworth in the East Room.
- 25 November 1913: Jessie Woodrow Wilson married Francis Bowes Sayre in the East Room.
- 7 May 1914: Eleanor Randolph Wilson married William Gibbs McAdoo in the Blue Room.
- 7 August 1918: Alice Wilson (niece of Woodrow Wilson) married Isaac Stuart McElroy, Jr., in the Blue Room.
- 30 July 1942: Harry Hopkins married Louise Gill Macy in the Yellow Oval Room.
- 9 December 1967: Lynda Bird Johnson married Charles Spittal Robb in the East Room.[5]
- 12 June 1971: Tricia Nixon married Edward F. Cox in the Rose Garden.[6]
- 28 May 1994: Anthony Rodham married Nicole Boxer in the Rose Garden.[7]
21st century[]
- 19 October 2013: Pete Souza married Patti Lease in the Rose Garden.[8]
List of wedding receptions at the White House[]
- 6 August 1966: Luci Baines Johnson married Patrick Nugent at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception followed by a reception for 700 guests at the White House.
- 21 June 2008: A reception was held for Jenna Bush and Henry Chase Hager following their marriage on 10 May 2008 at Prairie Chapel Ranch.[9]
References[]
- ^ "Wedding Ceremonies Held at the White House". The White House Historical Association. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ^ Eschner, Kat. "A Brief History of White House Weddings". Smithsonian. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ^ Eisenhower, Julie (1986). Pat Nixon the Untold Story. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 1416576053.
- ^ Kermani, Genivive (29 April 2011). "America's royal wedding? Looking back at Luci Baines Johnson's wedding in 1966". CBS. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ^ Glass, Andrew (9 December 2008). "Lynda Bird Johnson marries in the White House, Dec. 9, 1967". Politico. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ^ "The Marriage of Tricia Nixon and Edward Finch Cox". Richard Nixon Foundation. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- ^ "A Rose Garden Wedding". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 30, 1994. Retrieved March 23, 2008.
- ^ Larson, Leslie (October 21, 2013). "Obama photographer Pete Souza gets hitched in White House wedding...so who took the pictures?". NY Daily News. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
- ^ "Wedding Ceremonies Held at the White House". The White House Historical Association. Retrieved 23 August 2020.
- History of the White House
- Events in Washington, D.C.
- Weddings in the United States