White House Weddings

The White House is one of the world's most well-known landmarks. It's scarcely surprising, then, that it's used for weddings. Not everyone is allowed to marry there. So now we'll go over the list of couples who have had the good fortune to have their weddings held at this iconic mansion.

This White House wedding list is not as extensive as it appears. Only eighteen weddings and four receptions have been chronicled by the White House Historical Association.

Naomi Biden and Peter Neal

Connections: Naomi is the president's eldest granddaughter

In November 2022, the White House hosted a wedding for the first time in nine years. Naomi Biden married Peter Neal. A total of two hundred and fifty people attended the private event on Joe Biden's South Lawn. Mr. President and the First Lady were also in attendance.

Naomi was taken to the altar by her father and mother. The bride held the lily of the valley in her hands, as per her mother's tradition. Naomi looked lovely in a long veil and a white Ralph Lauren lace gown. Following the formal part of the ceremony, a wedding reception was hosted in the White House dining room.

Jenna Bush and Henry Hager

Connections: Jenna is George Bush’s daughter

Jenna Bush's White House wedding reception is one of the most remarkable events that ever occurred at the White House. It occurred on June 21, 2008, after their wedding at Prairie Chapel Ranch on May 10, 2008. Their "first wedding" was witnessed by two hundred family members and friends, while the White House hosted roughly six hundred people. The US Marine Band performed throughout the ceremony.

Tony Rodham and Nicole Boxer

Connections: Tony is Hillary Clinton’s brother

Tony Rodham married Nicole Boxer in 1994. Their wedding was the first one at the White House since Trisha Nixon and Edward Cox married there. Two hundred and fifty people attended the event, which featured Jewish and Methodist characteristics. The Rose Garden was decorated with pink and white geraniums. Following the ceremonial half of the wedding, attendees were invited to the State Dining Room for refreshments and dances.

Tricia Nixon and Edward Finch Cox

Connections: Tricia is Richard Nixon’s daughter

In June 1971, Tricia Nixon married Edward Finch Cox in the Rose Garden. Trisha chose to advertise her wedding, and press releases detailing the wedding food, and decor, so even the cake recipe may be found in Nixon Presidential Library papers. By the way, the cake stood nearly seven feet tall. The wedding ring, fashioned by Don Carnevale of Harry Winston, featured thirty brilliant-cut gemstones.

Five hundred journalists covered the wedding. That evening, one hundred and ten million Americans watched the event on TV.

Linda Bird Johnson and Charles S. Robb 

Connections: Linda is Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughter

On December 9, 1967, Linda Bird Johnson tied the knot with Capt. Charles S. Robb in the East Room. It was the White House's fifteenth wedding. The couple ate their wedding cake in the same room where they were married. The site was decorated with string-lit topiaries and ribbons. The bride carried a small white bouquet and wore a mock-neck, long-sleeve princess A-line gown by Geoffrey Beene. The groom wore his Marine Corps uniform. Approximately five hundred individuals attended the reception, including Alice Lee Roosevelt.

Luci Johnson and Patrick Nugent

Connections: Luci is Lyndon B. Johnson’s daughter

On August 6, 1966, Johnson married Patrick John Nugent in front of seven hundred guests at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception National Shrine in Washington, D.C. The event was afterward hosted in the East Room. The wedding was broadcast to fifty-five million viewers and was also depicted on the cover of Life magazine. Their cake has now gone down in history as one of the most famous White House wedding cakes. It was eight feet tall and weighed three hundred pounds!

The bridesmaids' bubblegum-pink gowns were designed by Priscilla of Boston, who also designed the bride's mock-neck, long-sleeve lace gown. Lynda, Luci's sister, caught her bouquet as she tossed it at the reception.

Eleanor Randolph Wilson and William McAdoo

Connections: Nell is Woodrow Wilson's daughter

She was known to be a cheerful and energetic young woman. Nell was not the first Wilson daughter to marry in the Oval Office, as you may be aware. Regardless, Nell's wedding received a lot of media attention as she was marrying someone who had a child her age. On May 7, 1914, they married in the Blue Room of the White House. It wasn't as extravagant as Jessie's wedding, but it was far more cozy and intimate.

Jessie Woodrow Wilson and Francis B. Sayre

Connections: Jessie is Woodrow Wilson's daughter

In November 1913, Jessie Woodrow Wilson became the wife of Francis B. Sayre at the White House. It was the first wedding at the White House since Alice Roosevelt 7 years earlier.

The East Room hosted the event, which began at 4:30 p.m. The wedding, which was attended by five hundred people, was conducted by Reverend Sylvester Beach of Princeton, a close friend of the Wilsons. The bride had asked for a brief ceremony. Margaret, the bride's older sister, served as maid of honor, and Nell, her younger sister, was a bridesmaid. Nell donned an ivory satin dress with exquisite lace embellishment. According to reports, the wedding cake weighed one hundred and thirty-five pounds.

Alice Lee Roosevelt and Nicholas Longworth

Connections: Alice is Theodore Roosevelt's daughter

Alice Lee Roosevelt was led to the altar by Nicholas Longworth. On February 17, 1906, the celebration was held in the East Room.

Their ceremony quickly became the season's most important social event. Over a thousand people showed up, while thousands more waited on the street to see the newlyweds. She was wearing a blue ball gown and cut the cake with a sword. Following the wedding, the couple went on a honeymoon that included cruising to Cuba and seeing the Longworth family.

Grover Cleveland and Francis Folsom

Connections: Grover Cleveland was the president at the time

Their wedding was the only one that was broadcasted live from the White House. It happened in June 1886. In the White House Blue Room, about forty people were present. The White House wedding invitations, planning, and, strangely, the hall's décor were all handled by the President directly. Grover was almost forty-nine years old when the couple married, and his young bride was just twenty-one. At the time she was the state's youngest First Lady.

The bride donned an exquisite ivory satin robe, while the groom chose a traditional tuxedo. The president refused to let the bride hold a bouquet, believing that jewels would be more appropriate for the upcoming First Lady.

Nellie Grant and Algernon Sartoris

Connections: Nellie is Ulysses S. Grant’s daughter

Nellie married Algernon in a lavish wedding in 1874 when she was only eighteen years old. The inside of the White House was decked with lilies, tuberoses, and spireas. Nellie has been regarded as "probably the most attractive young lady to ever live in the White House". Her bridal gown, which was covered with Brussels spiky crystals and supposedly worth thousands of dollars, was breathtaking.

As President Grant led Nellie into the East Room, a Marine band performed Mendelssohn's "Wedding March. The wedding guest list included two hundred and fifty attendees.

Other White House Weddings That Went Down The History

1. Lucy Payne Washington, the sister of then-First Lady Dolly Madison, married in the White House for the first time in 1812.
2. In 1820 Mary Esther Monroe (daughter of James Monroe) married her cousin Laurence Gouverneur. This was the first White House wedding for the president's kid.
3. In February 1828, John Adams II married his cousin Mary Katherine Hellen at the Blue Room. His father was the first President of the United States to live in the White House.
4. 1832 Mary A. True (a niece of Rachel Jackson) married Lucius J. Polk in the East Room.
5. In the East Room in 1832, Mary Ann Lewis married Alphonse Pageau.
6. Elizabeth Tyler (daughter of John Tyler) married William Waller in 1842 in the East Room.
7. Emily Platt (niece of Lucy Webb Hayes) married Russell Hastings in the Blue Room in June 1878.
8. In August 1918, Alice Wilson (Woodrow Wilson's niece) married Isaac Stuart McElroy, Jr. at the Blue Room. The wedding was attended by only sixteen people.
9. In 1942 Harry Hopkins married Louise Gill Macy in the Yellow Oval Room. They exchanged vows in front of white gladioli and a chrysanthemum-adorned marble fireplace.
10. Pete Souza married Patti Liz in 2013 at the Rose Garden. Pete worked as a photographer for the White House at the time. Barack Obama handled their ceremony, which had about thirty-five people.