CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - Jenna Bush couldn't see herself getting
married at the White House surrounded by antique furniture and oil
portraits of presidents. She and Henry Hager opted to say "I do"
Saturday at President Bush's ranch in Crawford where the corn is
thigh-high, roads are named Cattle Drive and the Texas flag is
painted on the rooftops of barns.
Away from the glare of television cameras that have beamed other
first family weddings into American living rooms, Jenna's outdoor
wedding at the ranch reflects her family's penchant for privacy and
her preference for the casual over grandiose.
Even without the prying eyes of strangers, Jenna's marriage to
her longtime boyfriend Henry Hager will make presidential history.
It will be remembered as an upbeat moment of Bush's two-term
presidency beset by terrorism, war and the nation's current limp
economy.
"This is a joyous occasion for our family, as we celebrate the
happy life ahead of her and her husband, Henry," Bush said in his
Saturday radio address. "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, 26, is the 22nd child of a president to get married while
their father was in the Oval Office. Their ceremonies have ranged
from Tricia Nixon's extravagant wedding broadcast live from the
Rose Garden in 1971 to the 1992 Camp David wedding of Jenna's aunt,
Dorothy Koch. That one was kept so secret that the press didn't
find out about it until it was over.
"All of them are different. This one really reflects the
personality of both Jenna and the George W. Bush family," said
Doug Wead, a former aide to President George H.W. Bush and author
of a book on presidents' kin.
"If they'd have gone on TV, the wedding would have been shown
all over the world and Jenna Bush would have been an international
celebrity - and she would have been a target. They're preparing the
transition to private life and they're not particularly interested
in seeing Jenna Bush become a huge celebrity."
It's unlikely that paparazzi will be hanging out of helicopters
to capture Hollywood-style aerial shots of the wedding. Airspace in
a 30-mile radius of the property is restricted when the Bushes are
there. Despite the lack of media coverage, however, Jenna's wedding
will be closely scrutinized - down to the matte beading and
embroidery on her white Oscar de la Renta gown.
"The wedding details will be reported on for generations,
influencing both present-day and future brides-to-be," says Millie
Martin Bratten, editor-in-chief of BRIDES magazine and student of
first family weddings.
Jenna's twin sister, Barbara, is maid of honor and 14 other
women are part of the "house party." Barbara Bush is wearing wear
a long, moonstone blue dress with a low-cut back. The women in the
"house party" are in seven different styles of knee-length
dresses in seven different colors that match the palette of Texas
wildflowers - blues, greens, lavenders and pinky reds.
The best man is the groom's brother, John "Jack" Hager. The
groom also has 14 ushers in the "house party," which will walk
down the aisle to their seats, but not participate in the ceremony.
More than 200 family and friends are converging here for the
nuptials on the 1,600-acre ranch that was hit by a brief storm that
packed winds up to 50 mph and dropped nickel-sized hail on the
area. The White House said the storm did not cause any damage at
the ranch where a tent has been erected for post-ceremony dinner
and dancing.
Festivities began Friday with a bridal lunch, rehearsal dinner
and post-rehearsal dinner celebration in Salado, a tiny tourist
village, which used to be a stagecoach stop. Jenna, her sister and
the first lady were in Salado, more than an hour's drive south of
Crawford, all day Friday and the president arrived in the evening
by motorcade.
The rehearsal dinner for about 100 people was hosted by the
parents of the groom, who turned 30 on Friday. Hager's father, John
Hager, is the chairman of the Virginia Republican Party and is
former lieutenant governor of Virginia and former U.S. assistant
secretary of education.
The rehearsal dinner crowd, including the president, then walked
down a street in Salado with the Belton High School Marching Band
from Belton, Texas, to a "Texas-sized celebration" at another
establishment. All the wedding guests were invited to this event.
They were entertained by the five-member Duke Merrick Band from
Charlottesville, Va., which performed classic Texas songs and
original pieces by Merrick, a relative of the Hager family.
The groom's family also is hosting a barbecue lunch Saturday in
Salado ahead of the wedding.
Henry Hager met Jenna during her father's 2004 re-election
campaign. He graduated from Wake Forest University and worked as an
aide to Bush's former top political adviser Karl Rove. He is set to
receive a master's degree in business administration later this
month from the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.
Between February 2005 and January 2006, he was an economic
policy aide in the office of Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
and regularly briefed the secretary on economic data. "He was
widely regarded as a super star," said Ann Marie Hauser, press
secretary at Commerce.
After the wedding, the couple is rumored to be honeymooning in
Europe, although the White House would not comment. After that,
they plan to live in a two-bedroom, two-bath town house on the
south side of Baltimore. She plans to return to teaching and he
will work for Constellation Energy, a power supplier based in
Maryland.
The ceremony begins about a half hour or so before sunset. The
couple will marry at a cross, made of beige colored Texas
limestone, that was erected near the ranch's man-made lake. The
cross and altar, made of the same stone used to construct the
Bush's ranch house, will serve as the altar and a landmark at the
ranch for years to come. The Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor
Village United Methodist Church in Houston is officiating.
This is big doings for Crawford, home to about 700 central
Texans. They likely will not get a glimpse of the bride and groom,
but the couple's photo is plastered across coffee mugs, mouse pads,
key rings and other Western White House trinkets for sale at a few
stores along the main drag.
A rusty, metal sculpture of an angel, a gift to Crawford after
Bush's re-election, is adorned with a veil and a bouquet of white
flowers for the occasion. The sign at the Coffee Station in
Crawford, where Jenna orders fried jalapenos, says "Congrats Jenna
and Henry." The Peace House, home away from home for anti-war
protesters when they're in Crawford, set up a red sign that says
"Peace to the Newlyweds."
Dick and Kathy Karmy drove 70 miles from their home in Cleburne,
Texas, to visit Crawford on wedding day. "I have a girlfriend in
Washington state and she said `You've got to go and get me a
mug,"' Kathy Karmy said.
Mary Wood of San Antonio, about a 90-minute drive from Crawford,
stopped at a table the Crawford Chamber of Commerce and Waco
Convention and Visitors Bureau set up outside a bank to welcome
visitors to town. Since so many people wanted to know how to drive
to Bush's Prairie Chapel Ranch, they offered a homemade map, even
though the ranch property is barricaded far from the entrance.
"I almost came during the week, but then I said it would mean
more to be here on the wedding day," said Wood, who had a camera
hanging from her neck so she could take a photo of the "Prairie
Chapel Road" sign. "It's just a big kick to say I was here."

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)