White House Wedding Ceremonies and Receptions
James Madison Administration
March 29, 1812
The First Lady’s Sister Lucy Payne Washington to Thomas Todd
Dolley Madison’s widowed sister, Lucy Payne Washington, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd in the first documented marriage in the White House.
@2
James Monroe Administration
March 9, 1820
The President’s Daughter Maria Monroe to Samuel Laurence Gouverneur
Maria Hester Monroe was 18 years old when she wed Samuel Laurence Gouverneur in a small White House ceremony. Society was included in greater numbers in the many receptions that followed.
@2
John Quincy Adams Administration
February 25, 1828
The President’s Son John Adams to Mary Catherine Hellen
This wedding, the first White House wedding of a president’s son, took place in the Elliptical Saloon, known today as the Blue Room.
THROUGH TIME
Andrew Jackson Administration
April 10, 1832
The President’s Grand-Niece Mary A. Eastin to Lucius J. Polk
November 29, 1832
The President’s Ward Mary Anne Lewis to Alphonse Pageot
Two East Room wedding ceremonies were conducted in the Jackson White House in 1832. In the spring, Mary Eastin married Lucius J. Polk, a politician and planter from Tennessee and cousin of the future President James K. Polk. In November Mary Lewis wed Alphonse Joseph Yves Pageot, secretary of the French legation.
@2
John Tyler Administration
January 31, 1842
The President’s Daughter Elizabeth Tyler to William Waller
Eighteen-year-old Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) Tyler, was married in an East Room ceremony to William N. Waller, a young attorney and family neighbor from Williamsburg, Virginia. It is thought to have been the only public appearance made by her invalid mother, First Lady Letitia Tyler.
SILHOUETTES: COLLECTION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY EASTIN AND LEWIS: COLLECTION OF FRED AND KELLI GILLHAM / PHOTOGRAPH BY HOLLY DOBBS LUCY WASHINGTON : WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION/WHITE HOUSE COLLECTION
white house history quarterly8
Mary Anne Lewis and Mary A. Eastin attributed to Ralph E. W. Earl, c. 1831.
Silhouettes of the Adams family made by Jarvis F. Hanks in 1829, including John and Mary Catherine, who married at the White House in 1828, and their daughter, Mary Louisa (b. 1828), in the middle row.
white house history quarterly 9
Lucy Payne Washington Todd by Matthew Harris Jouett, 1817–20.
Ulysses S. Grant Administration
May 21, 1874
The President’s Daughter Nellie Grant to Algernon Charles Frederick Sartoris
Eighteen-year-old Ellen (“Nellie”) Wrenshall Grant wed Algernon Sartoris, a well-to-do English singer, in the East Room of the White House, which had been redecorated with elaborate architectural details for the highly publicized event.
@2
Rutherford B. Hayes Administration
June 19, 1878
The President’s Niece Emily Hayes Platt to Russell Hastings
When Russell Hastings, Rutherford B. Hayes’s Civil War aide-de-camp, visited his former brigade commander at the White House in 1877, he was reacquainted with Emily Platt. A few months later the two were married in the Blue Room.
@2
Grover Cleveland Administration
June 2, 1886
President Grover Cleveland to Frances Folsom
The only president to marry in the White House, Grover Cleveland wed Frances Folsom in the Blue Room. Only twentyeight guests were present. The bride was the daughter of the president’s late law partner. After serving as her estate administrator and guardian, Cleveland proposed while she attended school at Wells College in New York.
@2
white house history quarterly10 WHITE
HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION / WHITE HOUSE COLLECTION
Frances Folsom Cleveland, on her wedding day (left) and in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper (below) with President Grover Cleveland, June 2, 1886.
white house history quarterly 11
Nellie
Grant Sartoris, 1874
Emily Hayes Platt, 1877
GROVER AND FRANCES CLEVELAND: WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION FRANCES CLEVELAND AND NELLIE GRANT: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS EMILY PLATT AND INVITATION: RUTHERFORD B. HAYES PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUMS
Theodore Roosevelt Administration
February 17, 1906
The President’s Daughter Alice Roosevelt to Congressman Nicholas Longworth
The president’s eldest daughter married Congressman Nicholas Longworth in the newly renovated East Room.
@2
Woodrow Wilson Administration
November 25, 1913
The President’s Daughter Jessie Wilson to Francis B. Sayre
May 7, 1914
The President’s Daughter Eleanor Wilson to William Gibbs McAdoo
August 7, 1918
The President’s Niece Alice Wilson to Isaac Stuart McElroy Jr.
Three family weddings took place in the White House during the Wilson administration. Second daughter Jessie married Francis Bowes Sayre Sr., who later served as high commissioner of the Philippines. The president’s youngest daughter Eleanor married Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo. Wilson’s niece Alice married the Rev. Isaac Stuart McElroy Jr.
@2
white house history quarterly
TOP: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS / BOTTOM: WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Crowds waiting outside the White House for Alice Roosevelt’s (above) wedding, 1906
12
white house history quarterly ALICE WILSON: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS / ALL OTHERS: WHITE HOUSE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION
Jessie Wilson, 1913 Eleanor Wilson, 1914
Alice Wilson, 1918
Jessie Wilson and her wedding party, 1913
13
Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration
July 30, 1942
The President’s Adviser Harry Hopkins to Louise Macy
Harry Hopkins, who helped administer the president’s New Deal programs and served as his secretary of commerce, married Louise Macy, a former fashion editor, in the Yellow Oval Room. At Roosevelt’s request, the couple lived in the White House until December 1943, when they moved to a town house in nearby Georgetown.
Lyndon Johnson Administration
August 6, 1966
The President’s Daughter Luci Johnson to Patrick J. Nugent December 9, 1967
The President’s Daughter Lynda Bird Johnson to Captain Charles S. Robb
A private reception was held at the White House following the wedding ceremony of Luci Johnson to Patrick John Nugent at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The following year, her elder sister Lynda married Charles Robb in the East Room.
Franklin Roosevelt joins Harry Hopkins and his bride, Louise Macy, in the Yellow Oval Room for a wedding day photograph, 1942.
white house history quarterly14 FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
@2
@2
white house history quarterly 15 TOP LEFT: LBJ PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY / TOP RIGHT:
WHITE HOUSE
HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION / BOTTOM: GETTY IMAGES
Sisters Luci Johnson (left and below) and Lynda Johnson (above) celebrated their marriages in the White House sixteen months apart.
Richard M. Nixon Administration
June 12, 1971
The President’s Daughter
Tricia Nixon to Edward Finch Cox
Tricia Nixon married Edward Cox in a televised Rose Garden ceremony. It was a rainy day, but the precipitation stopped just long enough for the ceremony to take place outside as planned. The reception was held in the East Room.
@2
William J. Clinton Administration
May 28, 1994
The First Lady’s Brother Anthony Rodham to Nicole Boxer
@2
George W. Bush Administration
May 10, 2008
The President’s Daughter Jenna Bush to Henry Hager
Jenna Bush and Henry Hager married on May 8, 2008, at her parents’ Prairie Chapel Ranch. They later celebrated at the White House with a reception on June 21, 2008.
@2
Barack Obama Administration
October 19, 2013
The President’s Photographer Pete Souza to Patti Lease
President Obama hosted the wedding of Pete Souza and Pattie Lease in the Rose Garden of the White House.
@2
President Richard Nixon walks his daughter down the aisle in the Rose Garden (right), and the bride and groom turn to recess down the aisle following the ceremony, 1971.
white house history quarterly16 THIS PAGE: RICHARD
NIXON
PRESIDENTIAL
LIBRARY
AND
MUSEUM
/ OPPOSITE: GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENTIAL
LIBRARY
AND
MUSEUM
white house history quarterly 17
Jenna Bush Hager and Henry Hager cut a cake at their White House reception, June 21, 2008.
