(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-12 09:31

Jenna Bush, daughter of US President George W. Bush, poses for a photographer prior to her wedding to Henry Hager at Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas May 10, 2008. [Agencies] more photos

But while the wedding is now a part of presidential history, it was not a night for politics or publicity.

Millie Martin Bratten, editor-in-chief of BRIDES magazine, said the wedding was a letdown for some who craved a Princess Diana-style event. But she said Jenna's wedding - her classy Oscar de la Renta gown and all - might even set a trend for future presidential weddings. Bratten foresees future first family weddings that mix protocol and formality with creative individual touches from the bride.

"Instead of the event being turned over to the White House social secretary who follows the strict rules of protocol - something that comes from our British heritage of royal weddings - this one had a lot of input from her," Bratten said.

As the nuptials drew near on Saturday, tour buses loaded with wedding guests began rolling through downtown Crawford, past souvenir stores that earlier in the day had sold out of Jenna and Henry coffee mugs and mouse pads. An 18-foot rusty metal sculpture of an angel, a gift to the town after Bush's re-election, was adorned with a white veil and bouquet of white flowers. Plastic geese ornaments on a lawn were dressed up with white knit hats and draped in tulle.

Unable to get close to the ranch, visitors settled for snapping photos of the Prairie Chapel Road sign.

Wedding events were so closely held that even the chef who prepared the rehearsal dinner Friday night in a nearby town didn't find out he was working on the first daughter's wedding until late Thursday night.

"It's pretty amazing how they kept it quiet," said Dave Hermann, who with his wife, Katie, own The Range Restaurant at the Barton House in Salado, about an hour's drive from Crawford. In a phone interview, Hermann said the groom's mother, Margaret Chase Hager, used an alias when she called to arrange the event. "Quite honestly, there may have been a handful of people who knew something, but not very early on."

For the rehearsal dinner, Hermann served lemon-crusted rainbow trout and grilled pork tenderloin over roasted corn pudding. It was the groom's 30th birthday, so he also served a lemony, vanilla cake.

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