President Joe Biden’s granddaughters, Naomi Biden and Peter Neal, married Saturday in just the 19th wedding in White House history, standing on the lawn in unseasonably cold weather in front of many family members and friends. We exchanged vows above.
It will be the first White House wedding with a president’s granddaughter as the bride, and the first at South Lawn.
Naomi Biden and Neil exchanged “I do” during a witty late-night ceremony in front of guests seated in white folding chairs.White facing the lawn and the Washington Monument in the distance The south portico of the house was adorned with wreaths and wreaths of white flowers. There were no tents. Guests began arriving hours before the ceremony, and some women chose open-toed shoes despite the cold weather.
Unlike White House weddings of the past, the public sees no festivities at all. Naomi Biden and Neal decided to keep journalists out, but the ceremony was held outdoors in what the president and first lady called “the people’s home.”
Naomi Biden, 28, is a Washington attorney. Her parents are Hunter Biden, the son of President and First Lady Jill Biden, and Hunter’s first wife, Kathleen Buhle.
Neil, 25, of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, recently graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He works at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington. His parents are doctors. Mary C. and William “Bill” C. Neal of Jackson Hole.
The couple, who live in the White House, were set up in New York City about four years ago by a mutual friend and have been together ever since. Nearby, I proposed with a ring repurposed from my grandmother’s engagement ring band.
After the 20-somethings are officially husband and wife, their family and wedding party come out of the cold and head back inside the White House for lunch, followed by a dessert and dance reception in the evening. to those familiar with the plans who are not authorized to publicly discuss the schedule of
A few other details were announced ahead of the ceremony.
Out of public interest, the president and his wife planned to release a statement and release photos after the first of their six grandchildren got married, according to the White House.
President Biden and First Lady were among those who attended their wedding rehearsal dinner on Friday at the Renwick Gallery, just steps away from the White House.
A White House official said the Bidens would pay for all wedding expenses.
“Naomi Biden and Peter’s wedding is private,” presidential spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday. have asked the media to keep it private, and we respect their wishes.
Over the 200-year history of the White House, 18 weddings have been recorded. Nine of them involved the daughters of presidents, most recently Richard Nixon’s daughter Tricia in 1971 and Lyndon Johnson’s daughter Linda in 1967.
But my niece, grandpa, son, and first lady’s brother also got married there. President Grover Cleveland also married at the White House during his tenure.
Some weddings were covered by the news media, while others were not covered at all.
Journalists were allowed to attend the first wedding held at the Rose Garden, Tricia Nixon and Ed Cox. Her wedding planner is her three-ring black binder in the offices of the White House Historical Society and includes detailed notes on her plans for the media.
However, the May 1994 wedding of then-First Lady Hillary Clinton’s brother to then-U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s daughter (the first since Tricia Nixon’s marriage) was closed to the press. did not. A Clinton spokesperson later commented, and the White House released a photo.
It was the same at the October 2013 wedding of President Barack Obama’s official photographer Pete Sousa and his longtime partner Patti Reese. announced the wedding in a statement.
The White House Correspondents’ Association, which advocates press access to the White House and the president, said it was “deeply disappointed” that the White House declined a request to cover Naomi Biden’s wedding.
The WHCA board of directors said in a statement, “White House weddings have been the subject of media coverage throughout history. We have to strike a balance,” he said.
Stewart McLoughlin, president of the White House Historical Society, said it’s important to remember that the first family is, first and foremost, family.
“Their privacy should be respected and their wishes should be respected,” he said.
The wedding is only half the big weekend for the Biden family. The president’s 80th birthday is Sunday, and families in town celebrate him with a brunch hosted by the First Lady.