Weddings have not changed so much over the years. You have the key elements, love, ceremony and the gathering of friends and family to celebrate the joyous occasion. Two well-loved presidents had very different weddings and not just because of when they were married. The Lincolns had a small affair; in the home of the bride’s family while the Kennedys had a very large wedding ceremony performed in a church but had the reception at the home of her family. Neither couple knew that history would link them over a hundred years later. Just like neither couple knew that tragedy would befall them when they were in political office, that they would run their countries as much loved officials and die for their beliefs.
After a courtship that spanned three years of dating, breaking up and reuniting Mary Todd and Abraham Lincoln deiced to marry. They wanted a quiet small wedding to take place in the minister’s home but that changed when her guardian heard of their plans. The wedding date was put off a day while the bride’s family prepared their home. But really the delay was caused because the sewing circle was meeting there that night. The couple was married on November 4, 1842 with a small group of friends and family, about thirty, to celebrate with them. Mary wore nothing in her hair at the wedding; no veil or even flowers. Her dress was white muslin. She had her two closest friends and her sister as her bridesmaids. Lincoln’s best man was a friend he worked closely with that he asked to stand up with him on the very day of the wedding. Despite the rainy day the ceremony was a lovely one. The ring he put on her finger had the words, “love is eternal,” engraved inside.
The wedding of future president John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier was completely opposite to that of the Lincolns. Instead of a small wedding the couple had eight hundred guests at the ceremony in 1953 and twelve hundred at the reception. Jacqueline, later know to millions as Jackie, wore an elegant gown made of silk, it was ivory, not white, with a close fitting bodice, portrait neckline and a skirt that was made from over one hundred and fifty feet of gathered bands. Her veil had been the one worn by her grandmother. It was made of rosepoint lace and she wore it with orange blossoms and a tiara. The diamond bracelet she wore had been a gift from her fiancé. The wedding party was also very large with thirteen bridesmaids wearing pink, including two maids of honor, attending. John had his younger brother Robert standing at his side as best man with nine ushers. There was also a flower girl and page in the procession. Her bouquet was made up of gardenias and orchids in pinks and white.
The wedding ceremony, which was conducted by an archbishop and four priests, was also accompanied by a blessing that was sent from the Pope. Once the ceremony was over the guests moved to Hammersmith Farm for the reception where a four-foot tall wedding cake waited for them.
Both weddings were more a reflection of the personalities of the men who married on those days over a hundred years apart. Abe Lincoln, a quiet man who was not given to pomp and pageantry and John Kennedy who had been brought up to be the future.
