The Weddings of America's First Daughters

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Wedding Date: May 21, 1874

The romantic wedding of Nellie Grant, the eighteen-year-old daughter of President Ulysses S. Grant, and her groom, a member of the England gentry, was a truly beautiful celebration. The bride, who fell in love with her future husband on an Atlantic cruise, said "I do" in the East Room of the White House against a beautiful spring backdrop of bountiful white flowers.

Unfortunately, her marriage did not have a fairy-tale ending. In 1889, after enduring years of her husband's heavy drinking and homesick for America, she received a divorce.

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Wedding Date: February 17, 1906

Teddy Roosevelt's daughter had a wild reputation and was known for daring behavior like flirting without the presence of a chaperone, smoking and chewing gum. So it was no surprise that the rebellious "Princess Alice" wanted to be the absolute center of attention at her White House wedding. The guests had no choice but to focus on her wedding dress and its 18-foot train -- the bride refused to have bridesmaids because she wanted the spotlight all to herself.

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Wedding Date: May 7, 1914

Much like Alice Roosevelt's marriage, the wedding of Eleanor Wilson surprised and interested the public. At the age of 23, Eleanor, the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson, married Williams Gibbs McAdoo, the 56-year-old Secretary of the Treasury in the Blue Room of the White House.

McAdoo seemed to view his marriage as a way to gain political power: After trying and failing to get a presidential nomination, he divorced Wilson in 1923 and later married another younger woman.

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Wedding Date: August 6, 1966

The younger daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson married Patrick John Nugent at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C., with 55 million people watching on television. The reception took place in the White House's Blue Room and included a 300-pound, 13-tier wedding cake decorated with swans.

The bride told CBS News in a recent interview that there were protesters at the church when they arrived because her wedding day was the anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima. She hadn't realized her wedding date fell on a significant, historical day. The couple later divorced and the marriage was annulled in 1979.

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Wedding Date: December 9, 1967

In the first modern White House wedding, Lynda Bird Johnson was escorted by her father, President Lyndon B. Johnson, when she exchanged vows with her groom, a Marine Corps captain, in the East Room of the White House. In a nod to the groom's military affiliation (he served in Vietnam), the newlyweds walked under the crossed swords of Marines after the ceremony.

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Wedding Date: June 12, 1971

Tricia Nixon's Rose Garden ceremony is remembered as one of the loveliest White House weddings -- and Mother Nature herself had a hand in the day's success. The wedding morning was rainy, but the clouds parted in time for the bride, escorted by her father, President Richard Nixon, to walk down the aisle in sunshine.

In a nod to history, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, who married at the White House 65 years before, was a guest.

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Wedding Date: August 14, 1984

If you think the daughter of President Ronald Reagan would have a conservative White House wedding, think again. Patti Davis, who was somewhat of a black sheep in the family because of her liberal political views and appearances in soap operas, married her yoga instructor boyfriend in a low-key ceremony at the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles.

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Wedding Date: July 19, 1986

It's no surprise that Caroline Kennedy's wedding was a classically elegant affair -- the bride's mother, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, planned the celebration. The bride, who wore a traditional gown designed by Carolina Herrera, exchanged vows in a church ceremony in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, with her brother John F. Kennedy Jr. acting as the best man.

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Wedding Date: June 26, 1992

Love triumphed over political ideologies when Dorothy Walker Bush, daughter of President George H.W. Bush, married Robert P. Koch, then a Democratic Congressional aide. The bride said "I do" at the presidential retreat Camp David, becoming the first presidential child to marry there.

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Wedding Date: September 1, 1996

President Jimmy Carter's daughter, Amy, planned a low-key, DIY-wedding in 1996 to Jim Wentzel. The bride baked her own three-tier wedding cake and the couple recited their vows beneath a trellis fashioned from her old swing set. The wedding was held at the bride's late grandmother's home, The Pond House in Plains, Georgia.

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