White House, the residence of the US President, has had a long history of hosting weddings of close family members. Senior staff members have also married on the premises on rare occasions. Naomi Biden, the granddaughter of US President Joe Biden, said that she will marry fiance Peter Neal on the South Lawn later this year.
The history of White House weddings dates back to the 1800s, when the first wedding party was hosted on the premises. So far, at least 18 documented weddings have been held at the White House.
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Here is a full timeline of the weddings, as per the official White House website:
March 29, 1812: Lucy Payne Washington (the sister of First Lady Dolley Madison) married Supreme Court Associate Justice Thomas Todd.
March 9, 1820: Maria Hester Monroe (daughter of President James Monroe and First Lady Elizabeth Monroe) married Samuel L. Gouverneur (Mrs. Monroe’s nephew) and private secretary to President Monroe.
February 25, 1828: John Adams II (son of President John Quincy Adams and First Lady Louisa Catherine Adams) married Mary Catherine Hellen (Mrs. Adams’s niece).
April 10, 1832: Mary Ann Eastin (grandniece of Rachel Donelson Jackson) married Lucius J. Polk.
November 29, 1832: Mary Anne Lewis (daughter of a close friend of President Andrew Jackson) married Alphonse Pageot.
January 31, 1842: Elizabeth Tyler (daughter of President John Tyler and First Lady Letitia Tyler) married William Waller in the East Room.
May 21, 1874: Nellie Grant (daughter of President Ulysses S. Grant and First Lady Julia Grant) married Algernon Sartoris in the East Room.
June 19, 1878: Emily Platt (niece of President Rutherford B. Hayes) married General Russell Hastings in the Blue Room.
June 2, 1886: President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room. Cleveland is the only president to marry inside the White House.
February 17, 1906: Alice Lee Roosevelt (daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt) married Ohio Representative Nicholas Longworth in the East Room.
November 25, 1913: Jessie Woodrow Wilson (daughter of President Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Ellen Wilson) married Francis Bowes Sayre in the East Room.
May 7, 1914: Eleanor Randolph Wilson (daughter of President Woodrow Wilson and First Lady Ellen Wilson) married Secretary of the Treasury William Gibbs McAdoo in the Blue Room.
August 7, 1918: Alice Wilson (niece of President Woodrow Wilson) married Reverend Isaac Stuart McElroy, Jr. in the Blue Room.
July 30, 1942: Harry Hopkins (administrator and advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt) married Louise Gill Macy in the Second Floor Oval Room (then Roosevelt’s private study).
December 9, 1967: Lynda Bird Johnson (daughter of President Lyndon Johnson and First Lady Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson) married Captain Charles S. Robb in the East Room.
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June 12, 1971: Tricia Nixon (daughter of President Richard Nixon and First Lady Patricia Nixon) married Edward Finch Cox in the Rose Garden.
May 28, 1994: Anthony Rodham (brother of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton) married Nicole Boxer in the Rose Garden.
October 19, 2013: Official White House Photographer Pete Souza married Patti Lease in the Rose Garden.
The White House has also hosted two wedding receptions, with the most recent one in 2008. Former President George W. Bush’s Jenna had her wedding reception shortly after marrying Henry Hager.
