BOUVIER-KENNEDY WEDDING HELD IN NEWPORT
Newport, Rhode Island (JFK+50) On September 12, 1953, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier and Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) exchanged wedding vows at St. Mary's Church here in Newport.
Seven hundred and fifty guests packed the church as Rev. Richard Cushing, Archbishop of Boston, conducted the marriage ceremony.
The bride, escorted by her stepfather Hugh D. Auchincloss, wore an ivory silk gown designed by Ann Lowe. It required fifty yards of material and was two months in the making.
Two thousand more spectators gathered on the street outside the church. A luncheon reception was held at Hammersmith Farm* on Narragansett Bay following the ceremony attended by one thousand three hundred guests.
Thomas Maier writes...
"The Kennedy family rejoiced when Jack started seriously courting Jacqueline Bouvier."
*Hammersmith Farm is a Victorian mansion & estate located at 225 Harrison Ave. in Newport, R.I. It was built in 1887 & was the childhood home of Jacqueline Bouvier. The home has 28 rooms.
SOURCE
"The Kennedys: America's Emerald Kings," by Thomas Maier, Basic Books, New York, 2003.
