Deborah Chan
The White House has been the site of wedding ceremonies and receptions for over two centuries. Since the executive mansion first opened in 1800, there have been 19 weddings and four receptions hosted by the President and/or First Lady of the United States. The most recent White House wedding was that of President Joe Biden's granddaughter, Naomi Biden, who made history as the first sitting president's granddaughter to tie the knot at the White House. This was also the first wedding to take place on the South Lawn.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Number of weddings | 19 documented weddings and 4 receptions |
| Date of first wedding | March 29, 1812 |
| Date of most recent wedding | November 2022 |
| Wedding locations within the White House | East Room, Blue Room, Yellow Oval Room, South Lawn |
| Wedding participants | Presidents, children of presidents, nieces/nephews of presidents, siblings, staffers, grandchildren, friends |
| Number of guests | Up to 1,000 guests |
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What You'll Learn
- The only US president to marry in the White House was Grover Cleveland in 1886
- The largest White House wedding was Alice Lee Roosevelt's in 1906 with 1,000 guests
- The first wedding of a grandchild of a president was John Adams II in 1828
- The first wedding of a child of a president was Maria Hester Monroe in 1820
- The first wedding of an individual not related to the first family was Mary Anne Lewis in 1832
The only US president to marry in the White House was Grover Cleveland in 1886
The White House has been the site of wedding ceremonies and receptions for over two hundred years, with nineteen documented weddings hosted by the President and/or First Lady of the United States. On 2 June 1886, President Grover Cleveland married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room, becoming the only US president to marry in the White House.
Cleveland was 49 years old and Folsom was 21. Cleveland had been a friend of Folsom's father, Oscar Folsom, and became her unofficial guardian after her father's death in 1875. Cleveland and Folsom's wedding was highly publicised, but only close associates of the bride and groom were permitted to attend the ceremony. The President himself preferred a private affair, and a reception was held for the general public a week after the wedding. Supper was held in the East Room, with a model ship made of flowers as the centerpiece. The newlyweds then left the White House and took a private train to their honeymoon in Deer Park, Maryland.
Frances Folsom was not Cleveland's first choice of partner. Before their engagement, observers thought he would marry his friend's widow. Cleveland had previously indicated a desire not to marry at all, and a White House wedding seemed unlikely. Media speculation was rife, and a Miss Van Vechten was considered the most likely bride-to-be. When Cleveland was inaugurated as president, he was still a bachelor.
Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th President of the United States, the first Democrat elected after the Civil War in 1885. He was the only President to leave the White House and return for a second term four years later.
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The largest White House wedding was Alice Lee Roosevelt's in 1906 with 1,000 guests
The wedding of Alice Lee Roosevelt, the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, and Nicholas Longworth, a Republican House of Representatives member from Ohio, took place on February 17, 1906, in the East Room of the White House. It was the largest wedding ever held in the White House, with over 1,000 guests in attendance, and thousands more gathered outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of the bride. The East Room was elegantly decorated with astilbe japonicas, palm fronds, Easter lilies, greenhouse smilax, asparagus vines, bride roses, and rhododendrons. The floral arrangements filled the room with a fragrant aroma, and the ropes used to create the aisle were covered in white satin ribbons.
Alice's wedding gown was made of exclusively American materials, including a pure white heavy satin foundation with corded satin along the seams. The rare old point lace trimmings on the bodice and sleeves were embellished with clusters of orange blossoms. The lace was a nod to her family heritage and a testament to her wealth, as it was handmade and imported from England. The four-yard court train in a white brocade satin lily pattern trailed behind the bride. To prevent her gown from being copied, Alice had the loom cards used to create the brocade weaving pattern destroyed.
Alice was known for her unladylike antics and frequently found herself at the centre of scandals, winning the hearts of the American people, who nicknamed her "Princess Alice". She smoked cigarettes in public, rode in cars with men, stayed out late partying, and kept a pet snake named Emily Spinach in the White House. Her father, President Theodore Roosevelt, once remarked that he could "either run the country or attend to Alice, but [he could] not possibly do both".
After a brief engagement, Alice and Nicholas's wedding was the social event of the season. Immediately following the wedding, the couple left for their honeymoon, which included a voyage to Cuba and a visit to the Longworths in Cincinnati. They then travelled to England and the continent, where they dined with notable figures such as King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
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The first wedding of a grandchild of a president was John Adams II in 1828
The White House has been the site of many weddings over the years, with nineteen documented weddings hosted by the President and/or First Lady of the United States. The first wedding of a grandchild of a president was John Adams II, who married his first cousin, Mary Catherine Hellen, in 1828. John Adams II was the son of President John Quincy Adams and the grandson of President John Adams.
John Adams II and Mary Catherine Hellen's wedding took place on February 25, 1828, in the Blue Room of the White House, which was then known as the Executive Mansion. John Adams was 25 years old, and his bride, Mary Catherine Hellen, was 22 years old. The wedding was a private ceremony, and the couple's first child, a daughter named Mary Louisa, was born in the White House family quarters exactly nine months and seven days after the wedding.
John Adams II followed a pattern of keeping marriages within the family. His grandfather, President John Adams, had married his third cousin, Abigail Smith. John Adams II's father, John Quincy Adams, did not continue this pattern and married a non-relative. However, John Adams II's choice of a first cousin as a bride meant that intermarriage was resumed with his generation.
In addition to John Adams II, several other children and grandchildren of presidents have also chosen to marry at the White House. Maria Hester Monroe, the daughter of President James Monroe, married her first cousin, Samuel L. Gouverneur, in 1820. Alice Roosevelt, the daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, married Nicholas Longworth in 1906, and Jessie Woodrow Wilson, the daughter of President Woodrow Wilson, married Francis Bowes Sayre in the East Room of the White House in 1913. These weddings are often referred to as "America's 'royal' weddings," and the White House social secretary takes on wedding planning duties.
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The first wedding of a child of a president was Maria Hester Monroe in 1820
The wedding of Maria Hester Monroe, daughter of President James Monroe, to her first cousin, Samuel L. Gouverneur, on March 9, 1820, was the first time a child of a president was married in the White House. The wedding was a small ceremony officiated by Reverend William Hawley, with only 42 guests in attendance. The wedding was likely held in the Blue Room, then known as the Elliptical Salon, and the wedding feast was held in the State Dining Room.
Maria was born on April 8, 1802, in Virginia, during her father's first term as Governor of Virginia. When James Monroe was sent to France the following year to assist in the negotiations over the Louisiana Purchase, he brought his family with him, and Maria learned French. Later in her childhood, she took a particular interest in the pianoforte. From 1816 to 1819, she attended Madame Grelaud's French School in Pennsylvania. She was 14 years old when her father became President, and she became a popular part of the Washington, D.C., social scene.
Maria's wedding was conducted in the "'New York Style". There were seven bridesmaids and seven groomsmen. The ceremony took place in the East Room of the White House, which had been furnished by Monroe and was opened to the public for the first time on the day of the wedding. The Reverend Doctor William Hawley, a gentleman of the old school and rector of Old St. John's Church in Washington, performed the ceremony, while General Thomas S. Jesup, a hero of the War of 1812, acted as groomsman to Mr. Gouverneur. Maria wore a light blue stiff silk dress with intricate embroidery of real wheat stalks.
The wedding caused a social scandal when Monroe's older sister, Eliza Monroe Hay, who acted as an unofficial First Lady, trimmed the guest list and snubbed large portions of Washington society. Complaints were even raised during a cabinet meeting. To appease the complaints, President Monroe sought the assistance of Commodore Stephen Decatur and his wife, Susan Decatur, popular figures in Washington society, who planned a series of lavish balls for the couple at Decatur House. However, one of these balls had to be cancelled due to Decatur's death in a duel two days after the wedding. After the wedding, the couple moved to New York, where they lived until 1844 when they returned to Washington, D.C., to allow Samuel to take a position in the U.S. State Department. They had three surviving children: James Monroe Gouverneur, Elizabeth Kortright Gouverneur, and Samuel Lawrence Gouverneur, Jr. Maria died on June 20, 1850, at the Monroe family Virginia plantation, Oak Hill, and was interred at Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.
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The first wedding of an individual not related to the first family was Mary Anne Lewis in 1832
The White House has been the site of wedding ceremonies and receptions for over two hundred years. There have been nineteen documented weddings hosted by the President and/or First Lady of the United States. The first wedding of an individual not related to the first family was Mary Anne Lewis, who married Alphonse Joseph Yves Pageot in the East Room of the White House on November 29, 1832. Lewis was the daughter of a close friend of President Andrew Jackson. Their nuptials were also the only Roman Catholic wedding ever held at the White House.
The White House has a long history of hosting weddings for first family members, relatives, close friends, and White House staff. The first wedding at the White House was on March 29, 1812, when Lucy Payne Washington, the sister of First Lady Dolley Madison, married Supreme Court Justice Thomas Todd. The only president to marry inside the White House was Grover Cleveland, who wed Frances Folsom in the Blue Room on June 2, 1886.
Other notable White House weddings include the marriage of Alice Roosevelt, daughter of President Theodore Roosevelt, to Nicholas Longworth in the East Room on February 17, 1906; the wedding of Jessie Woodrow Wilson, daughter of President Woodrow Wilson, to Francis Bowes Sayre in the East Room on November 25, 1913; and the nuptials of Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, to Charles Spittal Robb in the East Room on December 9, 1967.
In addition to weddings, the White House also hosts hundreds of events annually, including receptions for couples who were married elsewhere. For example, on December 1, 1831, Andrew Jackson Jr., son of President Andrew Jackson, married Sarah Yorke in Philadelphia. A reception for the newlyweds was held at the White House a week later. More recently, in 1966, Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon B. Johnson, married Patrick Nugent at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., with a reception at the White House for 700 guests.
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Frequently asked questions
There have been 19 documented weddings at the White House, with four receptions for weddings that took place elsewhere.
The only president to get married at the White House was Grover Cleveland, who married Frances Folsom in the Blue Room on June 2, 1886.
The most recent White House wedding was that of President Joe Biden's granddaughter, Naomi Biden, who married Peter Neal on the South Lawn in November 2022.
