The bride will wear embroidered organza by Oscar de la Renta.
That was one of the nuggets of information about the upcoming May 10 wedding of Jenna Bush and Henry Hager that was revealed on Tuesday, thanks to an advance copy of Vogue magazine obtained by the Washington Post.
Jenna and the White House had kept a tight lid on plans for the wedding, right down to the location of the nuptials. But the co-First Daughter, “a title she shares with her twin and maid-of-honor, Barbara, “consented to talk about her wedding plans for the upcoming issue of Vogue magazine. The Washington Post obtained a preview of the article and printed excerpts on Tuesday.
The gown, described as simple and casual by the bride-to-be, will feature matte beading and a small train by Oscar de la Renta, who has designed several outfits for First Lady Laura Bush. No sketches or pictures of the gown will be released beforehand, the magazine said, citing Hager's traditionalist belief that the groom should not see it before the ceremony.
Jenna's 14 attendants will wear short chiffon dresses by Lela Rose, a Texas designer, in green, blue, yellow and lavender.
There'll be no White House glamour for the wedding, which will be an informal affair at the Bush family ranch in Crawford, Texas.
Jenna told Vogue that she considered a White House affair, but felt it was too formal. "Henry and I are far less glamorous than the White House." Citing her and Hager's love of the outdoors, she told Vogue, "It means a lot to Henry and me to be outdoors. We wanted something organic and low key."
To avoid the Texas heat, the 200 guests will gather just before sunset at 7:30 p.m.
Laura Bush had hinted during an exclusive interview with TODAY's Ann Curry in February that the wedding would not be at the executive mansion. "It will be small and private. It will be lovely and simple and just perfect," she said then.
Her father has been joking about the fact that he is not the decider on wedding-related matters. During the interview with Curry in February, when he was touring Africa with his wife, he said, "I have nothing to say about it. They let me spend money." Last month, while on a visit to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the President had joked, "I had to face some very difficult spending decisions and I've had to conduct sensitive diplomacy. That's called planning for a wedding."
After the wedding, The Baltimore Sun has reported, the couple will move into a 128-year-old, two bedroom, two bath townhouse on the south side of Baltimore that they purchased for $440,000. Henry Hager is the son of John Hager, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia and assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Education under President Bush who now serves as the chairman of the Virginia Republican party.
A graduate of Wake Forest University, Henry Hager is completing graduate work at the Darden School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia and will reportedly take a job with Constellation Energy. Hager got his undergraduate degree at Wake Forest University. He interned for Karl Rove at the White House in 2003 and worked for the 2004 Bush reelection campaign, where he met Jenna.
He proposed to her last August during a hike on Cadillac Mountain in Maine's Acadia National Park.
Jenna Bush, 26, is a 2004 graduate of the University of Texas, where she was twice charged with misdemeanors for alcohol-related offenses. On graduation, she worked as a teacher for a charter school in Washington, D.C. She took a leave of absence from the job to work as an intern for UNICEF in Latin America. Her book about the experience, “Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope,” was published last year.
Along with her mother, Jenna Bush has written a second book — "Read All About It!" — to encourage children to read. The co-authors will appear on TODAY on April 22 to discuss it.