The marriage on Saturday, July 31st, of Chelsea Clinton to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky is undoubtedly the wedding of the year, but details of the nuptials have been top secret. Even the M.O.T.B. (Mother of the Bride), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has kept her lips sealed when questioned by reporters around the world.
Still there is lots of available dish about the star-studded, politically powerful occasion. Let's review what we know.
- Although nobody is officially confirming, it seems most likely that the bride will walk down the aisle at Astor Courts, a secluded estate along the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, New York. The estate was built as a Beaux Arts style playground for John Jacob Astor IV more than a century ago. Astor Courts sits on 50 acres more than enough to shield the party from the prying eyes of uninvited guests and paparazzi. Other advantages: Rhinebeck is only about sixty miles from Hill and Bill's Westchester home, and not far from New York City airports. All the town's hotels and guest houses were booked months ago, and the party tent is already going up.
- The guest list has been limited to a mere 400, although there have been reports that the list may have grown to 500. Even that is somewhat skimpy, considering that Chelsea's mom and dad know practically everybody worth knowing. But to get on the list you had to know Chelsea as well as the former first couple. Among probable attendees are Barbra Streisand, Oprah, and Steven Spielberg. The latest dish is that the Obamas will not attend. Among those who never found an invite in their mailbox were some of the Clintons' biggest financial contributors. Remember, the M.O.T.B. keeps saying it is "Chelsea's wedding, really just a family occasion."
- The price tag? Estimates range from two to five million dollars! That factors in a couple hundred thousand for the place, $750,000 for the catering, $250,000 for the flowers, $40,000 for the invitations, and $15,000 for extra-fancy portable toilets. One wedding watcher has figured out that each slice of the $11,000 wedding cake will cost $22. And you thought your daughter's wedding was expensive.
- The most likely designer of Chelsea's wedding dress is either Vera Wang or Oscar de la Renta, with the cost of the dress somewhere between $5000 to $25,000. Earlier in the week, Chelsea was spotted going into Vera Wang's. Mom dropped by a little while later. So it seems Vera has won the prize. No doubt copies of the dress will be on sale within a couple of weeks.
- Want to know more about the groom? Marc, who really is tall, dark and handsome, works at a hedge fund and is the son of former Iowa congressman Edward Mezvinsky and former Pennsylvania congresswoman and NBC reporter Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky. His parents are divorced. He once worked for Goldman Sachs, but now is at the hedge fund G3 Capital and is pretty successful at his work. Hebought a $3.8 million, three-bedroom, 2,000 square-feet condo in New York City in 2008. The couple has known each other for years. They met as teenagers and both attended Stanford. While Chelsea is Methodist like her mom, Marc is Jewish. Will a rabbi help perform the ceremony? Will the couple break a glass at the end of the ceremony, which is part of Jewish tradition? Inquiring minds want to know.
- Many friends say that the couple have a lot in common. Especially since both have fathers who have gotten into a bit of trouble. Bill faced that nasty little impeachment, of course, while Marc's dad is a convicted felon who went to jail for five years for bank, mail and wire fraud. Edward Mezvinsky duped friends, associates and even his mother-in-law in business related scams.
- Both Marc and Chelsea will have strong and powerful mothers-in-law. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and is the founder and chair of Women's Campaigns International, an organization that provides advocacy training for women around the world. As a single woman, she adopted two children, a girl from Korea and a second girl from Vietnam. At the time, she was the first single woman in the United States to adopt a child from another country. When she married Edward Mezvinsky, the family grew to a total of 11 children, including four Edward Mezvinsky had from his first marriage, two sons together, and three additional sons adopted from Vietnam.
- Rumor has it that the playlist the couple has given the band is mainly 60s and 70s music, including hits by Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Sam Cooke, and Michael Jackson. Other selections include Abba's "Dancing Queen," Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man," and Ike and Tina Turner's "Proud Mary." Hey, we always knew Baby Boomers had the best music.
- How will the elder Clintons handle this emotion-packed event? At times Chelsea seemed the glue that kept the family together. The M.O.T.B. has admitted to serious nerves, and as for the F.O.T.B. "You should assume that if he makes it down the aisle in one piece it's a major accomplishment," she said last week. "He is going to be so emotional, as am I."
- Even though we know a lot about the wedding, there are still some big mysteries out there. Where are the couple going on their honeymoon? What will the wedding ring look like? What song will betheir first dance? What advice did dad and mom give the bride? And, of course, the question that hangs over every wedding: Will they live happily ever after?
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