Jenna Bush shuns White House glamour to marry in Texas

(REUTERS)

As soon as the Texas sun starts going down this evening, Jenna Bush will become the first presidential child in decades to get married during her father's term. "We will be laughing, weeping, hollering," predicts George Bush. "It's going to be a great time."

A most private affair, the wedding ceremony will be held outdoors at the Bushes' Crawford ranch. Dinner and dancing follows for 200 guests, more than half of whom are relatives; the rest are close friends.

Hardly a day has gone by lately without George or Laura Bush mentioning Jenna's marriage into a prominent Republican family.

The nuptials even intruded into one of Mrs Bush's rare diplomatic forays. On her first visit to the White House briefing room she let rip at the Burmese regime for not accepting American aid to victims of the catastrophe, before adding: "I'm going to leave tomorrow for Crawford, for Jenna's wedding, and I wanted to be able to make a statement about Burma before I left."

President Bush revealed that he tried and failed to persuade Jenna to go for a glamorous White House wedding and society party ... but no cigar. During the worst of the Vietnam War, LBJ got such a boost from marriage at the White House of his daughter Lynda Bird Johnson to Marine Captain Chuck Robb. A Rose Garden wedding would have done wonders for Bush's dismal poll ratings, but he was forced to concede that a White House extravaganza was "not Jenna's style, she didn't want the whole world looking at it".

The media is definitely not invited. There is a no fly zone overhead, CNN will not be cutting live to the ceremony, and People magazine will not be getting a cover story.

Jenna and her intended, Henry Hager, the 29-year-old scion of a Virginia family who used to work as an aide to Karl Rove, are outdoor types who got engaged while hiking on Cadillac Mountain in Maine.In the latest issue of Vogue, Jenna explains her choice of wedding venue: "It's my home. I was raised in Texas, and it just felt right," she said, "It means a lot to Henry and me to be outdoors. We wanted something organic and low key."

The Bush-Hager wedding will not be without frills though. Her engagement ring has a round diamond, a Hager family heirloom, and two sapphires. Oscar de la Renta designed her wedding dress, which she says is "a very structured organza gown, with embroidery and a bit of matte beading that is simple and elegant with a bit of a train but somehow still casual". Jenna's twin, Barbara, will be the only bridesmaid.