President Bush: An 'Awfully Special' Wedding Weekend

By Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, Darla Atlas and Anne Lang

May 11, People

As tiny Crawford, Texas, and surrounding towns emptied of wedding guests on Sunday, President Bush pronounced the weekend an "awfully special" one. And, by all accounts, an emotional one for the First Family.

"Our little girl, Jenna, married a really good guy," the president told reporters on the tarmac before boarding Air Force One with First Lady Laura Bush and his parents for the return trip to Washington, D.C.

The ultra-private wedding on Bush's gated ranch was the president's first turn at playing Father of the Bride. In a suit and tie (Jenna, aiming for a more "natural" and casual affair, didn't want black-tie), Bush walked his 26-year-old daughter down the aisle to a limestone altar topped by a 4-ft. cross where she and Henry Hager, 30, exchanged vows just as the sun set. The bride's twin sister and maid of honor, Barbara, did a reading during the ceremony, as did their grandfather, George H.W. Bush.

The former president later joked that he'd had a whole speech planned. "It was supposed to be 40 minutes but they cut me back to 20," he kidded reporters aboard Air Force One before stopping himself, noting that he had been told not to talk about the wedding.

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photo: President Bush poses with daughter Jenna (Photo by: Shealah Craighead / White House)