White House gossip : $b from Andrew Johnson to Calvin CoolidgeColman, Edna M. (Edna Mary)
History
White House gossip : $b from Andrew Johnson to Calvin Coolidge
Colman, Edna M. (Edna Mary)
Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Washington (D.C.) -- Social life and customs; White House (Washington, D.C.)
But President Wilson and Mrs. Galt followed solely their own personal
predilections for a simple ceremony, and in making all of their
arrangements acted as plain citizens. They were married in the presence
of their respective families in the home of the bride just off Dupont
Circle, December 18, 1915. Nothing of pomp or ostentation occurred.
All of the trappings of state, the brilliant uniforms of the naval
and military aides, the jewelled decorations and glittering lace of
the foreign diplomats were missing. Not even the dignitaries of the
Supreme Court and the President’s Cabinet were included in the small
group witnessing the ceremony that was to place the social crown of
leadership upon the brow of another bride.
Promptly at eight-thirty the President ascended the flower-decked
stairway and escorted Mrs. Galt to the improvised altar. The Rev.
Herbert Scott Smith, rector of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, of
which the bride was a member, and the Rev. James H. Taylor, pastor of
the Presbyterian Church, where the President and his family attended,
awaited them. The choicest and loveliest of blossoms added beauty to
the setting of the ceremony. The white satin _prie dieu_, which had
figured in several of the White House weddings, on which the bridal
couple knelt to receive the final blessing, was decorated at either end
with clusters of delicate orchids, the bride’s favourite flower.
The marriage service occupied about twenty minutes, and, shortly after
ten o’clock, the President and Mrs. Wilson entered a waiting White
House limousine and were rapidly driven to Alexandria to take the train
to Hot Springs, Va.
The wedding supper, being virtually a family party, was a merry one.
The bride cut her wedding cake with the same cake knife used by her
mother at her own wedding. The cake was not supplied with the usual
fortune-telling knick-knacks but was instead a rich fruit cake, made
in several tiers, elaborately iced and decorated with frosted flowers.
The top held a cluster of pink orchids. No boxes were distributed, but
several of the guests were provided with pieces to “dream on.”
Mrs. Wilson was the widow of Norman Galt of Washington, D. C., a member
of a well-known firm of jewellers in the national capital. She had
resided in Washington twenty years before her marriage to President
Wilson, during which time she had been known for her interest in
charitable and church affairs. She is the daughter of the late Judge
William H. Bolling of Virginia, and Mrs. Bolling, and claims descent
from John Rolfe, famous as the husband of Pocahontas.
Because of international complications, the plans for an extended
wedding trip were abandoned at the last moment, and only a brief trip
arranged within easy reach of the Capital.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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