A quiet wedding Chelsea? Dream on! With 500 guests, a £3.2m bill and even a flight ban above the venue, that was NEVER going to happen

By Laura Collins


Sacred spot: The gazebo with a horseshoe of white flowers where Chelsea and Mark are saying their vows this afternoon


The groom was ‘a bundle of nerves’ and the father of the bride ‘so emotional’ he considered just getting his daughter down the aisle was ‘a major accomplishment’. As for the bride, she had, she told friends jokingly, rather hoped for a small wedding.

But it’s hard to be low-key when your big day is hailed as America’s ‘Royal wedding’, and last-minute preparations include shutting down a chunk of federal airspace, with the secret service making sure access roads to the venue are secure.


Here comes the bride: The rows of white seats for the wedding guests neatly set out in the sunshine, with a white carpet leading up to the gazebo


Yesterday afternoon Chelsea Clinton, 30, married childhood friend, financier Marc Mezvinsky, 32. And when it came down to it, the ‘hoopla’, as Chelsea described it, that comes with being the daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton, was worth it.

The ceremony was due to take place at 5pm local time in Astor Court, the former home of millionaire businessman John Jacob Astor IV, set in 50 acres of land overlooking the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, New York state.


Glammed up: A wedding guest makes her way through to one of the buses in Rhinebeck which was ferrying the exclusive congregation to Chelsea's wedding


Fit for a wedding: A girl is seen carrying a dress outside the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, New York State, this morning


Guest list: Bill Clinton's half brother Roger strolls with his son Tyler this morning, while Ted Danson arrives for the nuptials in Rhinebeck


President Obama had reportedly offered the White House as a venue, while actor Ted Danson, a family friend, suggested his home on Martha’s Vineyard. But the couple opted for a small town 90 miles north of Manhattan and the relative seclusion of the Astor estate.

Residents inconvenienced by the circus surrounding the wedding were given a bottle of wine from Clinton Vineyards – coincidentally the name of the wine producer that neighbours the Astor estate.

The bottle came with a hand­written note of apology from the couple’s wedding planner and offered a telephone number to call if there were any problems.


Glittering: Guests wait for a bus to depart from the Delamater Inn to go to the wedding


Protection: A team of security patrol the Rhinebeck streets this morning


Line up: Limousines wait outside a hotel in Rhinebeck this morning


The night before, wellwishers lined the streets of Rhinebeck as the wedding party enjoyed a rehearsal dinner at the local Beekman Arms Inn. But though they smiled and waved, Chelsea and Marc’s parents were silent about the details of yesterday’s ceremony, which is estimated to have cost £3.2million.

With a guest list of 500, it could hardly be described as intimate but, according to one source, ‘Chelsea actually has a very small circle of friends.


It's all for our girl: Former U.S. president Bill Clinton and his wife, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary arrive for the rehearsal dinner at the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck, New York


Green team: Bill and Hillary Clinton wave to the crowds as they arrive for the rehearsal dinner


He fits the bill: Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky are set to wed tomorrow


Of course she understood that, her parents being who they are, she didn’t have much choice but to have a big do.

So her one stipulation was that she and Marc had to have at least met everybody who was invited.’

Who received an invitation has been the subject of much speculation, but Steven Spielberg, producer Steve Bing, Barbra Streisand and Oprah Winfrey were expected to attend.

Tony Blair was believed to have been invited, but was unable to go.

Chelsea has been a vegan for more than ten years and instructed society caterer Olivier Cheng to provide vegetarian and vegan dishes for the wedding feast.

Her £7,000, five-tier wedding cake was gluten-free. But the meat-eaters among her guests would have been relieved to see that organic beef was also on the menu.


Party guy: Businessman Steve Bing leaves a party in honour of the happy couple on Friday


With gratitude: A bottle of wine and a note sent by Chelsea Clinton's wedding planner thanking the neighbour for putting up with road closures


The scale of the wedding has been made clear by the small army of workmen employed over the past week to construct pavilions and marquees at a cost of £400,000.

Tables and crockery are believed to have added another £75,000 to the bill.

But though Chelsea’s dress – thought to be designed by Vera Wang – reportedly cost between £16,000 and £20,000 and she was expected to wear £160,000 worth of jewellery (as well as her £600,000 engagement ring), her own style, according to one friend, is, ‘low-key and modest’.

She is currently studying for a masters degree at Columbia University’s School of Public Health.

And though she may be a far cry from the awkward, curly-haired 12-year-old who stood with her parents on the steps of the White House in 1992 when Bill was first elected President, Chelsea has no desire to follow her parents – mum Hillary is the US Secretary of State – into public office

The couple met as teenagers and their friendship gradually turned into romance. According to a friend of the couple: ‘Chelsea adores Marc and her parents do, too’.


So thoughtful: A note sent by Chelsea Clinton's wedding planner thanking the neighbor for putting up with road closures on the day of the wedding


Royal wedding: Well-wishers line a street across from the Beekman Arms Inn in Rhinebeck


Catering crews work on the sprawling grounds and under the tent at Astor Courts in Rhinebeck in preparation for the wedding




source:dailymail