Chelsea Clinton Wedding News

The Best of Summer "Five Dreamiest Weddings"

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:13:00 +0000

# Holy Matrimony "hit Hollywood hard this summer! " This season proved that love was definitely still in the T-Town air. Whether it was an intimate ceremony or a blown-out ball, some of the most distinguised duos tied the knot—anywhere from their backyard to the bahamas. To toast to all of the celeb couples who got hitched (and made summer that much hotter), we've put together a list of the dreamiest "I dos": 1. Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky: She looking like a true political princess in Vera Wang, and former president (and daddio) Bill Clinton walked his daughter down the aisle of the Astor Courts historic riverfront estate on her big day. Whether there were two helipads present, and Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg were in the crowd, the ceremony was still "intimate." 2. Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz: Talk about making sweet music! The hip-hop duo got hitched by Deepak Chopra in a small ceremony on the French island of Corsica in late July (the same day as Chelsea Clinton to be exact!). Alica was adorned in a single-shoulder, silk Vera Wang gown. Best feature? It was baby bump-disguising. 3. Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie: We can still hear the wedding bells chiming, because Hilary and her hubby were just wed in Santa Barbara! Although she may have started her big day with a chipped tooth, the starlet looked stunning in an organza Vera Wang gown, and the small, 100-person ceremony—plus the big, $1 million dollar rock—turned the wedding day into a (worked-hard-for) fairytale. 4. Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher: The couple wed mid-June in Georgia, and more than 250 guests—including Tim McGraw and Faith Hill—were in attendance. As for the fashion? The beautiful bride wore a Chantilly lace and silk gown by Monique Lhuillier, topped off by a 40-carat diamond-encrusted tiara. And even her pup, Ace, wore a Swarovski crystal-encrusted pink tuxedo. Now, that's a stylish affair. 5. Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz: Marrying intimately at a friend's home in the Bahamas, the caliente couple kept their soiree so private, the press barely got wind of it! Nevertheless, the duo—whose been dating since 2007—shot down rumors of a shotgun wedding. And it wouldn't be right to celebrate the dreamiest and leave out the one that kept us awake at night: The Most Nightmarish Wedding of Summer 2010: Rush Limbaugh and...Elton John?: No, this odd couple didn't marry each other—Rush has worked too hard to make sure that sort of thing never happens. But the Grammy-winning, openly gay singer did perform at the super conservative radio host's fourth wedding to Kathryn Rogers in June. Talk about building bridges...

Chelsea Clinton's wedding - Very inviting proposition? Not for some VIPs.

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:26:00 +0000

In the vast concentric circles of Clintonian friendship, a new vocabulary defines coolness. The lingo doesn't pivot on name-dropping. But wedding-dropping.

"I'll see you after The Wedding" spoken at stage-whisper levels translates into "I'm so very, very tight with the fam. Wink, wink." Nary a mention of Bill or Hill or Chelsea necessary. Inclusion in the wedding confers an intimacy, an extra-special, next-generation "friend of the family" status that stands alongside FOB or Hillaryland bona fides -- a family triangle of triangulation. It's a kind of closeness that no private-jet sit-down, business collaboration or political grip-and-grin, no matter how exclusive, can achieve.

They're not A-listers, this "see you after the wedding" crowd, but something beyond. "That's the Triple-A list," says John Catsimatidis, a billionaire New York supermarket mogul whose chumminess with the Clintons, and knack for raising megabucks for their campaigns, did not, alas, merit an invitation. "They'll look at themselves as the lucky ones," Catsimatidis says.

The nuptials of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky are scheduled to take place Saturday in all their secretive, in-crowd glory at a secluded mansion protected by a no-fly zone and barricaded roads outside the village of Rhinebeck in the country-home paradise that is the mid-Hudson Valley. Managing the guest list, a scant 400 or 500 -- a big bash for life-size folks, a tiny gathering for the JumboTron-scaled Clintons -- presented a hyper-delicate challenge for Madam Secretary, Mr. Former President and their First Daughter, family intimates say.

The talking points that evolved seem to honor and elevate their only child, while providing cover for parents whose political and social lives intertwine, sometimes: The guests must have a personal connection to the bride or the groom. This is Chelsea's day, not her famous parents' day.

"They respect her and what she thinks. . . . They want what she wants," says a family friend who is attending the wedding and agreed to speak for a few moments only after a series of cross-my-heart, hope-to-die, stick-a-needle-in-my-eye promises of anonymity. "They raised her to be her own person -- independent in thought."

In some cases, intermediaries communicated the message to the dearly snubbed, family friends say, and sometimes even the former president himself lodged an I-feel-your-pain call. Still, there are whispers of injured feelings among the elites in Washington and New York who were left out. Some feel compelled to feel bad on behalf of others. New York donor Victor Kovner, not going? How could that be?

D.C.'s top secret?

The allure juicing the celebration only intensifies because of the secrecy. (Another first daughter, Jenna Bush, had her own fabulous nuptials in 2008 when her dad was still commander in chief. Jenna took less of a wedding-as-state-secret approach, sharing dress details with Vogue editors.)

Divining the invitees to the Clinton soiree is a Washington parlor game of the most status-clarifying kind, an exercise in who's up, who's down and who's on the bubble. Wedding guests and non-guests alike shudder at the thought of the Clintons finding out any hint that they've been gabbing. The clampdown is a testament to the loyalty the Clintons inspire and the intensely genuine affection many feel for Chelsea, as well as an acknowledgement, for some, that banishment from the circle would be the assumed punishment.

"I'd have to kill myself after we talked, so I think I'll pass," one Washington pooh-bah and logical invitee says. A curious number of sources asked about the guest list simply respond "nope," as if working from a script. Even normally talkative types operate in a cone of silence, politely ducking interview requests through their assistants. "Thank you for thinking of Mandy for this piece," writes an assistant to Mandy Grunwald, a typically chatty Clinton spinmeister. "Unfortunately she won't be speaking on this topic."

The left-out group is more firmly established than the let-in group. President Obama, whose victory nixed the White House as a wedding venue, won't be going -- even said so on "The View" -- nor will former British prime minister Tony Blair, he of the Special Relationship with Bill Clinton, according to a spokesman. Al and Tipper Gore, now in the throes of a separation, issued a statement a while back that they won't be attending, without elucidating whether they were invited.

Among those widely expected to be "in" are Hillary Clinton's brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham; whether Bill's brother, Roger -- always entertaining -- will make the scene is a favorite topic. The smart money is on Tony Rodham's daughter, Fiona, as flower girl. There will surely be plenty of school and work friends of the bride and groom, and the whispering classes are feeling awfully confident that the guests will include Washington power broker Vernon Jordan and his wife, Ann, as well as Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a wealthy businesswoman and Clinton stalwart, and Elizabeth Bagley, a former ambassador to Portugal who navigates the upper tiers of Georgetown society.

Heavy speculation also centers on former White House chums, such as Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for women's issues who was once Hillary Clinton's chief of staff, as well as on Capricia Marshall, the current White House chief of protocol who is said to have grown close to Chelsea while serving as her mother's social secretary. Another widely expected guest is Huma Abedin, the elegant aide who is Hillary's right arm; she married New York's feisty congressman Anthony Weiner in a ceremony officiated by Bill Clinton earlier this month. Abedin is considered so tight with the MOTB that one Clinton friend quipped that two of HRC's daughters are getting married this summer.

'A no-fanfare person'

Hillary Clinton's biological bride-to-be maintained her Garbo-esque reticence as her big day approached. "What she's trying to do is minimize the atmospherics that have been created around this -- all the stuff around the edges," a wedding guest says. "The irony is that Chelsea is such a no-fanfare person."

Chelsea -- now a stylishly flat-ironed and poised 30-year-old, not the gawky, curly haired teenager of our memories -- demands privacy, officially. Then again, she opts for a wedding extravaganza that commands spotlight attention, rather than following the au courant celebrity model of the tiny wedding in a private residence. To some, there is an element of "don't look at me, look at me" to the whole affair. She slips into a big floppy hat to conceal her identity, but heads through the front door to visit dressmaker Vera Wang -- an image predictably captured and splashed all over the Web.

"The wedding seems as conflicted as the Clintons can sometimes be," says Doug Wead, an aide to the first President Bush who has written extensively about first families. "She's a private, dignified woman; on the other hand, she's getting married two hours from New York City."

The shabby-chic rhythms of Rhinebeck resist the effects of hype. Still, it's impossible to avoid the wedding, especially when Bill Clinton is popping out of a vehicle in the middle of town, shaking hands and sitting down for lunch Friday afternoon at a place called Gigi Trattoria. Shop windows are festooned with happy-couple congrats -- an image of Chelsea and Marc on a wedding cake at Wing & Clover, an art shop a few steps from Rhinbeck's only stoplight; two doves kissing above a pencil drawing of Chelsea, and a streetside photo of Bill and Hillary Clinton at Pete's Famous Restaurant.

Before the former president's arrival packs the streets, the hordes of reporters occupy themselves with the ramblings of a couple promenading one evening in Bill and Hillary Clinton masks. "I was just on ABC and CBS, the Daily News and the New York Post, all in the past 20 minutes," Gary Kiernan says after slipping out of his Bill Clinton mask. In the lobby of the Beekman Arms, tourists interrupt tales of their canoe trip to observe a cameraman running past the window.

Not surprisingly, there's a fair amount of grumbling from villagers annoyed about the invasion of cars, the hubbub, the road closings -- there always are in these situations, regardless of the location. "I wanted to make a sign that said, 'Royalty, Go Home!' " says Michael Tucker, a filmmaker, from the back porch of his picturesque home on River Road, near the wedding location. "That's what it has been like -- royalty. . . . This is not the Hamptons!"

No one expects the full royal treatment, a Lady Di train or a Cinderella carriage, for these lavishly inconspicuous proceedings, but the rumors of price tags in the several millions and the daughter of George Soros hosting the former first family suggest a swankified affair. The invitations went out cryptically, revealing only that the festivities would take place outside New York on July 31. Guests were asked to select from several hotel price ranges, and a travel agent made the reservations, as well as transportation arrangements, one invitee explains. Just this week, guests began getting individual phone calls firming up the details. They will be bused to the wedding site, Astor Courts, a beaux-arts mansion hidden by thick stands of trees. The 13,000-foot spread, with striking views of the Hudson River, was designed by renowned architect Stanford White to resemble the Grand Trianon at Versailles, for John Jacob Astor IV, an industrialist who died in the sinking of the Titanic.

The vista, with the black-tie occasion expected sometime around sunset, is certain to be spectacular. But there will be much more than nature's magnificence on display. Once the guests arrive, they will know most for the first time just who's really in and just who's really out. And, surely, they will remember.

!!! Selling price for Astor Court upped

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 03:40:00 +0000

RHINEBECK – Before Chelsea Clinton’s wedding was held at Astor Court in Rhinebeck, the palatial estate built in 1902-1904, was on the block for sale for $12 million.

Now, two weeks after the wedding of the century that drew public officials and notables to watch Chelsea wed Marc Mezvinsky, the facility, which was inspired by the Grand Trianon at Versailles, is back on the market for $13.5 million.

The realtor handling the property, Harry Hill III of Rhinebeck, did not return a phone call for comment. But, the H.H. Hill Realty Services, Inc. website lists Astor Court as: “Located on 50 secluded, pastoral acres, this classical pavilion-style home offers panoramic views of the Catskill Mountains and 2000 feet of river frontage – and, it has a Letter of Patent from New York State guaranteeing access to the Hudson River in perpetuity.”

According to the website, the structure, also known as Astor Casino or Ferncliff Casino, was originally built as a sporting pavilion with indoor tennis court, swimming pool, squash courts on the main level and a bowling alley on the lower level.

In 1941, the building was converted to a residence.

“The current owners have completed a scrupulous renovation of the structure back to its original plans,” according to the website. The owners were not identified.

Will Chelsea Clinton play the marriage name game?

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 02:39:00 +0000

Is Chelsea a keeper or a changer?

That's what researchers call the newly married once they figure out what to do — if anything — about their names. Now that the big Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding is a wrap and Rhinebeck, N.Y., is back to its idyllic self, the question remains what Chelsea's choice will be.

There are loads of options, from making up brand new names and hybrids (Clevinsky) to hyphenates and add-ons like mom (Hillary Rodham Clinton). Research suggests more women than you might think — 77 to 95 percent — legally change their names when they marry, including those who take the time to make a switch but incorporate their maiden names informally to preserve their identities on the job.

Jo-Anne Stayner, who provides name-change assistance at ImaMrs.com, said the decision today for many first-time brides is all about the value of a woman's digital footprint, along with her educational and professional oomph. We're not all Clintons, but we still care about the name game.

"With most women establishing a career before marriage (the average new bride is about 27 years old), it makes sense to want to protect the personal brand they have worked 14-hour days to create," Stayner said.

The question-and-answer site Ask.com fields more than a million queries every day on a variety of subjects. In the last 30 days, three of its top 25 questions covered marital alphabet soup.

— How long before a wedding do you start planning for a name change?

Once engaged, Ask's experts recommend. Legal steps must usually wait until after the ceremony because a marriage certificate is required as proof of a name change. Gathering forms and researching requirements can take time, so getting a prenuptial jump on the chore will help. Government agencies, banks, credit card companies and employers have their own procedures.

— Whose last name goes first in hyphenation?

The decision is usually based on sound, alphabetical order or personal preference.

— What percentage of brides takes their husband's name?

Though recent research indicates a range spanning well over half, Ask cited one study done at Indiana University last year estimating 80 percent, with 70 percent of Americans surveyed saying brides SHOULD take their husband's last name. A recent study out of the Netherlands indicates women who use their husbands' surnames earn an average of about $1,150 less a month than those who keep their maiden names. Name-changers were generally older and had less education.

Presidential daughters over the last four decades have either left their names alone or pushed them to the middle.

At 30 with an advanced college degree and some work experience to her credit (as an investment analyst), Chelsea's a pretty average bride, other than her dad being a former president, her mom secretary of state and her pricey nuptials dubbed the latest wedding of the century. She's off on a top-secret honeymoon with no name announcement yet.

But consider Samantha Saephan, 29, of the San Francisco Bay Area. She's a public relations manager for a large communications and will soon dive in to a name change after getting hitched to Sean Thai on May 22. Of ethnic lu-Mien origin, her parents are from Laos and named her Meuang Ay Saephan. She chose Samantha for her public self in middle school but remained Meuang Ay legally and at home.

"I already knew that I wanted to change my last name so I would have my husband's last name," she said. "It's a little bit of being old fashioned and traditional, and also further down the line when we do have children I'd like to have the same last name as my kids."

Saephan wants to preserve part of her past, a decision made easier by her lack of a middle name. "I'm going back and forth on what part of my birth name I should leave as a middle name so I'll still have something tied to my birth name."

On the table are "Samantha Saephan," "Samantha Meuang Ay Thai" and "Meuang Ay Thai."

Business law professor David Ryan Polgar, 31, in West Hartford, Conn., married Leslie Doane the same day Saephan and Thai wed. Doane legally took her hubby's last name, informally preserving Doane as a second middle name for her work as a real estate agent.

"I want to come up in searches if people look me up under Doane, but the whole process is frustrating," she said.

And the male perspective? "I could never imagine changing my name," her husband said.

Lauren Rotchford, 34, in Atlanta needs more time to make the leap after marrying Randy Holmes on May 8. She wants to change her name, but she's having trouble letting go.

"I think it's important. We're married. He's my husband and I want to show that I'm committed to him," she said. "It's just that I feel like I waited a while to get married and I have experience in my career and I'm known as Lauren Rotchford. It's a little bit harder than I thought it would be."

Until recently, Mary Dean Taylor's feminist side was battling her madly in love side over taking on Birkel as she counts down to her wedding in Kansas City, Mo. "He'd really like for me to take his last name, though he hasn't been insistent or vocal about it," said Taylor, 31.

She had a recent revelation to do the extra middle name thing informally and legally take on the hub's surname. That's four names. "My boss is already practicing," Taylor said.

In San Antonio, Texas, Alisa LeSueur is confidently on the other end of the spectrum. She was 46 when she married for the first time two years ago. It was husband Rob Salter's second time around.

"There was never a doubt in my mind that I wouldn't change my last name when I married," she said. "It doesn't make sense to me that I should lose my entire identity just because I have chosen one person to share the rest of my life with."

Chelsea Clinton on safari in SA for honeymoon

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:32:00 +0000

It seemed the high-profile marriage of Chelsea Clinton to Marc Mezvinsky was being followed by a hush-hush honeymoon in South Africa.

The high-profile couple got married two weeks ago in upstate New York in a lavish ceremony.

The destination of Clinton and Mezvinsky’s honeymoon was a closely guarded secret but it was revealed that the couple headed into the bush on a safari in South Africa.

Bill Clinton has reportedly declined to comment on speculation about their honeymoon spot but various sources have let it slip.

Family Values: Chelsea and Marc v. Bristol and Levi

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:43:00 +0000

Who would you bet is more likely to graduate from college? The yet-to-be born children of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky or Tripp Palin, the child already born to Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, who became pregnant at 17? Therein lies the secret of America's declining educational performance.

The United States, which once led the world, has fallen to twelfth in the percentage of its citizens that graduate from college, according to a column by Bob Herbert in last Friday's New York Times.

The time has come to admit the truth every parent knows -- childrearing today is harder and more expensive than it was in the era in which America rose to prominence. Higher education became less affordable even before the Great Recession forced the states to slash education budgets, and the loss of close knit communities means that parental supervision has become more important in keeping children out of trouble. In our book Red Families v. Blue Families, we explain that "blue families" have responded to this reality by investing more in each child, and encouraging them to wait to have children until they, too, can bring the emotional and financial resources of independent adults to the task. Chelsea and Marc represent the new ideal, and there is every reason to believe that they will have considerable resources to bring to childrearing. Bristol and Levi, in contrast, represent the outcome of a system that preaches abstinence without the foundation of adult supervision, a promising future, or draconian consequences that once made it work. They bring Tripp into a world that simultaneously says having the child and keeping it is an acceptable choice, but you are on your own in dealing with an environment that provides little support for childrearing.

In another era, marriage would have been the answer. Levi would need to get a job, but jobs were plentiful. Today, the lack a high school diploma keeps him out of the electrician's apprentice program in which he tried to enroll, and the alternatives (outside of cashing in the notoriety that comes from his connection to the Palin family) are bleak. In the meantime, he is likely to father (if he hasn't done so already) other children to whom he contributes little support.

In another era, Bristol may have found married life confining, but the stakes for her have become much higher. Teens who marry young face bleaker financial circumstances, and they have always faced high risks of divorce. Over the last twenty years, the overall divorce rate has leveled off, but the chances that young couples like Bristol and Levi will remain married have worsened appreciably and more women, like Bristol, decide that the prospective groom simply doesn't offer enough to make marriage worthwhile.

For Bristol, marriage itself has risks that extend far beyond the discovery that Levi is a cad. If marriage were to make it more likely that she has a second child soon after the first or that she relies on her husband's earnings rather than her own, both her marital happiness and her prospects for life without Levi decline. Two career couples and stay-at-home moms with successful husbands are both doing well; financially stretched couples where the mother has to work because of the father's failure to earn enough to support the family are not -- and working class men now earn less in real dollar terms that they did a generation ago. Many parents, apparently like the Palins, experience relief when their daughters fail to marry the fathers of their children.

All of this magnifies the uncertainties for Tripp's future. The stimulation a child receives during the first three years, and parental ability to provide that interaction, increases with the parents' education and the support the caretaking parent has from others. Single mothers are stretched thin. As the child grows, the child needs medical care, parents who can supervise homework and afterschool activities, love and supervision. College graduates are more likely to be employed in workplaces that offer health insurance, flexible hours, and parental leave, and they are more likely to live in neighborhoods that still have effective public school.

As high school students start to plan for college, those who are most optimistic about their futures are also more likely to remain abstinent (and to use contraception if they don't). And with more students unable to afford the traditional college experience, the odds of keeping less hopeful students on track become more difficult.

While we emphasize that blue states do better than red states in delaying marriage and investing in children, the differences are ones of degree. Sarah Palin is a hero to her constituency because she and Bristol both had inconvenient children rather than resort to abortion. Her supporters realize that the conservative elite more commonly follows the blue prescription -- invest heavily in the children you have and protect them from the youthful temptations that threaten the futures of the next generation. The Tea Partiers just do not believe that their tax dollars should be used to help the children of others; indeed, the Republicans in Congress are blocking efforts to provide emergency funding to prevent teacher lay-offs. The modern economy and the triumph of conservative economics magnify inequality and make the stakes of childbearing that much higher. Hillary -- not Sarah -- is the Mama Grizzly in this story.

We Guessed Right! Chelsea Clinton Is On A South African Safari For Her Honeymoon!

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Chelsea’s honeymoon destination has finally been revealed, and it looks like her and new hubby Marc Mezvinsky have headed into the wild!

It looks like Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky have headed into the bush — they are celebrating their honeymoon on a South African safari! WWD reports, “sources say the newlyweds have headed into the wild — South Africa.” We guessed right!

President Clinton declined to comment on these speculations Monday, having said little since the wedding except to note his daughter’s nuptials were “wonderful.”

The paper goes on to point out the benefits of a safari for Chelsea and Marc, “First, few would recognize them in South Africa. And second, what paparazzi is going to risk being attacked by a lion or rhino just to get a photo of the couple?”

In our opinion, there may be more than a few paparazzi heading their now willing to take that risk for just one shot!

Chelsea's wedding includes Luc's chef's risott

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:51:00 +0000

Amid glittering guests and watchful Secret Service men, Luc’s head chef Jason Hicks was hard at work two weekends ago, making risotto for Chelsea Clinton’s wedding celebration.

“I guess altogether we probably had about four chefs and 20 to 25 cooks,” said Mr. Hicks, a young Englishman who has worked at Luc’s Cafe on Big Shop Lane for about year.

“I was the risotto course, which was a trio of risottos,” he said.

“One plate with three indentations with an ounce of risotto in each: One was morel mushrooms and summer truffle; the other one was Meyer lemon; and the other saffron.”

Mr. Hicks worked in the New York City restaurant scene before coming to Luc’s. He got involved in the Clinton wedding through one of his former kitchen colleagues.

“The chef at the catering company was my former sous chef at La Goulue in the city,” Mr. Hicks said.

“And he’s now the chef of the catering company that did the wedding and he wanted some people like me there,” he said.

“He needed some eyes and ears and experience and so on to cover different areas.”

Chelsea Clinton married Marc Mezvinsky on Saturday, July 31, at Astor Courts, a 50-acre estate in Rhinebeck, N.Y., with a beaux arts mansion designed by Stanford White and built for John Jacob Astor IV in 1904.

The meal was planned for 550 guests, Mr. Hicks said.

“I think the final count was 527, 528,” he said. “We were working on 550.”

The crew of close to 30 chefs and cooks started days ahead and worked off-site and on-site to cater the event.

“It was being prepped the whole week, stuff that could be prepared ahead of time,” Mr. Hicks said. “Friday we did a big prep day and Saturday we started at 7 in the morning at the commissary, the kitchen. We loaded the trucks, transported the food, and got back to the commissary at 5:45 the next day — it was a pretty long day, a 23-and-a-half hour stint.

“There was a lot of staff, about 600-plus waiters, plus Secret Service and everything else,” Mr. Hicks said.

With the bride the only daughter of former President Bill Clinton and current Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, this was a wedding with a lot of precautions.

“The security was incredible,” Mr. Hicks said. “It was something to believe. You can imagine.

“We had to pass CIA checks for our ID — that was a couple of weeks before the wedding. Once we got to the venue, we had pass security to get our IDs, and we had to show our IDs,” he said.

“Then they bus you from that site, which is off the premises, they bus you in to the property. From there they check bags and so on.

“There was a lot of Secret Service there and, periodically, through the event, they did security checks — looking for bombs, or whatever.”

Mr. Hicks was born in Stratford on Avon, and brought up in Birmingham in the English midlands.

He’s been in United States about 16 years.

“Always been in the city, though, in Manhattan,” he said. “I’ve just been coming out here for the last year.”

He said Chelsea’s wedding seemed to come off fine — as far as you could tell from the kitchen, anyway — and it was a positive experience to work on the big event.

“It all went very well. There’s nothing that left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing,” he said.

“It was the wedding of Chelsea Clinton. But, the end of the day, my background is doing that kind of thing in a restaurant environment: For me, it’s wasn’t a ‘wow’ kind of deal,” Mr. Hicks said.

“It was fun,” he said. “It was as fun as a 23-and-a-half hour day could be.”

Chelsea Clinton's wedding helps to sell expensive real estate

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 20:14:00 +0000

The ink has barely dried on Chelsea Clinton's marriage license, but already her lavish wedding is being used as a marketing tool to attract some of world's wealthiest consumers.

Astor Court Estate, the tony Rhinebeck, N.Y. manor where Clinton wed investment banker Marc Mezvinsky, is back on the market with a splashy new ad this weekend in the "House and Home" section of the "Financial Times," a British newspaper that caters to some of the planet's most sophisticated money men.

The ad, which occupies page 6, is headlined "Historic Estate Now on the Market -- Home of Recent Celebrity Wedding," a claim the house couldn't have made just 10 days ago.

Celebs notwithstanding, the sale itself is hardly breaking news: Astor Court was listed for a cool $12 million last October. It was only in early July that owner Katherine Hammer took the house off the market so that security and staff could prepare for the Clinton wedding.

The 30,000 square foot mansion is situated on 50 manicured acres overlooking the Hudson River. The laundry list of amenities includes an indoor pool, indoor tennis court, and 3,000 square feet of "staff quarters."

Little surprise, then, that on July 31 the house easily accommodated more than 400 guests hosted by the bride's parents, President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In addition to party goers, a small army of caterers, florists, valets, and groundskeepers was brought in for the day.

It's safe to assume real estate agents will be dropping the wedding's celebrity names for the foreseeable future, including Barbra Streisand, Oprah Winfrey, and director Steven Spielberg.

Chelsea Wedding Has Town Atwitter

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 14:53:00 +0000

The only thing more apparent than the charm in Rhinebeck, a town tucked away about 100 miles north of New York City, is the chatter.

People on the outside may be skeptical, but Rhinebeck residents are preparing for a royal wedding. They are convinced this quaint town of 4,600 will host Chelsea Clinton's nuptials.

Jim Langan, the editor of the Hudson Valley News, said he had no doubt that it is happening in Rhinebeck.

"Anyone who says it isn't happening here is dead wrong," he said. The former first daughter and her fiancé, Marc Mezvinsky, are expected to tie the knot July 31.

"This is a small town and we have more moles here than a vegetable garden," Langan said. According to his sources, Clinton and Mezvinsky will say their "I dos" at the 50-acre Astor Courts on the Hudson River.

The guest list allegedly includes President Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg and Barbara Streisand.

Speculation is that the rehearsal dinner will take place at a stone barn near town called Grasmere.

While ABC News shot video of it, the crew was escorted off the property by police and then told their information would be given to the Secret Service.

If it is a rouse just to throw people off, it's an expensive one. Several area inns are booked, including The Beekman Arms Inn, where a plaque on the wall boasts the father and mother of the

She Make Clinton Sparkle

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 09:42:00 +0000

Chelsea Clinton's wedding had top New York caterers, a floral designer based in Paris, a first dance choreographed by a performer from "Dancing with the Stars." But despite her being a former first daughter (and the daughter of the Secretary of State), one thing was missing: a strong Washington connection. Except for where jewelry was concerned.

Ann Hand and her eponymous Palisades store were responsible for the accessories that adorned the neck of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (and the ears of her mother, Dorothy Howell Rodham) at Chelsea's wedding in Rhinebeck. The custom-made, three-strand pink Swarovski crystal necklace (estimated cost: $350) and matching drop earrings accentuated the mother of the bride's pink Oscar de la Renta gown. But it was hardly the first time Clinton had called on Hand for help in the bling department.

"We first met when Bill [Clinton] was governor of Arkansas ... and we started to see them in Washington socially and formed a nice, easy relationship," Hand told POLITICO about the start of her and her husband's — former U.S. Chief of Protocol Lloyd Hand — friendship with the couple. Hillary Clinton became one of Hand's first clients after moving to the White House; the first piece Hand created for the then-first lady was the store's now-famous "Liberty Eagle" pin, which features a gold eagle adorned with a pearl (Madeleine Albright has one as well). Hand was Clinton's go-to jewelry designer during the 2008 presidential campaign; Clinton frequently asked for multi-strand necklaces to fill-out the necklines of her famous pantsuits.

"She really likes to soften the look of a business suit, so I often make something in different colors to coordinate with those types of outfits," Hand explained. She described Clinton's style as "restrained elegance."

Bill Clinton has worn some of Hand's work as well. In the Ann Hand store, there's a photo of the then-president hugging the store-owner, her eagle cuff links peeking out from his shirt.

Of course, Hand has a long dossier of Washington elites on her roster — the Clintons are hardly her only fans — not to mention a Hollywood star and the Queen of Soul. Other clients include: first ladies Laura Bush and Nancy Reagan; Cindy McCain; second lady Jill Biden; Ethel Kennedy; Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan and his wife Ann; Sen. Mitch McConnell; Teresa Heinz; and the wives of two Supreme Court Justices, Mary Kennedy and Cecilia Marshall. Geena Davis wore one of her designs when she played the female president in "Commander in Chief; Aretha Franklin calls on her too, when she comes to town.

Yet even though she's been dealing with politicos and celebrities for years, Hand said the Clinton wedding was a truly unique event.

"I was overjoyed to be included the big guys, with Oscar and Vera," Hand said, referring to de la Renta and Wang, who designed Chelsea's dress.

Chelsea Clinton's Food Choices Rock the Wedding World

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:46:00 +0000

Though the wedding is long over, nitpickers are dissecting every choice of the new Mrs. Mezvinsky's wedding. On the chopping block today? The food. Chelsea Clinton is a vegetarian, and it was already reported that she had a gluten-free wedding cake. But she also made the decision to serve meat at the reception dinner. And now, the argument over what kind of food to serve at weddings is shaking the internet to its core.

Two weeks ago, Serious Eats posed the question of whether or not you would impose your own dietary preferences on your wedding guests. Responses were pretty split. Some said guests should expect to eat what the bride and groom want. "It's their wedding," said AnnieNT. "The happy couple gets to do whatever they want. Seriously, did you think this wedding was about the guests???" But greenteacups said, "I am a vegetarian and so is my husband but at our very-small wedding, we had a menu for vegetarians and a menu for meat eaters...I thought, why not, let everyone enjoy themselves because that's what I want when I get married." And now the Times is on the scene.

One vegetarian couple told them, “If you go to an Indian wedding, you don’t expect Italian food. So why should this be any different?” But vegan pastry chef Fernanda Capobianco disagreed, saying the reception is about everyone's tastes. "We are inviting chefs like Eric Ripert and Daniel Boulud," she said. “How can we invite chefs and then have no meat? They’ll think we’re crazy."

The Times also looks at Chelsea's wedding style choices, which are apparently gamechangers. Her "pristine, minimalist and unembellished" wedding is now all the rage with brides-to-be. Wedding planner JoAnn Gregoli said, "It was sleek and clean, and I've had clients tell me, 'I don't want anything on my aisle, like Chelsea Clinton.' Brides are looking at that and seeing that less is more." And what is more romantic than a wedding based on the fleeting trends of the time?

Chelsea Clinton ‘Dirty Dance’ with Maksim

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:45:00 +0000

By Roger Friedman

Here’s some last little tidbits from Chelsea Clinton’s wedding. Remember? It was a week ago, and it took up everyone’s attention. Now, hey…it’s been a week!

Apparently, Bill Clinton was very moved after seeing Chelsea and Marc do a dirty dance to “At Last,” choreographed by Maksim Cherchmerkovskiy from “Dancing with the Stars.” He said:”I just talked to the priest and he told me as long they were married before did that sexy dance it was still a PG wedding.” The father of the bride also added, according to a wedding guest: “As long as Chelsea could articulate a thought–which was about when she was 8 years old–I’ve been outnumbered two-to-one. Now it’s two-to-two and I’m so grateful to you, Marc.”

A little more on the groom’s father, Edward Mezvinsky. As I told you, he didn’t walk his son down the aisle. “He is shunned by the family,” says a source. The ex-con congressman got to sit at the main table–a long dais–but at the far end, away from the happy couple and his ex wife.

And Chelsea’s matron of honor was Nicole Davison Fox, her former roommate, married to a hedge fund guy.

The Tragic History Of Chelsea's Wedding Poem

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 16:23:00 +0000

Leo Marks's poem "The Life That I Have," read as part of Chelsea Clinton and Mark Mezvinsky wedding ceremony, seems on the surface to be the perfect wedding poem. It's straightforward and employs simple language--easy for the guests to understand and appreciate with one listen--and it comes across as genuinely emotional with its incantatory and almost pleading repetition of "yours and yours and yours." Here's the full text of the poem:

The life that I have
Is all that I have
And the life that I have  
Is yours

The love that I have  
Of the life that I have  
Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have  
A rest I shall have  
Yet death will be but a pause

For the peace of my years  
In the long green grass  
Will be yours and yours  
And yours

The emotion behind the poem, it turns out, was genuine and intense. Marks wrote it on Christmas Eve in 1943 for his girlfriend Ruth, who had just died in a plane crash. In his 1998 memoir "Between Silk and Cyanide," Marks wrote of the poem's purpose, "I transmitted a message to her which I'd failed to deliver when I'd had the chance."

That's heartbreaking enough, but there was more tragedy to come. When Marks wrote the poem, he was serving as chief code breaker/cryptographer for Winston Churchill's famed Special Operations Executive, the group tasked with encoding allied messages and cracking German codes. A mathematical genius, Marks reportedly cracked Charles de Gaulle's personal cipher during a spare moment on the toilet.

When Marks joined the Special Operations Executive, it was common practice to use well-known poems as the ciphers for encoding messages. Marks found this appalling, as any Nazi with a book of British classics could crack the ciphers, so he took to using his original poems instead.

"The Life That I Have," Richard Hyfler noted in an article for Forbes Magazine, turned out to be an ideal poem to use as a cipher, with its "absence of the high-value Scrabble letters like 'z' and 'x' or words with double letters that make code easier to decipher." Marks eventually gave it to a beautiful, young agent with the French resistance named Violette Szabo to use as her personal code. Before the end of the war, Szabo was compromised then tortured and killed by the Nazis. Her travails, along with the poem, are remembered in a 1958 film called Carve Her Name With Pride. You can watch a scene from the movie below.

There's something beautiful and uplifting in seeing Marks' poem freed from its tragic context and put to its original use as a statement of love and devotion in such a public forum (Clinton and Mezvinsky were apparently unaware of the poem's history when they selected it). But perhaps now, we should remember the pain and the sacrifice tied to it.

Chelsea Clinton's wedding venue still up for sale, but for higher price

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:07:00 +0000

The price of Chelsea Clinton's wedding venue, Astor Courts, has been raised from 12 million dollars to 13.5 million dollars after the high profile event.

Astor Courts owner is still trying to sell the venue, which hosted what was being dubbed as "wedding of the year."

Kathleen Hammer is trying to cash in on hosting Chelsea Clinton's wedding at the 50-acre Rhinebeck estate she and her developer husband are trying to sell, reports the New York Post.

At least 10 house-hunters have already checked out the mansion- including Susan Sarandon. (ANI)

Americans felt connected to the wedding of Chelsea Clinton and Marc

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:05:00 +0000

The best and worst part of Chelsea Clinton's wedding to Marc Mezvinsky last weekend were one and the same.

The family managed to keep it a private affair with almost no high-powered celebrities or politicians, which cannot have been easy when the bride's dad is a former president and her mom the current secretary of state.

Of course, it helped to have the Secret Service on duty. But despite all the wild predictions about glitzy guests, there wasn't an Oprah Winfrey or a George Clooney in sight. The vast majority of the 400 invitees were friends and relations of the bride and groom.

I read somewhere that guests were prohibited from bringing cameras and cell phones to prevent unauthorized images and postings.

Good for them. The Clintons kept a joyous family occasion from becoming a media circus. Which didn't stop the media from trying to make it one, camped out around Rhinebeck, N.Y., and delivering nonstop speculation with almost no actual facts. Depending on the outlet, the wedding was said to have cost $1 million, $3 million, $6 million ... the longer reporters went without news, the higher the imaginary price tag climbed.

Yet this very sense of privacy and proportion (relatively speaking) that I admire was keeping me from indulging one of my guilty pleasures: I wanted more pictures, of everything, and I actually felt as if I deserved them. Not proud of it, but there it is.

Having watched Chelsea grow up from an awkward tween to a lovely, graceful and assured woman, I felt a sense of ownership that is wholly inappropriate. And in a country where political families are as close as we come to royalty, I'm not the only one.

I don't know these people, but I feel as if I do. I have witnessed many of their highest and lowest moments over the years -- Mr. Clinton's election and impeachment, Mrs. Clinton's presidential run and "18 million cracks in the glass ceiling" concession speech, and that iconic image of Chelsea literally holding her parents together as they traversed the White House lawn during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Well, they are still together. For all the broken promises and self-inflicted wounds, the vicious attacks by political foes and merciless coverage, Mr. and Mrs. Clinton's marriage has endured. Maybe frequent trips to different time zones help, but there's no denying their longevity has defied the odds.

So it made me happy to see them all so happy, celebrating a wonderful moment for the daughter who is arguably their greatest accomplishment. Even their harshest critics had to concede that the Clintons did a great job with Chelsea, and now they had the pure joy of seeing her marry the childhood friend she grew to love, in a ceremony acknowledging both their religious traditions, hers Methodist, his Jewish.

Having suffered through the bad times, I wanted more and better pictures of the good ones. I wanted to see both of the Vera Wang gowns, the one Chelsea wore for the ceremony and the slinky one she changed into for the reception. And the Oscar de la Renta dress worn by the mother-of-the bride. And the bridesmaids and ushers in their finery.

I wanted a close-up of the ketuba (the marriage contract written in Hebrew, which is the large artwork on the easel in the official wedding shots) and a longer shot of the chuppah, or marriage canopy, in this case a woven bower of branches and flowers. I wanted to see the groom stomping on a wine glass, and the principals lifted on chairs and danced around the room at the reception. I wanted to see the table settings, the flowers and the gluten-free cake -- in short, the whole enchilada.

I don't normally feel this way about famous people's weddings and wasn't much interested when the children of Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Al Gore or George W. Bush got married. But then, I didn't watch any of them grow up in the midst of Shakespearean plot lines. Yet I felt a similar need for pictures in 1996, when John F. Kennedy Jr. married Carolyn Bessette in a much smaller and far more secretive affair. It was a function of having witnessed his family tragedies over the years, and his journey from the little boy saluting his fallen father's coffin to the grown man holding the hand of his bride.

Speaking of grooms, one might have thought Marc Mezvinsky was an orphan and only child for all the mention of his family in most reports when, in fact, he has two living parents and 10 siblings, several of them adopted. Not a single picture of them was among the official portfolio released to the press -- not even the brothers in the wedding party.

I'm guessing that's how the Mezvinskys wanted it. Marc's parents, Ed Mezvinsky and Marjorie Margolis-Mezvinsky, are both former members of Congress. His father served five years in prison for financial fraud, and his parents divorced shortly after the crimes came to light. Apparently, Mr. Mezvinsky was something of a mini-Bernie Madoff, bilking family and friends of millions of dollars, and is persona non grata among most of the relatives. But he was still invited to the wedding, where he reportedly stayed in the shadows while the groom's mother accompanied him down the aisle. That's another picture I wanted to see, mother and son together.

Maybe more photos will be coming out -- as I write this, People magazine is touting some exclusive shots that I haven't had a chance to check. Not that I'm rushing the newlyweds, and not that it will be any of my business, but I'm looking forward to their first-born.

Twin Cities brides-to-be took one at Chelsea and said, 'I do, too'

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 07:01:00 +0000

The calls started Monday morning at L'Atelier Couture Bridal in St. Paul: Brides-to-be want the Chelsea Clinton look.
"The response has been great and refreshing," says L'Atelier owner Amanda Kautt. "Chelsea seems like an achievable style icon."
Just five official photos were released from the wedding last weekend of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's only daughter. But that and the scant details eager reporters were able to glean from the closely guarded affair (Gluten-free cake! Hillary Clinton wore Oscar de la Renta!) seem enough for industry experts to confirm a return to tradition.
"She didn't set trends but was very on-trend," says Anja Winikka, editor of theknot. com.
Here's how:
The dress: Chelsea Clinton wore a strapless A-line gown custom-designed by Vera Wang. A classic choice, Winikka says, elevated with trendy details like the glamorous laser-cut swirling silk organza ball skirt and embellished sash around the waist.
"The beaded sash is going to be huge," predicts Marie Suchy, co-owner of Posh Bridal Couture in Minneapolis. "We've had them in the store, but now that brides have seen it on somebody big, they're going to request it. It's a piece you can wear in the ceremony and take off or just wear to the reception."
The textured skirt is another look gaining in popularity, Suchy says.
"For years and years, 'simple' has been the operative word in dresses," says Twin Cities-based

wedding photographer Liz Banfield, whose pictures have been published in Martha Stewart Weddings and other national magazines. "I definitely think brides will take this look as a launching point for taking more risks with their wedding gowns and go for a grander statement." L'Atelier is one of the few Twin Cities boutiques that carry Vera Wang wedding dresses. Kautt says her shop offers a dress similar to the one Clinton wore. The "Diana" gown, adorned with a vanilla-colored sash, sells for $6,990.
Knock-offs for less than $1,000 are already in production and will hit eDressme.com and stores by October.
The veil: Clinton brought back the traditional long veil and walked down the aisle with a blusher over her face. "It's very old-fashioned — many brides don't do it anymore," Banfield says. "But I think the blusher always looks beautiful."
The reception dress: For the reception, Clinton changed into a silk tulle Grecian Vera Wang gown with a crisscross back and grosgrain black belt. Wearing two dresses isn't only a trend at million-dollar weddings, says theknot's Winikka. Convertible dresses, with a long hemline that can be removed, are becoming more popular. "The trend is to wear a traditional dress and then switch into something more fun, typically after the cake cutting." It helps shift a reception into a more relaxed after-party mode or to make a surprising exit. "Brides are bringing back the big exit where they jump into a car. What's old is different."
Groom's suit: Groom Marc Mezvinsky skipped the classic tux and bow tie in favor of a slim suit and skinny tie by Burberry designer Christopher Bailey, who dressed the father of the bride in similar fashion. Credit "Mad Men" with inspiring this nod to the '60s.
Bridesmaid dresses: Bucking the trend of letting bridesmaids pick their silhouette or color, Clinton opted for a uniform look with lavender chiffon, strapless bias-cut gowns and contrasting plum bows by Vera Wang. "We're moving away from laid-back and homespun to something more elegant and cleaned up," Winikka says.
Mother-of-the-bride dress: In a dramatic break from her signature pantsuits, Hillary Clinton appeared every bit the modern mother in an Oscar de la Renta silk raspberry gown. "It's cool for mothers to see they don't have to wear black or brown," Winikka says. "They can look beautiful, too."
The bouquet: The bride carried an all-white bouquet. Simple, says Winikka, and it does not distract from the dress.
The cake: The traditional wedding cake has played second fiddle to lavish dessert bars in recent years, but Clinton brought it back in grand style. Hers was vanilla with dark mouse filling and decorated with 1,000 sugar flowers brushed in silver. It was also gluten-free, so the bride, who is allergic to gluten, could enjoy it. Ingredients matter to today's brides and grooms, Winikka says. "We hear brides say all the time that they would pare down the menu so they could use higher-quality fresh ingredients."

EXCLUSIVE : Bill Clinton: Chelsea's Wedding Was 'Wonderful'

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Exclusively caught up with Bill Clinton backstage at the First Annual World Leadership Awards -- hosted by our own Kevin Frazier -- in Atlanta on Friday night, and in a rare public comment on the subject of his daughter Chelsea's wedding, the former president told ET the nuptials were "wonderful."

Clinton was honored with the Service Legacy Award at the awards ceremony, which was thrown by music star Usher's New Look Foundation, a non-profit organization that strives to motivate and mobilize youth around the country to become corporate and community leaders.

Also on Friday, Clinton broke ground on a new, communal hurricane shelter in Haiti following his Clinton Foundation's $1 million pledge to improve hurricane safety. The nation's 42nd president also announced that, inspired by the Clinton Foundation's commitment, the American Red Cross is investing $1 million to develop additional emergency shelters, and will invest $4 million more as other shelter sites are identified.

One week ago, Clinton walked his daughter Chelsea down the aisle when she married longtime beau Marc Mezvinsky at the lavish Astor Courts estate in Rhinebeck, New York.

Spielberg "Spent Clinton Wedding On Farm"

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 17:33:00 +0000

Steve Spielberg allegedly chose to skip Chelsea Clinton's wedding day to care for piglets in the English countryside.

The Jurassic Park director was originally reported to be one of the celebrity guests at the former first-daughter's recent nuptials, but it has since been discovered that the 63-year-old actually spent the day at a farm in the Dartmoor village of Widecombe-in-the-Moore.

Philipa Hughes, the owner of Holwell Farm, told the Daily Express that Spielberg had been scouting the site for use in his next project, a big budget adaptation of Michael Morpurgo's novel War Horse.

"It has been chaotic but very memorable," she said. "He came here last Saturday for a recce of the area. It was Bill Clinton's daughter's wedding and much of the world's media thought he was there.

"We showed him around the farm, showed him the views and he met the animals, like our piglets and Dartmoor ponies. He was very friendly and unassuming. He loved the animals and we found him a very easy person to be around."

The cast for Spielberg's War Horse, which includes Cemetery Junction star Emily Watson and Benedict Cumberbatch ofBBC drama series Sherlock, was revealed back in June.

Interfaith couples offer advice for Chelsea and Marc

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 15:02:00 +0000

Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky last week entered into what many consider a challenging world: not just marriage, but an interfaith marriage.

Such marriages are steadily increasing, said Jeff Goldenberg, director of adult Jewish learning for the Jewish Community Center. The rate of interfaith marriage among U.S. Jews is about 50 percent, he said.

“We know this is going to happen,” he said, “so now the question is, ‘How do we address this issue?’ ”

Although Chelsea and Marc may hear from family, friends and even outsiders on this topic, a few Christian-Jewish couples offered their wisdom on how to make an interfaith marriage work:

Not everyone will be accepting

“Some people are judgmental,” said Mark Katz of Kansas City, Mo., who is Jewish and has been married 18 years to his wife, Jill. “You have to feel comfortable with your decisions.”

When Don and Leslie Nottberg of Overland Park, Kan., were married in 1976, many assumed their marriage would fail.

“We had to deal with our families as well as other people who did not know us well but felt they had a right to tell us the odds were against us and that we had made a wrong decision,” Leslie said. “But for who?”

When the Vows Break: Clinton Marriage and Legal Matters of Faith

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 14:36:00 +0000

The media dubbed it "America's Wedding" -- last week's glitzy, high profile nuptials of former President Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, and her now husband, Mark Mezvinsky.

More than the bride's Vera Wang gowns, the reception's extravagant price tag and the big-name guest list, what really got people talking was that Clinton was raised Methodist and Mezvinsky is Jewish.

Major newspapers and TV networks were all over the inter-faith marriage angle -- and I understand why.

Interfaith newlyweds likely will face a slew of challenges over the course of their marriage that same-religion couples don't have to deal with. Often the most difficult issue is deciding how a couple will handle the religious divide when it comes to raising future children. And sadly, more than half of those couples wind up in divorce court.

Because Clinton and Mezvinsky are such a high profile pairing, it's a pretty safe bet that they negotiated a pre-nuptial agreement or even a ketubah -- Jewish agreement that usually details how the couple will raise their children in the Jewish faith, among other things.

At the very least, Clinton and Mezvinsky have probably talked privately about how their religious differences will be handled during their marriage.

It's best for inter-faith couples to settle on how they plan to handle a child's religious education, and how holidays and religious traditions will be celebrated before they say, "I do."

Because if the marriage ultimately doesn't work out, it's my experience that rifts over religious ideals can make already contentious issues such as child custody and visitation potentially volatile situations.

For instance, an interfaith custody case involving one of my clients made national news just weeks before the Clinton/Mezvinsky wedding.

I was hired to advocate to uphold the ketubah agreed to by Rebecca Reyes, who is Jewish, and Joseph Reyes, who is Catholic, when they were married in October 2004. The agreement called for the couple to raising their daughter in the Jewish faith.

Following their separation in April 2008, Mr. Reyes had the child baptized in the Catholic Church against the girl's mother's wishes. He even called a TV news crew to film him taking his daughter to church services in violation of a court order.

The Reyes court fight has lasted more than two years so far, and Fox News, CBS and NBC all featured the case on national news shows.

While the judge ultimately determined Mr. Reyes could take his daughter to church, he still faces criminal charges for allegedly violating the court order. And the case is currently pending an appeal before the First District Illinois Appellate Court.

Unfortunately, the laws of most states do not provide a means of resolving these issues before they occur. Provisions in a prenuptial agreement touching on religious upbringing are only sporadically upheld.

Courts often view these provisions as creating too much of an entanglement between church and state, in violation of the First Amendment, or else may find that the best interests of the child are better served by letting the child experience the religions of both the mother and the father rather than excluding either one.

While enforcement of an agreement may not be guaranteed, it is still best make a decisions about how you two might handle a child's religious upbringing before its time for a baptism or bris.

You might be surprised at how strongly one of you feels about your particular faith -- or wants to raise a child in the same traditions they grew up with.

After all, it's easier to discuss those things now at home with your future spouse, than later in a law office with a divorce attorney like me.

Chelsea Clinton Wedding Dress:Exclusive Photos,Pictures and Details

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 09:46:00 +0000

Chelsea Clinton

Chelsea Clinton Wedding Dress:Exclusive Photos,Pictures and Details -

Chelsea Clinton’s Vera Wang wedding dress cost an estimated $20,000. If you love this style and are hoping to re-create Chelsea’s look, here are some similar dress ideas for less:

Chelsea’s gown is a modified version of the “Diana” dress from Vera Wang’s Spring 2010 line. Clinton changed the neckline and added a crystal belt to accentuate her tiny waist. Sites like Preownedweddingdresses.com have the “Diana” dress for half the retail price. Check Etsy for a belt like Chelsea’s at a fraction of the price.

Monique Lhullier’s strapless organza “Sunday Rose” also has the look of Chelsea’s gown with a pleated bodice and rose embroidered A-line skirt. This dress retails for $9,500 but can be found on sites like Once Wed for a discounted price.

The Signature Galina gown at David’s Bridal has cascading organza tiers and asymmetrical ruffles just like Chelsea’s dress. Retail price $1,150.

Special "Chelsea Clinton" Wedding Photo Shows Bride with Mother, Grand mother

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:36:00 +0000

NEW YORK (CBS) Three generations of women pose side by side in a newly released photo from Chelsea Clinton's wedding.

The image shows the bride posing with her mother, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and her grandmother, Dorothy Howell Rodham.

Chelsea Clinton Mother,Grand mother

Pictures: Chelsea Clinton's Wedding Day

The picture shows more of Clinton's ivory strapless gown with a laser-cut organza ballgown skirt and a sparkly belt, which was designed by Vera Wang, and also gives a better look at her mother's dress, a fuchsia gown with floral details by Oscar de la Renta.

A guest at the wedding told People magazine that when the mother of the bride walked down the aisle, "it took your breath away."

"She looked stunning-like a princess. She was beaming," the guest continued.

A friend of the secretary of state added that she was "so thrilled and over the moon about the dress" and her role as mother of the bride.

And another friend of the Clintons told the magazine it was important that Chelsea's grandmother, seen in the photo wearing a grey dress with a sparkly brooch, was included in the big day.

"It was so important to Hillary to share her daughter's day with her own mother. When the three of them are together Hillary isn't the secretary or the senator or the celebrity -- she is her mother's daughter and her daughter's mother."

Chelsea Clinton married Marc Mezvinsky in a much-talked-about ceremony last Saturday in Rhinebeck, N.Y.

Chelsea Clinton's Private Life

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 14:29:00 +0000

Despite the nation's best attempts to make the biggest and most personal day of Chelsea's life a public spectacle, the Clintons kept it private.

Someone even likened the New York nuptials to America's "royal wedding," which would have been the antithesis of the young woman's raising. Whatever they did wrong, the Clintons did something right in rearing Chelsea.

We haven't heard much about her since she was a shy schoolgirl living in the White House. She hasn't been arrested for drunk driving, or romanced a movie star, or been a tabloid cover girl. She finished school, started to work and now has married a young man she's known for years.

Chelsea Clinton's Private Life

The point is this: When running against the Clintons, Republicans always bragged about their stand for "family values." It was always a vague, nebulous -- some would say hypocritical -- term, but we voters knew what was meant. It harkened to Bill Clinton's womanizing and Hillary's feminism. We somehow were supposed to think Republicans had cornered the market on morality.

Guess again. The unlikely Larry Flynt made that point clear during the white hot heat of the Monica Lewinsky affair. For every Democratic skirt-chaser, he found three Republicans with loose zippers. Seems that no one political party had cornered the market on straying spouses.

As a hellbent political and professional couple, the Clintons have stumbled more than once. But from all evidence, they were on the same page about Chelsea. They fought for her privacy like tigers on the road to the White House, during a presidency kept on tender-hooks by political enemies, throughout a terribly public airing of dirty marital laundry. When an adult Chelsea campaigned for her mother during the failed Hillary presidential campaign, we were almost surprised.

Family values are different for each and every family. That's why they are called "family" values. They aren't decided by a single religion, a majority vote or one political party out to exploit mistakes of the other.

In choosing public lives for themselves, Bill and Hillary invited into their lives intense scrutiny, zealous critics and both sides of the coin stamped by fame. Some would say they thrive on it.

They had the decency, however, to protect Chelsea till she could choose a course for herself. How easy it might be for a Clinton daughter to run for office, write a best-selling book, travel the world meeting princes and trailing paparazzi. So far, at least, she's chosen a much more sensible route. As first daughter, even with protective parents, perhaps she had enough publicity to last a lifetime.

I think the abiding image this nation might have of Chelsea Clinton will have nothing to do with a fairy-tale wedding or with the peripheral hubbub like pepperoni pizzas with meat that spelled out "I Do." I think, instead, it will be the photograph of a much younger Chelsea, walking between her parents, holding both their hands, on their way to try to patch up an ailing family. Something about the young woman's body language exuded love and determination and, yes, hope.

Every marriage has problems, every family its struggles. Chelsea and her new husband no doubt will have their share of trials, self-induced and otherwise.

Something tells me that life has given Chelsea a leg up in the coping department, however. I think the family values she grew up with -- yes, while living with Bill and Hillary -- will serve her well.

Read more: The Williamson Daily News - The private life of Chelsea Clinton

Chelsea Clinton Wedding webite For Sale

noreply@blogger.com (December) — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 05:03:00 +0000

Chelsea Clinton Wedding webite For Sale

For anyone who wants to really have a wedding like Chelsea Clinton, there may be an opportunity: the estate in Rhinebeck, New York where her wedding to Marc Mezvinsky took place over the weekend is for sale for $13.5 million. The Astor Estate, which dates back to 1904 to the son of John Jacob Astor III, had been on the market for $12 million, but since hosting the so-called “wedding of the century” brokers said there has already been interest and immediately raised the price. Another Rhinebeck resident whose house went up for sale the day before the Clinton wedding said he had already seen an increased number of inquiries due to the interest of visitors to the town.

Read it at The Wall Street Journal