{"id":326658,"date":"2026-03-07T11:45:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T11:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/326658\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T11:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T11:45:08","slug":"love-story-what-was-carolyn-bessette-john-f-kennedy-jr-s-wedding-actually-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/326658\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Love Story\u2019: What Was Carolyn Bessette & John F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s Wedding Actually Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wedding took place at the First African Baptist Church on the northern edges of Cumberland Island. Per JFK Jr: An Intimate Oral Biography by Rosemarie Terenzio and Liz McNeil, John had heard that, following the assassination of his uncle, Robert Kennedy, the island\u2019s inhabitants had gathered at this particular church for a special service in his honour. The story moved him\u2014and convinced him that it was the ideal venue for their wedding, rather than the beach or another private residence.<\/p>\n

On hand to officiate at the brief Catholic service was Reverend Charles J O\u2019Byrne of New York\u2019s Church of St Ignatius Loyola, where John\u2019s mother Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis\u2019s funeral was held in 1994. Tragically, just three years after this wedding, O\u2019Byrne would also preside over Kennedy and Bessette\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n

The guests<\/p>\n

Only 40 guests were invited to the wedding, including John\u2019s cousin Anthony Radziwill (who served as his best man); John\u2019s sister, Caroline Kennedy (Carolyn\u2019s matron of honour), and her husband, Edwin Schlossberg; and their kids, Jack (the ring bearer), Rose and Tatiana (both flower girls). Also in attendance were Jackie\u2019s longtime partner, Maurice Tempelsman, and Carolyn\u2019s immediate family.<\/p>\n

Notably not on the list? Anthony\u2019s mother and Jackie\u2019s sister, Lee Radziwill. She and John weren\u2019t close, and though Carolyn did reportedly question him on the decision, it felt like the right one for them.<\/p>\n

To house all their guests, John and Carolyn took over as many family homes on the island as they could. In lieu of fancy cars, everyone got to the ceremony on pick-up trucks, and were given distinctive, rare Buffalo nickel coins to carry around, to show the security teams when required.<\/p>\n

The rehearsal dinner<\/p>\n

As shown in Love Story, the celebrations kicked off with a rehearsal dinner at the palatial Greyfield Inn<\/a>. For it, Carolyn wore a dress designed by Narciso Rodriguez, her friend from her time as a publicist at Calvin Klein. It was similar to her wedding dress\u2014a nude-coloured, bias-cut slip embellished with crystals and with a tank-style neckline. She paired it with white Manolo Blahnik slingback sandals for the occasion.<\/p>\n

At the dinner, Edwin Schlossberg made a toast which featured the line, \u201cPolitics plus fashion equals passion,\u201d which he also had printed onto T-shirts. Carolyn\u2019s mother, Ann, also spoke, telling the crowd that she hoped her daughter would have the strength to cope with her new public life.<\/p>\n

The dress<\/p>\n

Carolyn\u2019s Narciso Rodriguez wedding dress\u2014a pearl-coloured, silk cr\u00eape, sleeveless, bias-cut slip with a cowl neck\u2014was the product of extensive consultations with her friend. Carolyn, by all accounts, wanted something simple that wouldn\u2019t look dated or feature much adornment. She flew to Paris for a number of fittings, and Narciso and his team apparently designed three different wedding dresses for her to choose between. The gown she ultimately picked required several adjustments, including on the day of the wedding, which resulted in Carolyn arriving at the ceremony about two hours late.<\/p>\n

It was clearly worth it\u2014the dress remains one of the most famous wedding looks of all time, and rightly sent Rodriguez stratospheric. Just a year later, the designer was able to launch his very own label.<\/p>\n

The schedule\"Image<\/p>\n

Photo: Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wedding took place at the First African Baptist Church on the northern edges of Cumberland Island. Per…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[161513,12904,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-326658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-american-story","tag-carolyn-bessette-kennedy","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}