Bush has said she felt pressure to marry her fiance, Henry Hager, at the White House. “I went back and forth a lot,” she told Vogue. But, she added, “That’s not really my personality. There’s a glamour to it, I know, but Henry and I are far less glamorous than the White House.”

Besides, said an acquaintance who did not want to be identified speaking about family matters, Bush never felt that Washington, D.C., was her home.

There were to be be between 200 and 250 guests — mostly members of the extensive Bush clan and Hager’s family, friends of the bride and groom and longtime family friends. “It’s a small wedding for anyone whose dad happens to be president of the United States,” the acquaintance said.

From Jenna Bush’s accounts, it’s clear that Hager, the scion of a Virginia political family, is a traditionalist. He sought the president’s permission for the marriage and has insisted on not seeing the wedding dress beforehand. Hence, no pictures or sketches.

Carl Sferrazza Anthony, historian of the National First Ladies’ Library, said the president’s unpopularity, the nation’s focus on choosing his successor and, most important, the Iraq war have diminished interest in the wedding. “Everything else, whether touching, amusing or mildly controversial, is going to play second fiddle to that,” he said.