Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 12 September 1953
- John and Jackie were members of the prominent American Catholic families. Their wedding was considered the social event of the season. At the time, Kennedy was 36 years old, and served as a senator. Jackie was at the age of 24, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French literature.
This day marked the famous wedding of John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Bouvier.
They had met 13 months before their engagement, which lasted about two and a half months.
John and Jackie were members of prominent American Catholic families. Their wedding was considered the social event of the season. They were married at St. Mary’s Church, and the wedding Mass was celebrated by Boston’s archbishop, Richard Cushing. Cushing later became a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, and very prominent in the United States.
He supported Kennedy’s candidacy, held a prayer during his presidential inauguration, and held the funeral Mass after Kennedy had been killed. Cardinal Cushing was a close friend of the Kennedys, and baptized their children.
Cushing even read a special prayer of Pope Pius XII during their wedding ceremony. They were married at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island. There were about 700 guests at the wedding ceremony, and even 1200 guests at the reception at Hammersmith Farm. This farm was Jacqueline’s childhood home. Their wedding cake was made by Plourde’s Bakery in Fall River, Massachusetts, and her wedding dress was made by the African-American designer Ann Lowe.
They spent their honeymoon in Acapulco, Mexico, and settled in their new home Hickory Hill in Virginia. They bought this property from the widow of the Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, who was the chief prosecutor for the United States at the Nuremberg Trials.
