Jenna Bush Hagar admitted her wedding pictures might have been very different if she’d taken the advice of her father, then-President George W. Bush, who said she should skip a big ceremony and just elope.
The first daughter’s revelation came during her show with co-host Hoda Kotb Wednesday in the fourth hour of the “Today with Hoda & Jenna” as the two were talking about how President Bush encouraged her and then-fiance Henry Chase Hager to elope in 2008 amid news of Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker getting married (without a license) in Las Vegas. The clip can be seen here.
“My dad wanted us to elope because it was a pain,” Jenna told Kotb. “He was like, ‘What are y’all doing? Y’all should just elope.'”
“I don’t know if he wanted us to go to Vegas to do it,” she added.
"My dad wanted us to elope because it was a pain." https://t.co/RlzU6OKaip
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) April 6, 2022
The wedding occurred during Bush’s presidency which was between 2001 and 2009.
In the end, dad’s plan was a no go and Jenna and Henry got married at a private ceremony at the Bush family’s Prairie Chapel Ranch near Crawford, Texas. In the past, she’s recalled special moments from the couple’s day. Throwback shots from their wedding can be seen here and below.
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“I think my dad picked me up in a pickup truck, in his pickup truck, and he said, ‘You look beautiful, baby,’ and then we both just wept,” Bush Hager previously shared on the show. “I remember seeing Henry clearly, standing there at this cross that my dad had helped build for us. It’s still there, so we have our Christmas services there that we put together. Our kids have gotten to stand on it.”
The “Today” show co-host made it clear it couldn’t have went better and even her dad has previously said it was all everyone could’ve ever dreamed of, reported the Daily Mail.
“The wedding was spectacular,” President Bush shared at the time. “It’s all we could have hoped for. It was just a special day and a wonderful day, and we’re mighty blessed.”
“Our little girl, Jenna, married a really good guy,” he added after the wedding.
In May 2020, Jenna posted several throwback shots on Instagram from her twelve years of marriage and captioned her post, “Twelve years ago I married this dude as the sun set over Texas—the day after his thirtieth birthday. Twelve years, three kids, some loss, and insurmountable JOY,—and I still love him with all of me. Happiest anniversary Hank.”
Jenna and Henry share three children together: Mila, 8, Poppy, 6, and Hal, 3.
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