Jenna Bush's Wedding Kept Quiet

May 9, 2008 — -- President Bush left Washington, D.C., Thursday to head back to Texas, gearing up for a top-secret affair this weekend.

His daughter is getting married.

On Saturday evening, first daughter Jenna Bush is set to wed Virginia native Henry Hager in Crawford, Texas, at the 1,600-acre Bush family ranch.

The weekend is filled with events -- a rehearsal dinner today and a barbecue lunch in addition to a wedding ceremony and reception Saturday. More than 200 friends and family are expected to attend festivities at the secluded ranch, which is 20 miles from major hotel chains and restaurants.

It is a rare event for a president's child to get married -- the last wedding was Tricia Nixon's lavish White House bash in 1971.

Saturday's down-home festivities will be more casual and it is not black-tie dress. Jenna even joked that she didn't think she was glamorous enough for a White House wedding.

Though the first daughter opted out of a White House wedding, she isn't alone in her decision. Only nine out of 22 presidential children who have been married chose the White House as their setting. Much like her niece, Dorothy Bush chose a private ceremony at Camp David. That wedding was so secret the press found out about it only after it happened.

"She just wanted to get married at home. She just feels a lot more comfortable there," said first lady Laura Bush. "And it will be really beautiful."

But don't expect many, if any, details. "There will be absolutely no readout of the wedding, whatsoever," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters Thursday. "This really is a private event for the family."

Johndroe added that the Bush family may choose to release a couple of wedding photos Sunday.

For Jenna, 26, getting married at her family's secluded ranch was not only for privacy -- she has used the location as a theme in the wedding.

"The color choice for the attendants' dresses are really taken from native Texas wildflowers," designer Lela Rose told ABC News. "So you can really see the influence of what growing up in Texas and having those wildflowers every spring has done for the wedding."

Rose, a Texan, is also one of Jenna's friends. She and her staff have been busy for months with the attendants serving as the house party.

"There are seven different styles and seven different colors," said Rose, describing the dresses.

Twin sister Barbara, the maid of honor, will a wear a floor-length dress in a deep blue color to match her eyes.

"I absolutely think Barbara will cry -- Jenna and Barbara are so close," said Rose. "You can just tell that they adore one another and they always have."

The bride will wear an Oscar del la Renta embroidered gown, under wraps until Saturday night, so Hager will be totally surprised. She will don iced quartz drop earrings by Texas jeweler Anthony Nak.

President Bush explained his contribution to the wedding in an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America's" Robin Roberts.

"My one contribution is to -- we put a giant cross made out of Texas limestone that will serve as the altar, but also serve as a landmark on our place for years to come," he said.

In recent months, the wedding has clearly been weighing on the president. He often slips wedding lines into his policy speeches to lighten up large crowds.

"I had to face some very difficult spending decisions and I've had to conduct sensitive diplomacy. That's called planning for a wedding," Bush said jokingly to a chamber of commerce audience in March.

The president is preparing for the big event by taking tips from comedian Steve Martin who plays the goofy dad in the "Father of the Bride" movies.

"Laura sends her very best," Bush said Tuesday, explaining that the first lady was en route to Texas for the wedding. "She left behind a DVD -- with Steve Martin. Said you might want to watch this before you head down there yourself."

Laura Bush took time to tell reporters she was thrilled to finally have a son. "It's a very interesting passage of life when you get to that time in your life when your child, first child is getting married. And we're getting, for us, our first son. So it's a thrill and we're very happy about it."

Hager, the groom who turns 30 on the eve of his wedding day and graduates with a master's degree the following week, proposed at sunrise to Jenna at Acadia National Park last summer. The former aide to Karl Rove knows the White House well and met her during the 2004 re-election campaign.

Jenna has tried to shed the party-girl image she got while in college. In the fall of 2006, she was hired as an intern by UNICEF to teach and chronicle the stories of children in four countries.

Last year, she became an author after writing a book, "Ana's Story," based on one of the young women she'd met in Latin America.

Jenna said she will return to teaching after the wedding. The couple plans to settle in Maryland.

The Baltimore Sun reports Hager bought a $440,000, two-story, 128-year-old row house south of downtown Baltimore.

The nearly 2,000-square-foot house is believed to have been a dry cleaners and a candy shop, has exposed brick walls, a fireplace and an attached garage.