LIFE

Barbara Bush Marries in Secret Seaside Ceremony

She and fiancé Craig Coyne tied the knot.

by Emily Wang
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Courtesy of Paul Morse

Surprise! It turns out Barbara Bush got married in a small, secret wedding by the seaside over the weekend. According to a report from People, the former First Daughter and her fiancé, Craig Coyne, tied the knot at the Bush summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, in what she described as a “very short, sweet ceremony” attended by only 20 people. The guests included former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush, former President George H.W. Bush, and other family members from the bride’s and groom’s sides.

Bush’s father walked her down the aisle, while her aunt, Dorothy Bush Koch, served as officiant, People reported. Her twin sister, Jenna Bush Hager, was matron of honor, while the roster of flower girls consisted of Hager’s daughters, Margaret and Poppy—who was also the ring bearer—and Coyne’s niece Emma. Laura Bush also did a reading.

Meanwhile, Coyne’s brother, Edward, was the best man, while his mother, Darlene, and sister, Katie, each read as well.

People reported that the bride, who wore a custom Vera Wang gown, also incorporated a memento from her late grandmother, former First Lady Barbara Bush, who passed away earlier this year. “It’s really sweet,” Bush told People. “The ‘something borrowed’ that I’m wearing is this bracelet that my grandfather gave to my grandmother on their 70th anniversary.”

According to People, the surprise nuptials are the first time Bush and Coyne have gone public with their relationship. The couple revealed that they got married after a five-week engagement, and have been an official couple since New Year’s Eve, after meeting during a blind date orchestrated by their friends last November. Bush told the magazine that Coyne proposed in Kennebunkport over the summer, in the same spot where George H.W. Bush had proposed to Barbara Bush 75 years prior.

“It’s just been a very sweet romance,” Bush told People. “And we’ve been long-distance for most of it — he’s been in L.A. and I’ve been in New York — but we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time together.”