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Chelsea Clinton's Dream Wedding (in Bill Clinton's Little Rock?)

1 year ago
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Suzi Parker
Suzi Parker
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It would be the Arkansas equivalent of a royal wedding.
That is, if Bill and Hillary Clinton hosted Chelsea's upcoming nuptials in her home state of Arkansas rather than in New York.
Chelsea, 30, plans to marry Marc Mezvinksy, 31, this summer. Hillary says the wedding is the most important matter consuming her. Bill says he is close to losing the 15 pounds that Chelsea requested of him. Wedding plans are top-secret with only a few tips leaking out.
My Woman Up colleague Annie Groer recently reported that the nuptials will occur on July 31 at Astor Courts, a 1902 Beaux-Arts masterpiece overlooking the Hudson River.
Clinton presidential libraryBut what if Chelsea wanted to have her wedding in Little Rock?
Chelsea only spent 11 years in Arkansas and left in 1992 when the Clintons moved from the Governor's Mansion in Little Rock to the White House in Washington DC. When her mother ran for US Senate after her father's 2nd term ended it was from New York. But Arkansas still goes giddy for the beloved political family. Little Rock – home base for Friends of Bill (aka FOBs) – would be consumed by a Chelsea wedding.
When the Clinton Presidential Center opened in 2004, a week-long series of festivities occurred including a concert by Aretha Franklin. A Chelsea wedding would surely see "Chelsea and Marc" tea cups in the Clinton Museum Store, a stone's throw from the presidential library, a gigantic banner congratulating the couple hanging on the side of the Clinton library and bars featuring Chelsea drink specials. A Chelsea Julep, anyone?
Arkansas is no stranger to extravagant, over-the-top weddings.
The state-wide daily newspaper dedicates a two-page spread every Sunday featuring the most opulent and expensive weddings. Little Rock, a city with a surprising amount of wealth, has two glossy society magazines that showcase glitzy parties and high-profile charity events.
Chelsea's beau is Jewish, making a church wedding unlikely. But Hillary's former church, First United Methodist, a Gothic church with deep historical roots, would make a beautiful setting at sunset with its stunning stained glass windows facing west.
When the Clintons lived in Little Rock, Bill attended Immanuel Baptist Church, which at the time was located in the heart of downtown. Today, the church, an enormous brick fortress that people jokingly call "Six Flags Over Jesus," sits on a hill next door to a Kroger in suburban Little Rock. Certainly, not a picturesque site.
Fortunately for the former First Family of Arkansas, they have access to the perfect interfaith nuptial spot: The Clinton Presidential Library. The archive of his 8 years in the nation's White House has sleek, modern architecture designed by James Polshek overlooking the Arkansas River. The Secret Service knows how to secure the library, which sits on a 16-acre city park. Its Great Hall that seats 300 people offers a striking view of the city's skyline.
The library complex also houses Bill's rooftop penthouse suite. Filled with original art from around the world, the penthouse features a landscaped outdoor terrace – the ultimate site for a late evening rehearsal dinner with fireworks exploding over the river in celebration of the couple.
To escape the hullabaloo of downtown, Chelsea could have the ceremony or a pre-wedding luncheon at a palatial home owned by one of the original FOBs.
Longtime FOB Kaki Hockersmith, who designed the White House living quarters for Bill and Hillary and worked on the interiors of Camp David and the Clinton Library, owns an Italian villa-style home on ritzy Edgehill.
Hockersmith and her husband, Max Mehlburger, have hosted many fundraisers for Bill, Hillary and other high-status national Democrats. Hockersmith was recently appointed to the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts for The Kennedy Center.
Another likely locale is the multi-million dollar home Mike and Beth Coulson, wealthy Democratic donors. Mike Coulson is CEO of Coulson Oil Co. Beth Coulson, a philanthropist and former judge, was caught up in the Clinton scandals of the 1990s and is rumored to be Jane Doe #2 in the Paula Jones lawsuit against Bill Clinton.
A Southern wedding regardless of location must have plenty of flowers, food and music.
Roses and orchids are always the most popular among posh Arkansas brides but the native Purple Cone Flower adds a touch of the Natural State to arrangements.
FOB Billie Rutherford owns a popular catering business and is the go-to caterer for any Clinton function. Her husband, Skip, serves the dean of the Clinton School of Public Service and supervised the building of the presidential library.
The menu needs a mix of healthy foods – maybe cool cucumber soup shooters and sliced Arkansas pink tomatoes – and regional cholesterol-heavy cuisine such as fried catfish bites and okra. Bill would find time to sneak steak at his long-time hang-out, Doe's Eat Place or pizza at Vino's Brewpub, which he visited in November.
Award-winning Diamond Bear Brewery, which already boasts a Presidential IPA, would undoubtedly concoct a new beer in honor of Chelsea. Maybe a First Daughter Ale?
Plenty of solid local bands inhabit Little Rock and some of their members attended grade school with Chelsea. But if she preferred global rock and roll, Bono and The Edge from U2 would fly in to perform. They performed at the opening of the presidential library. Maybe Mick Jagger would bring in the Rolling Stones. He and Bill recently shared a box at the World Cup in South Africa.
Another music possibility: Bill could tap actor Morgan Freeman, who lives three hours from Little Rock near Clarksdale, Miss., to invite some veteran blues masters to play sax with him at the reception.
There's only one downside to a Little Rock wedding -- gossip. Little Rock is a small city that thrives on media attention. But if Clintonites sent the signal for lips to be sealed, any wedding scoop would be locked down tighter than a presidential visit to Iraq.
Hopefully, for Little Rock, Chelsea hasn't sealed the deal on New York. If the bride-to-be wants to feel extra special on her wedding day, it's the city where she was born that would wrap their arms around her.
Filed Under: Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Woman Up, Culture
Tagged: arkansas, Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, chelsea clinton wedding, Clinton Presidential Library, FOB, Friends of Bill, Hillary Clinton, little rock, Marc Mezvinsky
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4 Comments

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pwgilmartin

Where ever it's held I wish her the best!!

July 05 2010 at 5:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
fworfe

Come on, folks, where's your sense of humor and fair play? If a hotdog devouring contest winner or a watermellon spitting champion can have fifteen minutes of fame, should we begrudge a few hours of limelight for the dauthter of two of the finest public servants the USA has ever had?

July 05 2010 at 3:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
fworfe

Little Rock wedding! If Chelsea and Marc can tolerate, or are looking for, pomp, splendor excitement and publicity---and why not---they couldn't make a better choice! The national and world pundits and wags would be in a frenzy. Come on down y'all, and we'll show you how to put on a weddin!

July 05 2010 at 1:04 PM Report abuse -1 rate up rate down Reply
jetdevil68

"It would be the Arkansas equivalent of a royal wedding"

Politicians are by no way deserving of a "Royal Family" title, to hold these people in such a light only corrupts the political world and multiplies the distance of disconnect that current politicians have with the public.

July 05 2010 at 9:31 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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