Jacqueline Kennedy At Her Wedding (1953)

Jacqueline Kennedy at her wedding by Toni Frissell, 1953 via

Henrietta Tiarks, the Duchess of Bedford, Wedding Day (1961)

Society beauty Henrietta Tiarks (b. 19 ) was a leading debutantes of her day.  She married the then Marquess of Tavistock, Robin Russell, on 20 June 1961 at St Clement Danes in London, thereby becoming the Marchioness of Tavistock.

He succeeded his father, becoming the 14th Duke of Bedford, on 25 October 2002, at which point Henrietta, became Duchess of Bedford.

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Henrietta Tiarks wedding Day, 1961 via

Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy by Lisa Larsen (1953)

Lisa Larsen (1925-1959) was one of LIFE’s poioneering female photojournalists. Born in Germany, she moved to the United States as a teenager. She started out as a picture file clerk at Black Star, but soon became a freelance photographer for many publications, including Vogue, The New York Times, Parade, Glamour, Charm, Holiday, and LIFE.

After 1948, the bulk of Larsen’s photojournalism was contract work for LIFE. In the beginning of her career at the influential magazine, she was assigned mainly entertainment and fashion stories, such as photographing the Vanderbilts, Kennedys, Bing Crosby, and the Duke of Windsor as well as the Greenbriar Hotel (source).

Bouvier and Kennedy were married on September 12, 1953, at St. Mary’s Church in Newport, Rhode Island, in a Mass celebrated by Boston’s Archbishop Richard Cushing. The wedding was considered the social event of the season with an estimated 700 guests at the ceremony and 1,200 at the reception that followed at Hammersmith Farm. The wedding dress, now housed in the Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts, and the dresses of her attendants were created by designer Ann Lowe of New York City.

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, Wedding of Jackie Bouvier & John F. Kennedy, September 1953 via

Lisa Larsen, John and Jacqueline Kennedy at Their Wedding Reception, September 1953 via

The Glamorous Wedding Of Cornelia Vanderbilt & John Cecil (1924)

Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1900-1976) was born at the famous Biltmore Estate, a large (8,000 acre) private estate  in Asheville, North Carolina. Biltmore House, the main house on the estate, is a Châteauesque-styled mansion built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895 and is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 square feet (16,622.8 m²)  of floor space (135,280 square feet (12,568 m²) of living area).

Cornelia was the only child of George Washington Vanderbilt and Edith Dresser Vanderbilt. Cornelia inherited the Biltmore Estate from her father.

Cornelia was married first to Hon John Francis Amherst Cecil in 1924. About 1932, Cornelia found life at Biltmore too dull to endure and moved to New York briefly to study art. After a few months she moved to Paris, divorced Cecil in 1934, changed her name to Nilcha and dyed her hair bright pink. That phase passed, and while living quietly and modestly in London, she met and married Vivian Francis Bulkely-Johnson about 1950.

At some point she adopted the name Mary. Her last marriage was in 1972 to William Goodsir, 26 years her junior. They lived very quietly; Cornelia never spoke of her past.
Her sons with Cecil, George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil (b. 1925) and William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil (b. 1928), eventually inherited the Biltmore Estate and land (source).

Cornelia Vanderbilt in her official wedding portrait, 1924 via

Cornelia Vanderbilt, 1924 via

Cornelia Vanderbilt, 1924 via

Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt and John Francis Amherst Cecil, 1924 via

Cornelia Vanderbilt and John Francis Amherst Cecil, 1924 via

Cornelia Vanderbilt and John Francis Amherst Cecil, 1924 via