The White House Wedding: A Solve-the-Mystery Blog Tour by Radha Vatsal.
At 8:30 PM on Saturday, December 1915, President Woodrow Wilson married Mrs. Edith Bolling Galt. The new Mrs. Wilson would go on to become one of the 20th Century’s most powerful first ladies and shepherd the United States through turbulent times. In the course of this blog tour, I describe four different aspects of their wedding plan: The Location on Jane Reads, Guest List and Attendants, Ceremony and Officiants, Dress and Flowers. The wedding went off as arranged, except for one significant last-minute change. Your mission is to guess what changed and why. The answer will be revealed in the final blog post. For more on the president and Edith Bolling/Wilson’s relationship, see the Introduction on Katherine’s Chronicle.
BLOG POST #3: GUEST LIST AND ATTENDANTS
The president and Mrs. Galt planned to keep the ceremony simple and limit it to only the two families, devoted staff, Dr. Ruffin—the Bolling family physician, Dr. Grayson—President Wilson’s personal physician, and Altrude Gordon—who was staying with Edith at the time. All three of the president’s daughters attended along with their husbands. No friends or White House aides would be invited, not even Colonel House, heretofore the president’s most trusted friend and advisor. There would be no attendants. No best man, no matron of honor, bridesmaids, flower girls, or pages. No heads of state, foreign dignitaries or cabinet members, except for William Gibbs McAdoo, the Treasury Secretary and Wilson’s son-in-law.
Did the couple stick to this plan? Did Wilson insist that Colonel House who had been his “right-hand” man attend? Did Edith Galt open the event to other friends or White House officials? Was there someone who at the last minute was so offended not to be invited that the couple had to relent?
Next Up: Ceremony and Officiants
The new First Lady and Woodrow Wilson make a dramatic appearance in Murder Between the Lines, the second novel in the Kitty Weeks Mystery series, which features the adventures of bold newswoman Capability “Kitty” Weeks in World War I era New York. For more historical surprises, sign up for the Kitty Weeks newsletter: radhavatsalauthor@gmail.com