Celebrity Wedding Profile: JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bassette

American Royalty and Understated Elegance

The story is a tragic one, but this couple still is one of my top ten favorites.

JFK Jr. & Carolyn Bassette
Cumberland Island, Georgia
September 21, 1996

Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr. were married in a secret ceremony on Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia, on September 21, 1996. The evening ceremony took place in the wood-frame Brack Chapel of the First African Baptist Church. The 40 guests included Ted Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and her husband Edwin Schlossberg. The wedding was planned by Gogo Ferguson, a Cumberland Island resident who also designed the couple’s wedding bands.

The bride walked down the aisle in a $40,000 pearl-colored silk crepe floor-length gown, hand-rolled tulle silk veil and long silk gloves by Narcisco Rodriguez. She also wore beaded satin Manolo Blahnik sandals. Her hair was pulled back away from her face and styled by George Kyriakos. A bun at the nape of her neck was pinned with a clip belonging to Jackie Kennedy. She clutched a lily of the valley bouquet, arranged by Rachel “Bunny” Melon, the same woman who designed the White House rose garden. The groom wore a single-breasted, midnight-blue wool suit, with a white piqué vest by Gordon Henderson and his father’s wristwatch.