By vanessa friedman
Two weekends. Two weddings. Two seats of power. Two first families: one old, one present, both likely hoping to be in the future. And so, two non-political events that are nevertheless framed in the myth-making of politics.
When Tiffany Trump married Michael Boulos at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 12 and Naomi Biden to Peter Neal at the White House on Saturday, two happy couples may have taken part in marriages (especially the visible parts of marriages). , but they also reflected two different stories that former Presidents Donald J. Trump and President Joseph R. Biden Jr. told the world about who they were – what they valued, the lives they had built.
The version of the American dream they represent. Praised family values. So while they’re private events—especially the Biden wedding, full of NDAs and “that’s all I can tell you” from those involved—they have public repercussions.
For example, Ms. Trump was on the grounds of Mar-a-Lago, which was built by the Marjorie Merriweather Post and which Mr. Trump bought and converted into a country club in 1985. his father’s winter White House became the “southern White House” and more recently the headquarters of MAGA; Where he announced his 2024 presidential campaign.
And Ms. Biden was posing on a rose-adorned balcony in the south garden of the White House, where she lived with her husband, who is now the granddaughter of the first president to be married in the White House and only the 19th bride to be married there. .
Trump’s wedding took place in the evening, bathed in pastel colors and sunsets. Mrs. Trump was accompanied down the aisle by her black-tie father through a series of heroic floral belts in unnatural hues of cream, lilac, pink, blue, and turquoise. (“There is absolutely no other hydrangea flower left east of the Mississippi,” The Palm Beach Daily News wrote.) The Biden wedding took place late in the morning, with the bride being escorted through a framed doorway by her father and mother. in green and white flowers.
Biden Presidency
Here is the president’s stance after the midterm elections.
- overcome, overcome :President Biden has had the best midterms of any president in 20 years, but still faces the sobering prospect of a Republican-controlled House.
- 2024 Questions:Mr. Biden is feeling alive after the better-than-expected midterms, but at the age of 80, he faces a decision about whether to run for reelection that has plagued some Democrats.
- ‘The Trump Project’:With the announcement of Donald J. Trump’s official re-election for president, Mr. Biden and his advisers plan to go on the offensive.
- Legislative Agenda : The Times analyzed every detail of Mr. Biden’s major legislative victories and thwarted ambitions. Here’s what we found.
They weren’t exactly day and night, but they weren’t that far away.
Each woman wore three outfits: one for the rehearsal the night before, one for the wedding itself, and one for the after-party.
The adult child, most removed from her father’s rule and her first campaign, Ms. Trump wore a wedding dress and party gown by Lebanese designer Elie Saab, known for her brazen embrace of glitz and fantasy in honor of her husband’s Lebanese heritage. . It was covered with silver beads and complemented by a floor-length tulle. She wore her blonde hair down and wavy in the Fox News style preferred by Mr. Trump and carried a small bouquet of lilies.
The image was Disney’s meet “Dynasty” dream factory, all sparkly magic carpet romance and a little bit of diamond dust. As befits the daughter of the man who promised to “make America rich again.”
Biden’s eldest grandson and most involved in his political career, Ms. Biden wore a wedding dress from designer Ralph Lauren, who built an empire with the Gatsby-like promise of the American idea, and who dressed her grandfather for the opening ceremony. According to the brand, she had a bodice made of Chantilly lace and featured “organza leaves that were hand-placed along the bodice and cascading into the skirt.” It came with a cathedral veil. She had her hair in a low bun and was carrying a bouquet of lilies of the valley.
The image was entirely in the Grace Kelly tradition: carefully chosen New England high naturalism. Also wear-in the American diplomatic tradition.
Indeed, according to WWD, Ms. Biden chose a dress for the evening party from Markarian, a New York women’s brand that her step-grandmother Jill Biden wore at Mr. Biden’s inauguration. She wore another New York women’s company, Danielle Frankel, for the rehearsal dinner. And she, her husband (wearing a navy Ralph Lauren suit) and her bridesmaids wore Tiffany jewelry to the wedding. The President wore a blue suit that looked matching Mr. Neal’s, and Dr. Biden wore a teal jacket over a blue dress.
The photo, widely released by the White House, is of the president and Dr. It was Biden. : A flashy, postcard-ready version of the extraordinary home vibe that the president has made his hallmark.
By contrast, the photo of Trump that made the most waves on social media was a pose of the Trump women in front of a fountain and a gilded wall detail: the smiling bride in the middle, her mauve mother Marla Maples next to her; her peach-colored stepmother, Melania Trump; and Ivanka Trump in nymph blue – with Eric Trump’s wife, Lara Trump, and Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, wearing a dress that looks like “Game of Thrones” chainmail at one end. “Maleficent” is black on the other.
Black? This resulted in a minor soap opera moment where Ivanka Trump appeared to clip Miss Guilfoyle from the picture she shared on Instagram, but that also meant people were talking even days after the wedding was over. This in itself is a signature of Trumpism.
After all, every person wants the voter to say “Yes”.