Former President George W. Bush walked his daughter Barbara down the aisle on Sunday as she married her fiancée Craig Coyne in a small ceremony at the family's Kennebunkport, Maine compound, Walker Point.
The wedding came as a surprise to many since Barbara and her screenwriter beau had kept their romance private, according to People. The couple were set up by friends last November and were long-distance until this week, when Coyne moved in with his bride in New York City.
"It's just been a very sweet romance. And we've been long-distance for most of it — he's been in LA and I've been in New York — but we've gotten to spend a lot of time together," Barbara said.
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The couple became engaged this past summer, during another family get-together at Walker Point. Coyne got down on one knee at the exact location where Bush's grandfather, former President George H.W. Bush, proposed to her grandmother and namesake, Barbara, almost exactly 75 years earlier.
The wedding was a bittersweet event, as the former first lady died just a few months earlier, in April, at the age of 92. But Bush honored her by wearing a bracelet her grandfather gifted her grandmother for their 70th anniversary as her "something borrowed." Her dress was a custom design by Vera Wang.
Bush's twin sister, Jenna Bush Hager, served as matron of honor, while Coyne's brother, Edward Coyne III, was best man. Hager's daughters — five-year-old Mila and three-year-old Poppy — were enlisted as flower girls, along with Coyne's niece Emma, age 5. The bride's aunt, Dorothy Bush Koch, officiated the "very short, sweet ceremony."
It was a wonderful day in M... @ laurawbush
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Hager told the "Today" target="_blank" show that the reason why her sister decided to hold the wedding in Maine was so that their grandfather, who has recently suffered some health issues, could attend.
"The party was a lot of fun and my grandfather got to stay through the dinner, which was such a blessing and the reason why they wanted to do this here," Hager said.
Bush's parents shared the happy news on their respective Instagram accounts.
"It was a wonderful day in Maine when Barbara married her love and Craig joined our family," former first lady Laura Bush wrote, alongside a picture of the family gathered together after the nuptials.
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"Barbara is named for a unique and strong woman — and rightly so because she is unique and strong," President George W. Bush wrote, next to a picture showing him walk his daughter down the aisle. "@laurawbush and I are so proud of our compassionate, daring, fierce, kind, intelligent, loving daughter and we're thrilled to welcome Craig Coyne to our family."
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Barbara is the co-founder of a Global Health Corps, a public health nonprofit that sends young professionals to underserved areas in the US and Africa to address community health problems.
Coyne's IMDB page shows he acted in the critically-acclaimed 2005 film "Jarhead."
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