Jenna Bush Hager Reveals How Her Father Really Wanted Her Wedding To Go
"Today" show personality Jenna Bush Hager has been a happily married woman since tying the knot with Henry Hager. The two first became acquainted in 2004 via mutual friends of theirs, which kicked off their love story as The U.S. Sun reported. Jenna quickly grew to be smitten with her now-hubby, and she previously revealed she first proposed to Henry years before their nuptials took place. "He said no, and then he asked me five years later,'" Jenna said on the "Today" show in 2020.
Henry is now the Waterous Energy Fund Managing Director, but at the time they met, he was working for then-President George W. Bush, Jenna's father. On the couple's wedding day in 2008, George expressed his happiness in seeing his daughter marry Henry. "It was just a special day and a wonderful day, and we're mighty blessed," he told People at the ceremony. However, Jenna recently opened up about an early idea her father had regarding her wedding vows.
George W. Bush first suggested eloping to Jenna Bush Hager
Former president George W. Bush's daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, had a memorable wedding ceremony when she married Henry Hager in 2008. HuffPost reported that more than 200 friends and family members attended the gathering in Crawford, Texas, Jenna wore an Oscar de la Renta wedding gown, and Barbara Bush, Jenna's sister, served as the maid of honor. This picture-perfect celebration was not originally what Jenna's father had in mind for his daughter's wedding, the television journalist recently explained on the "Today" show.
As she spoke with her fellow "Today" journalist, Hoda Kotb, Jenna said George initially suggested that she and Henry could elope together, instead of hosting a large ceremony. "My dad wanted us to elope because it was a pain," she said to Kotb. "He was like, 'What are y'all doing? Y'all should just elope.'" At the time, George was still serving as president, so an elopement likely would have been easier on his busy schedule.
But, the 2008 ceremony was a special moment that initiated a blissful union –– Jenna and her husband now have three kids and still seem just as in love as ever.