Chelsea Clinton Chooses Oscar De La Renta Wedding Dress

by Ben Widdicombe (Subscribe to Ben Widdicombe's posts)
Posted Jun 21st 2010 at 2:40PM

Chelsea Clinton, the blushing bride-to-be. Photo: Getty Images

*UPDATE: The New York Times White House correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg told the "Today Show's" Ann Curry that Chelsea Clinton has chosen a wedding dress by Oscar De La Renta.

Earlier sources had told StyleList that the bride-to-be also had a made-to-measure gown waiting for her in the workshop of New York bridal designer Vera Wang.

Chelsea Clinton's top-secret July 31 wedding is being planned by Massachusetts events organizer Bryan Rafanelli and will be held at a venue "within a three-hour drive of New York City," according to details released today by New York magazine.

Even invited guests will only find out the exact location a week before the ceremony.

One pal of the bride tells StyeList: "Chelsea is just the most down-to-earth person in real life. She works, she's crazy about Marc [Mezvinsky, her investment-banker fiancé]. But it's going to be hard for her to plan this wedding and keep it intimate because things tend to get big when her parents are involved. Her mom and dad know a lot of people."

The guest list is already a cause of fierce speculation. "It's not a celebrity-driven wedding," an insider tells New York magazine. "You really see who their closest friends are in this list."

Invitations are said to be limited to 400 people and the bride has "instituted a strict no-strangers policy: She must personally know every invitee."

(Fans of old-school New York society might remember that 400 was also the number of names on Mrs. Caroline Astor's famous list of approved socialites -- 400 being the number of people who could fit into her ballroom.)

Terry McAuliffe, the former DNC chairman and longtime Clinton consigliere, is said to be charged with finding a venue, which will probably be the home of a wealthy Clinton donor.

The Hamptons are reportedly out because of weekend congestion on the roads of New York's luxury playground, meaning the likely location will be the moneyed but more bucolic Dutchess or Westchester counties (where Bill and Hilary Clinton have a base in the hamlet of Chappaqua).

New York magazine writes that guests will include "Clinton's special assistant Doug Band, former White House social secretary Capricia Marshall, and top Hillary Clinton aide and former traveling chief of staff Huma Abedin." (Planner Rafanelli is also doing Abedin's upcoming wedding to New York City congressman Rep. Anthony Weiner.)

Off the list is said to be California supermarket billionaire and major Clinton-donor Ron Burkle. The former President's wingman, who had a fondness for the ladies -- and a private jet with an unrepeatable nickname that indicates it was where he liked to seal the deal -- is said to have made Hillary and Chelsea nervous about his friendship with Bill.

Also unknown is the designer of Chelsea's wedding dress. The pal tells StyleList: "I think the smart money is on a New York designer like Oscar de la Renta or Vera Wang. Chelsea is quite traditional when it comes to fashion."

For more on the wedding, visit our sister site aisledash.

In related news, read about this bride's unusual wedding dress.

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