Obituaries by location
TRUMP - KNAUSS
"The Donald ties the knot in a lavish seaside ceremony"
(Wedding article by Jill Barton, AP writer)
The bride's gown was worth more than most American homes. Her diamond-studded ring cost more than many yachts. But the groom's hair? Self-styled.
Donald Trump married Slovenian model Melania Knauss Saturday with all the glamour, glitz and gold that money and star power can buy.
The couple slipped into Trump's Mercedes-Benz Maybach parked near a side entrance after the half-hour-long ceremony and drove past hundreds of cheering spectators with the help of a police escort.
"Oh, it was beautiful. It was all just lovely." singer Tony Bennett said.
Another guest, Kathy Hilton, the mother of hotel heiress Paris Hilton, said, "it was very romantic. Everything was just beautiful. She looked like a princess. They exuded confidence."
And when The Donald kissed the bride? "It was very romantic, and it was a long one," Hilton said.
The setting for the opulent reception was Trump's newly unveiled $42 million Versailles-inspired ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate and club, complete with 24-karat gold moldings, custon-made crystal chandeliers and marble floors covering 11,000 square feet.
About 400 people lined the street outside the church Saturday afternoon for a glimpse of a celebrity - or even the bride. Cheers erupted as the limousines began dropping off guests and a few yelled, "It's George!" when Trump business and legal adviser George Ross arrived.
"It's amazing. There are so many pretty dresses. Ooh, there's a limo," said 13-year-old Katherine Stanton, who climbed a chair and craned her neck to see Ross.
The guest list offered a mix if European royalty, Hollywood celebrity and Palm Beach money, including "The Apprentice" producer Mark Burnett. Other guests included television personalities Barbara Walters, Star Jones, Matt Lauer, Kelly Ripa, Regis Philbin, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and boxing promoter Don King.
"It is a fantasy wedding. Donald is a superstar and everything Donald does is over the top. His wedding is just going to be like the rest of his life, lots of glamour, glitter and the best of the best," said Rhona Silver, a New York caterer who has planned parties at Mar-a-Lago.
The nuptials marked the third trip down the aisle for Trump, 58, and - coincidentally or not - came just days after the start of the third season of his TV show.
Trump insisted on keeping private the details of the wedding to Knauss, 34. But much has been leaked by Trump, his bride-to-be and his staff.
Guests were also to include New York Gov. George Pataki, singer Billy Joel, and possibly royalty. Prince Charles and Prince Albert of Monaco reportedly received invitations.
About 400 guests RSVP'd to attend, said Pat Saylor, Mar-a-Lago's catering and special events director. The wedding took place two miles away at a classic, garden-studded stone church, the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, next to the Breakers resort golf course.
Hors d'oeuvres were made by celebrated chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose restaurant Jean-Georges is in the Trump International Hotel in New York. Guests dined on steamed shrimp salad, beef tenderloin and individual Grand Marnier chocolate truffle cakes that mirror the towering 50-pound, seven-tier wedding cake topped with 3,000 white-icing roses.
Music during the three-course dinner was to be provided by a 36-piece string ensemble, with "surprise entertainment" too follow.
But what's typically among the biggest surprises for the guests and groom - the wedding gown - had already been seen.
Knauss, 34, posed for a traditional pre-wedding portrait in the gown and her $1.5 million engagement ring and untraditionally shared it with the world on the cover of Vogue magazine. The Christian Dior original, which reportedly cost $200,000, has 300 feet of satin and a 13-foot train that took 550 hours to embroider. It weighs 50 pounds - so much that the bride will slip into a lighter Vera Wang dress after the couple's first dance.
Trump's look for the big day might not come as a surprise. He said he would do his own hair.
Guests were nearly as concerned about their own ensembles. Sami Alpark, a boutique owner in this oceanfront retreat's chic Worth Avenue, says he sold 40 dresses to invitees that cost up to $26,000.
[A poem written by Donald Trump that was included in his high school yearbook, the Kew-Forest High School The Blotter, 1958, page 97:
Baseball
I like to see a baseball hit,
And the fielder catch it in his mit.
I like to hear the crowd give cheers,
So loud and noisy to my ears.
When the score is five to five,
I feel like I could cry.
And when they get another run,
I feel like I could die.
Then the catcher makes an error,
not a bit like Yogi Berra.
The game is over and we say
Tomorrow is another day.
Donald Trump, '64]
Donald Trump, in his 1959 Kew-Forest High School Yearbook, The Blotter is mentioned:
Donald Trump, in his 1959 Kew-Forest High School Yearbook, The Blotter:
