Here Comes the Cash

The Hudson Valley News, a local newspaper, touts the upcoming Clinton-Mezvinsky wedding.

Image: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

This isn’t going to be a low-key affair at the Crawford Ranch, y’all.

Sure, the bride wore couture (her gown was Oscar de la Renta), her 14 bridesmaids wore Lela Rose dresses, and 200 of the Bushes closest friends and family were in attendance. But when Jenna Bush married then-graduate student and Bush reelection campaign aide Henry Hager on May 10, 2008, no one called it the “Wedding of the Year.”

But the press—and local businesses—are working themselves into a frenzy over Chelsea Clinton’s upcoming Saturday nuptials to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky.

And while President George W. Bush said at the time of Jenna’s ceremony that all the couple was letting him do was spend money on the event, the soon-to-be Mezvinskys are said to be paying for it all themselves, perhaps to dodge any questions since Mezvinsky’s father is a convicted felon who stole $10 million through various frauds.

The wedding, rumored to cost anywhere between $3 million and $5 million, according to the New York Daily News, will take place at the Astor Courts estate in sleepy Rhinebeck, New York, will feature amenities like air-conditioned tents for $600,000 (hey, New York is in the middle of a heat wave!), security that could cost around $200,000, place settings that could cost as much as $100 apiece, invitations at $150 each, and let’s not forget the whispered-about custom Vera Wang wedding dress. While the designer, and nearly everyone else involved with the ceremony, is staying mum, word is that she’s also behind the threads of the 14 bridesmaid dresses. Mom, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, stopped by at de la Renta’s boutique after Chelsea’s non-appointment with Wang, to presumably look at her mother-of-the-bride gown.

All the hoopla is helping local businesses see some unexpected foot traffic and a high-end celebrity clientele. Despite monster traffic jams, a fairly unknown phenomenon in the town, and a no-fly-zone limit to shelter the couple from the "chopperazzi," manager of Rhinebeck Pizzeria Amanda Weaver couldn’t be more thrilled to host Oprah, Steven Spielberg, and Barbara Streisand, among others. “It's by far the biggest thing that has ever happened to this town,” she told the Daily News.

Shopkeepers are looking to cash in on the craze for anything Clinton, the New York Post reports. Many stores were displaying well-wishing signs, and one entrepreneurial deli counterman is offering newly created sandwiches called Chelsea’s Choice, Bill’s All-American, and Hillary’s the Secretary of State.

"It's wonderful, it's great," John Tisch, a museum curator who lives in town, told the Post. "It brings a lot of excitement to the community at a time when we can use it.