Speaking of Johnsons and journalism, Time’s 1966 report on LBJ’s daughter’s wedding (which she touches on in her Texas Monthly interview, mentioned below) has to be read to be believed. An excerpt from “Three-Ring Wedding”:
There will be nothing inconspicuous about the event starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, when the National Shrine’s 56-bell carillon thunders into a window-rattling medley of works by Handel, Bach, Purcell and a new composition by Dutch-born Johan Franco. During the hour-long tintinnabulation, the principals and their guests will arrive under the unblinking scrutiny of TV. Inside—mercifully beyond reach of electronic peeping—the company and a pool of newsmen will see the father of the bride decked out in the formal regalia, morning coat and striped trousers, that he refused to don for the presidential inauguration in 1965. While the organist plays Paraphrase on a Trumpet Tune by Henry Purcell, the wedding party—mostly young friends and schoolmates of the bride and groom—will shepherd its charge up a 400-ft. marble aisle to a chancel large enough to accommodate a concourse of cardinals. The bride’s attendants will wear pink gowns; the groomsmen will be attired in cutaways rented at $11 each. Luci and Pat, having climbed 50 steps from the street, will be clearly—if minutely —visible to all as they stand at the elevated altar.
To the accompaniment of a 100-voice choir formed especially for the occasion, Archbishop Patrick O’Boyle will officiate at the Nuptial Mass, assisted by two priests … .
An hour’s worth of hammering on a carillon and a 100-member choir for a wedding? The low-key Bush style seems infinitely preferable.