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snugs: THANK YOU for posting the DOSE on this joyful evening for the Bush Family!
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CHECK OUT THESE JUICY, JENNA-RELATED DETAILS!
Well, Dave and Katie Hermann certainly had themselves an exciting Friday night. The Hermanns own The Range Restaurant at the Barton House, a fine-dining eatery in Salado, about an hour’s drive from Crawford along Interstate 35. The Range is housed in a local historic home built in 1866. It specializes in new American food with a French and Mediterranean influence. Mr. Hermann and his wife have owned it for 11 years. Months ago, a woman approached the couple about having her son’s wedding rehearsal dinner at nearby Old Salado Springs Celebration Center, where the Range Restaurant would be the caterer of choice. But get this: She used an alias, says Mr. Hermann. The woman turned out to be the mother of Jenna Bush’s future husband, Henry Hager.

Mr. Hermann says he and his wife did not find out until 10:30 p.m. Thursday that this rehearsal dinner, one of many they host, would be for the daughter and future son-in-law of President Bush and first lady Laura Bush. They were, of course, floored. “It’s obviously the highest-profile rehearsal dinner we’ve ever done!” says Mr. Hermann, with a laugh. They ended up having 120 guests, consisting of family and wedding party only. (All other guests were invited to an after-party at the nearby Silver Spur Theatre.) Mr. Hermann says the rehearsal dinner was quite exciting, with the Secret Service “sweeping everyone down with metal detectors.” After being approved for entry, guests were served or h’dourves and cocktails, followed by “steakhouse salad and an entrée of pork tenderloin with lemon-crusted rainbow trout.” Dessert was roasted corn pudding, followed by a mixed berry chantilly crème tart. The event also served as Henry Hager’s 30th birthday party. “Every one of them was so kind and gracious,” says Mr. Hermann. “They were a very pleasant party.” He described the president as “very gracious, very polite, very unpretentious and unassuming. He seemed very aware of the fact that this was their night. They did a fantastic job of making it not about them by any stretch. Laura gave the dinner prayer and then the groom’s parents spoke.” Henry, says Mrs. Hermann, gave the funniest toasts of the night, telling the president “he couldn’t wait to be the son he’d never had. Everyone got a chuckle out of that. He told funny stories about dating the president’s daughter.” She declined to say, however, what those were. “Everyone,” she says, “was respectful of the fact that this is a very private event for them.”
Posted by Michael Granberry at 1:27 PM (E-
http://overthetopblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/check_out_these.html#more
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BUSH WEDDING BLITZ: MORE FROM LOVELY SALADO
Before describing details about the wedding, such as who designed the jewelry and dresses and who will play the music – and will the president wear a suit or a tuxedo? – Sally McDonough, Mrs. Bush’s press secretary, elaborated on a few more details about Friday night’s activities in Salado, about an hour away on Interstate 35. (Read on!)

The rehearsal dinner was hosted by Henry Hager’s family, she said, at the Old Salado Springs Celebration Center. She said the total guest list was about 100. It was also Henry’s 30th birthday. After the rehearsal dinner, the party walked down Royal Street, escorted by the Belton High School marching band — known as the Marching 100 — (and yes, President Bush was among those who walked to the band’s drum beat). Their destination was the Salado Silver Spur Theater, where the “more than 200” wedding guests were invited to an after-party. The entertainment at the Silver Spur Theater was provided by Duke Merrick, whose five-member band from Charlottesville, Va., entertained the crowd with “music from classic Texas songwriters and,” said Ms. McDonough, “several of Duke Merrick’s original songs.” The Duke Merrick Band has played for 25 years, she said, with musical roots in Nashville and Austin. “Duke Merrick is actually a cousin of the Hager family,” she said, adding one correction to somebody’s earlier reporting (but not mine!): The Hager family on Saturday hosted a barbecue at the Old Salado Springs Celebration Center and not at the ranch, said Ms. McDonough, who also told me that the book co-written by Jenna and her mother is, for the second week in a row, the No.1-selling chilldren book on the New York Times bestseller list.
http://overthetopblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/05/bush_wedding_bl_1.html#more
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You will find a slideshow of a more youthful Jenna and her daddy here:
http://www.guidelive.com/sharedcontent/dws/pt/slideshows/2008/05/pho_050908_jennabush/