Jeb Bush was not on the guest list for niece Barbara Bush’s surprise wedding last weekend. Former first lady Laura Bush said Barbara wanted to keep the nuptials a secret, which resulted in many family members not getting the invite.
“Well, I think Barbara just kept it a secret, plus so few people were invited,” Laura told journalist Cokie Roberts, who interviewed her on stage at an event in Washington, D.C., Fox News reports.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The former Florida governor wasn’t the only Bush who didn’t snag an invite, she added. “It was just our family and [Barbara’s husband Craig Coyne]’s family. And we didn’t invite Jeb, or Neil, or any of those Bushes,” Laura added.
One Bush sibling did make the cut, however: George W. Bush‘s sister Dorothy Bush Koch, as she served as the couple’s officiant.
As previously reported, Barbara married Craig Coyne on Sunday, Oct. 7 in an intimate surprise ceremony in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The “very short, sweet ceremony,” according to Barbara Bush, 36, occurred after a whirlwind five-week engagement and just after Coyne relocated from Los Angeles to Manhattan to live with his now-wife.
The father of the bride was proud of his daughter on her wedding day, saying so on Instagram.
“Barbara is named for a unique and strong woman — and rightly so, because she is unique and strong. @laurawbush and I are so proud of our compassionate, daring, fierce, kind, intelligent, loving daughter,” Georgecaptioned a photo from the ceremony on Instagram. “And we’re thrilled to welcome Craig Coyne to our family.”
Only 20 family members attended the wedding, including George’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, 94. Barbara’s twin sister Jenna Bush Hager, served as maid of honor, while Hager’s daughters, Margaret, 5, and Poppy, 3, and Coyne’s niece, Emma, 5, served as flower girls. George walked his daughter down the aisle.
“We’ve been excited to do such a small wedding with just our family,” Barbara told PEOPLE. “It’s just been a very sweet romance.”
The bride honored her late grandmother, former first lady Barbara Bush, who passed away in April, by accessorizing her custom ivory silk crepe Vera Wang gown with one of her grandmother’s bracelets.
“It’s really sweet. The ‘something borrowed’ that I’m wearing is this bracelet that my grandfather gave to my grandmother on their 70th anniversary,” she said, adding that her “something blue” was a pair of earrings from her sister.
