Crawford(US): In a welcome break from two wars, terrorism and soaring oil prices, US President George W Bush celebrated his daughter Jenna's wedding on his Texas ranch.

Far from the pomp and publicity of past White House nuptials, Jenna, 26, wed fiance Henry Hager, 30, less than one year after he proposed at dawn atop Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park on Maine's coast.

"Today is my daughter Jenna's wedding day. This is a joyous occasion for our family, as we celebrate the happy life ahead of her and her husband Henry," the president said in his weekly radio address.

"It s also a special time for Laura, who this Mother's Day weekend will watch a young woman we raised together walk down the aisle," he said, hours before the ceremony on the 1,600-acre estate.

With twin sister Barbara as her maid of honour and Hager's brother Jack as best man, 14 young women attendants and 14 male ushers, Jenna and Henry married at 7:30 pm (6.00IST on Sunday) before a cream-colored Texas limestone cross that the president ordered erected near a lake on the ranch.

A Houston minister, Kirbyjon Caldwell, officiated. Caldwell recently announced he was supporting Democratic Senator Barack Obama, a fierce Bush critic, for president in the November election. "He is a family friend," said Laura Bush's press secretary, Sally McDonough. Hours before the outdoor ceremony, tiny Crawford - population 751 - sat under a gray ceiling of clouds, and the weather forecast called for a partly cloudy evening with 33-degree Celsius heat.

The more than 200 family and friends - including former President George Bush and wife Barbara - gathered by a lake on the property for the event, followed by a reception under a tent.

Source : PTI