It was arguably America's wedding of the year, uniting a presidential daughter with a former White House aide - but its details were kept almost entirely private.

Jenna Bush married Henry Hager in a down-home Texas wedding yesterday at the family ranch in Crawford, Texas, before some 200 friends and relatives and in front of a simple limestone cross erected near a lake.

“Our little girl Jenna married a really good guy, Henry Hager. The wedding was spectacular, all we could have hoped for," President Bush told reporters afterwards.

"The weather cooperated nicely and, just as the vows were exchanged, the sun set over our lake... We're mighty blessed."

In contrast with other First Family weddings, details of Jenna's nuptials had been kept secret, although the White House released about a dozen photographs afterwards.

Jenna’s 26-year-old twin sister, Barbara, was her maid of honor and Mr Hager’s brother, Jack, was best man. The bride and groom were attended-to by 14 young female attendants and 14 male ushers.

The bride wore a hip-hugging Oscar de la Renta white gown, and enjoyed a dance with her father to the Joe Cocker ballad You Are So Beautiful.

As the nuptials drew to a close, tour buses loaded with wedding guests began rolling through downtown Crawford, past souvenir shops which had already sold out of Jenna and Henry coffee mugs and mouse pads.

The couple are expected to honeymoon in Europe and settle in Baltimore.

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