Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and JFK Jr.'s Secret Wedding Shown in New Rare Photos

Yahoo

09-08-2025

"Scorsese couldn't have done this better."The Gist
New rare photos give insight into the secret intimate wedding of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and John F. Kennedy Jr. in 1996.
Carole Radziwill, who took the photos, told CNN about how the couple pulled off the intimate affair.
'There's an elegance to the casualness that I think is hard to replicate—certainly now and even then,' she said.Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr. married in an intimate ceremony on September 21, 1996. Like everything else the couple did, their wedding has since become the stuff of legend, with fashion fans and culture enthusiasts poring over every detail: Bessette's daring Narciso Rodriguez slipdress rewrote the rules of the wedding dress! The tiny guest list! The infamously obscure location! All of it had the couple's elusive yet oh so chic signature feel.
Although pop culture historians have obsessed over the intimate wedding for decades, new photos from the day reveal new insight into the famously exclusive ceremony and celebration. Today, ahead of the new three-part documentary American Prince: JFK Jr., CNN has published a collection of snaps from the day taken by journalist and Real Housewives cast member, Carole Radziwill.
The photos offer a glimpse at a truly beautiful event that seemed to be just as effortless as it was chic.
'It's almost like they eloped with 30 of their closest friends. It was very much like that,' Radziwell said. 'You didn't get the sense that anything was overly planned. They just let things happen the way they happened. And there was something so beautiful about that.'
In one photo, Bessette, with her hair in a messy bun, tries on a matching t-shirt with her new husband. In another, she and JFK Jr. look at a gift smiling. Another photo shows the intimate dinner under a white tent with only a few tables. There's a photo of a candlelit dinner on a terrace. Finally, there's a photo of Bessette and JFK Jr. dancing, his jacket tossed casually around her shoulders.
As Radziwell recalled, the couple were careful to keep details about the wedding private—and it worked. 'It became apparent pretty quickly that nobody in the world knew we were there or why we were there,' she said. 'That in itself was magical, because we were just like, 'Oh, my God, they pulled it off.' Mostly Carolyn pulled it off, because she was determined to be married privately.'
Although the entire event had an unpracticed, unfussy air, Radziwell explained that it still felt utterly magical. One moment that stands out in her memory is when Bessette appeared to walk down the aisle. 'It was already dark by that point, so they were lighting the inside of the church with candles. It was very impromptu,' she said. 'I just remember the doors opening in the back of the chapel and her walking in. She just looked so beautiful. And the light was insane. It was like a movie.'
She added, 'I mean, literally, I was like, 'Scorsese couldn't have done this better.'"
Just like Bessette's famous street style, which managed to be both consistently tasteful and wholly unpretentious, her wedding had a similar feel. 'There's an elegance to the casualness that I think is hard to replicate—certainly now and even then,' Radziwill said. 'It's just who they were as human beings.'
Replicating the chic "casualness" of Bessette is something that Ryan Murphy has, according to many fans, struggled with in his upcoming series of American Love Story, which has already come under fire for its first promotional images. Jack Schlossberg, JFK Jr.'s nephew, went so far as to call the series "grotesque."
"Lately, my news feed has been filled with pictures of my uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., a great man," Schlossberg said in a video posted to his Instagram account. "For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with, the new shows being made about him, the answer is no. And there's really not much we can do."
He went on, "The right to privacy, which includes the ability to control your own name, image and likeness, doesn't survive death in the state of New York. For that matter, he's considered a public figure, so there's not much we can do."
Read the original article on InStyle
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