June 2, 1886

Grover Cleveland & Frances Folsom

Grover Cleveland’s wedding to Frances Folsom on June 2, 1886 was unique in a few ways. For one, their wedding was held within the White House in the Blue Room, which makes the couple the first and only one to be wed within the mansion. Secondly, Cleveland was already President at the time of the ceremony, so this made it only the second wedding of a sitting president (John Tyler’s to wife Julia in 1844 being the first). Lastly, their age difference of 27 years was the second largest of any Presidential couple (Cleveland was 49, and Folsom was 21).

The ceremony was small, and performed by Reverend Byron Sutherland, and assisted by Cleveland’s brother, Reverend William Cleveland. Only family, close friends, and cabinet members and their wives were allowed to attend. Though journalists were excluded, it didn’t stop them from writing about it or of the honeymoon preparations. John Phillip Sousa and the Marine Band provided the music.

Afterward, the couple spent their honeymoon at Deer Park in the Cumberland Mountains in Western Maryland.