By Carrie Tuhy
You have to love a town that chases after an unemployed secretary of state to get her autograph. On the afternoon of the Wedding of the Century, Madeline Albright and Democratic Party bigwig Terry McAuliffe had lunch at Gigi's and the throngs descended on them as they left the restaurant, where the Clinton Brothers—Bill and Roger—had also eaten. Gigi's, which is famous for its skizzas that are the thinnest, healthiest pizzas you've ever eaten—was so mobbed that even fashion designer Vera Wang, who came to Rhinebeck to perform any last minute alterations to Chelsea's wedding dress, couldn't get into the restaurant. As much as the cable new stations looked for stories, the residents of Rhinebeck took the wedding of Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky in stride. On the Tuesday before the wedding, the Iyengar yoga class at Satya Yoga, dedicated the first portion of their weekly class to chanting--Om. . .Om. . . OMG--for the safety of the wedding couple, their guests and the town itself. By Saturday’s yoga classes, students were dropping their downward dogs to rush to the second floor window to see what was causing the roar on the streets as FOBs and friends of Chelsea headed out of the dowager Beekman Arms, which is always described as “the oldest inn in America.” Few students realized that on the sticky mats next to them were Pennsylvania’s state treasurer and his wife (friends of the groom's family) who were getting much needed tips on tight hamstrings. That was pretty much the story of the wedding: A lot of noise outside but the bride within their midst went unseen. The locals pointed cell phone cameras at the media and the media turned their high-def lens on the townspeople, but no one had anything to say beyond commending Chelsea Clinton for being a lovely young woman.
By Sunday morning, equilibrium was returning to Rhinebeck. Most of the satellite dishes had departed, there were once again more Subarus than Escalades on the roads. By noon, a sole leftover anchor woman dressed in a red blazer and black straight skirt, which looked like she could have bought them at the Rhinebeck Department Store, was wrapping up the weekend’s events. But the networks and the international news outfits had moved on after a frustrating 48 hours trying to get a glimpse of the bride or a bold face name who was not a policy wonk. If anyone benefitted from Rhinebeck’s moment in the spotlight it was the main street merchants in the sleepy hamlet sometimes dubbed Mayberry With Money. Windows displayed tasteful well-wishes for the wedding couple in the vocabulary of their merchandise: Rhinebeck Artist’s Shop had a crafty bouquet of tissue paper flowers and a hand-lettered sign by the owner and his son. Across the street, the afternoon of the wedding, FACE Stockholm featured a model in a wedding dress having her makeup done right around the time Chelsea was primping for the 6 p.m. ceremony. By sunset when the vows were exchanged, the window was empty save for a tulle veil draped across the chair and abandoned strappy silver sandals. Some businesses sold location, location, location. CNN parked their dish in the driveway of Hill Realty. Foster’s Coach House had directors’ chairs emblazoned with the Today logo on their canopied patio for the show’s broadcast. Directly across the street from the Beekman, the owner of Old Mill Wine & Spirits struggled with an elegant way to tie in with the wedding theme. In the end, at his routine Saturday tasting from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., he served the Clinton Vineyards champagne rather than the dessert wines from the same local vineyard (named a bit cheesily “Desire” and “Embrace”). The champagne was rumored to be served at the wedding during the toasts. By Sunday morning, there was a feeling of relief and pride that Rhinebeck has not been changed one iota by the wedding. Local people with their orange silk-screened farmers’ market bags (supposedly the wedding’s goody bags) were chasing down fresh-picked peaches and Ronnybrook cream rather than Chelsea and Marc. Outside the village parking lot, two young women held a banner with the boldly printed headline: “Stop Factory Farming: How much cruelty can you swallow.” A smaller, hand-lettered sign--almost an after-thought--read: “Congrats to Chelsea. A vegan for 10 years who shows that even ‘royalty’ can say no to foie gras.“ Though the Poughkeepsie Journal Sunday paper proclaimed “Wedding puts Rhinebeck on World Stage”, locals were happy to have the spotlight off their town and pleased that they had been impeccable hosts. Carrie Tuhy was the executive producer of the television special, "Celebrity Weddings In Style" and the editor of "Life" Magazine's White House Bicentennial issue which included a history of White House weddings. Her consulting company 2e Productions includes among its clients "The Ritz Carlton Weddings" magazine. She divides her time between a cottage in the village of Rhinebeck and a loft in Tribeca.
