Chelsea, Marc set for secret honeymoon

NEW YORK, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky prepared to leave for their secret honeymoon Monday after spending the night at a luxury New York City hotel.

The newlyweds spent Sunday night at The Pierre on Fifth Avenue, overlooking Central Park, before departing for their more than two-week honeymoon, The Daily Beast reported Monday.

The hotel, whose front desk would not confirm the couple's stay to United Press International, frequently appears as a setting in films and in television series, including "Scent of a Woman," whose famous tango scene between Al Pacino and Gabrielle Anwar was filmed in the hotel's Cotillion Room & Foyer.

Clinton and Mezvinsky hosted a Sunday brunch as the official finale of their opulent weekend wedding in Rhinebeck, N.Y., on the shores of the Hudson River, before driving 90 miles south to New York.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and current U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined guests at the farewell celebration, held at Rhinebeck's secluded Grasmere estate, a 236-year-old brick Georgian manor house and Edwardian stone barns sitting on 525 acres.

The bride and groom held their rehearsal dinner at one of the estate's refurbished barns Friday night.

The brunch followed an elegant outdoor wedding at Rhinebeck's palatial Astor Courts estate Saturday, officiated by a United Methodist minister and a rabbi, and a reception, complete with live music by an 18-piece big band and a disc jockey playing 1980s tunes and current popular songs -- including U2, Michael Jackson and Motown classics -- that lasted till 4:30 or 5 a.m. EDT, guests told UPI.

Madeleine Albright, U.S. secretary of state during President Clinton's second term, was the last to leave the dance floor, the New York Post quoted a guest of the groom as saying.

"She didn't stop," the guest laughed.

Earlier, Bill Clinton danced with his daughter to Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight," The Washington Post reported. The Clinton parents also danced together.

Mezvinsky "gave an eloquent speech about his love for Chelsea" at the reception, a wedding guest told the New York Daily News.

"At the end of his speech, he ignored the rest of the room and looked very intense," the guest said. "He looked right into Chelsea's eyes. Oh, it was something. The whole room was quiet. You could feel the energy in the room. He impressed a lot of people."

The wedding itself took place on a sprawling green facing the river, with the former president walking his daughter down the aisle with tears in his eyes and gently holding her hand.

Chelsea Clinton, 30, wore a strapless, floor-length gown with a shimmering bejeweled waistband designed by Vera Wang, who attended the wedding, while Hillary Clinton wore a cranberry Oscar de la Renta with puffy shoulders and a tied waist.

Mezvinsky, 32 -- whose divorced parents are former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, D-Pa., and former U.S. Rep. Ed Mezvinsky, D-Iowa -- wore a black wool-mohair tuxedo suit with a narrow necktie designed by Burberry Chief Creative Director Christopher Bailey. A small, white boutonniere accented his left lapel. He also wore a black skullcap and white prayer shawl.

Bill Clinton wore a black suit, tie and boutonniere that matched Mezvinsky's.

The couple exchanged vows before sunset on the Jewish Sabbath under a canopy of braided willow branches and white roses and hydrangea, evoking a chuppah, under which a bride and groom traditionally stand during a Jewish wedding ceremony.

A friend of the couple's read the poem "The Life That I Have" by the late British cryptographer, screenwriter and playwright Leo Marks.

The poem begins: "The life that I have / Is all that I have / And the life that I have / Is yours."

An estimated 450 people attended. The press and general public were kept far away.

Well-known guests spotted by UPI, besides Albright, included longtime Clinton adviser Vernon Jordan, Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant and actors Ted Danson and wife Mary Steenburgen, as well as Roger Clinton, Bill Clinton's half-brother.

Catering by New York's St. Regis Hotel included short ribs, Arctic char and vegan fare, along with wine provided by the aptly named Clinton Vineyards of nearby Clinton Corners, N.Y.

A 5-foot-high gluten-free chocolate wedding cake -- Chelsea Clinton is allergic to gluten -- was cut about midnight, guests told UPI.