President George W. Bush encouraged daughter Jenna Bush Hager to elope

Jenna Bush Hager shared that her father, George W. Bush, pushed her to elope with her husband, Henry Chase Hager, in 2008.

On Wednesday’s morning episode of the Today show, Bush Hager, 40, revealed to her co-host, Hoda Kotb, that her wedding could’ve happened very different. 

"My dad wanted us to elope because it was a pain," Bush Hager told Kotb. "He was like, 'What are y'all doing? Y'all should just elope.'"

Bush Hager noted that this piece of advice came during her father’s presidency, between 2001-2009. She did note that former President Bush might not have been too happy with a Las Vegas wedding. 

JENNA BUSH HAGER REMEMBERS GEORGE H.W. BUSH WITH TOUCHING POSTS

"I don't know if he wanted us to go to Vegas to do it," she said.

The couple married in 2008 at her family’s Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas. In May 2021, Bush Hager recalled a special moment she had with her father before he walked her down the aisle. 

"I think my dad picked me up in a pickup truck, in his pickup truck, and he said, ‘You look beautiful, baby,’ and then we both just wept," Bush Hager said on an episode of the Today show.

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In the same episode, she mentioned that her family still has the cross her father helped build for their ceremony.

"I remember seeing Henry clearly, standing there at this cross that my dad had helped build for us," she said. "It’s still there, so we have our Christmas services there that we put together. Our kids have gotten to stand on it."

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The couple share three children together: Mila, 8, Poppy, 6, and Hal, 3.