Vice President Mike Pence‘s daughter Charlotte Pence has secretly tied the knot with fiancé Harry Bond. However, America’s second family managed to keep the news largely under wraps until two weeks afterward. Charlotte and Harry said, “I do,” on Saturday, December 28, 2019, at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. On January 9, both the bride and her mother, Karen Pence, revealed the big news on social media.
Charlotte, 26, and Harry Bond, 27, were first introduced by her brother, Michael Pence, during his wedding in Indiana two years ago, according to People. Michael, who’s a pilot in the Marine Corps, knew Bond from flight training school in Mississippi and had a feeling the two would hit it off.
Pence’s eldest daughter and Bond got engaged in July, and the glowing bride shared the first official photo from the wedding on Instagram with the caption, “forever your hand in mine.” Her mother shared the same photo on Twitter with the celebratory message, “Congratulations to Charlotte and Henry!”
Charlotte also tweeted a thank-you message on Thursday to everyone who helped keep her wedding under wraps. She wrote, “Thank you to all of our wedding guests for honoring our privacy with our no cell phone/picture policy. ♥️ We love you. More pics to come!”
Also in attendance at the wedding were President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, People reported.
Bond had 12 groomsmen and Charlotte had 9 bridesmaids, all dressed in burgundy. She explained to USA Today in early December, “We talked about trying to make the numbers even. And I said, ‘Just include who you want. It’s a big day.'”
Why Was Charlotte & Harry’s Wedding Kept Secret?
The exact date of the big day was kept secret for security reasons. Charlotte wouldn’t even discuss the details of her dress for fear that her soon-to-be-husband would read about it.
“I can tell you, it’s bigger than I thought I would want,” she told USA Today. “It’s definitely not what I was expecting to get. He knows that, but he doesn’t know anything else about it.”
During the ceremony, for one of the readings, the couple chose a verse from Ecclesiastes describing how a cord of three strands—husband, wife, God—is not easily broken. “That’s really how we want to start our marriage and continue with it,” Charlotte said.
Why Did Charlotte & Harry Rush To Get Married So Soon?
Bond, a 2015 Naval Academy graduate, is now a lieutenant. He is set to deploy sometime in 2020, and the couple wanted to have their wedding before then, Charlotte told USA Today.
Charlotte said of picking their wedding location, “I just really like the idea of family all being in someone’s home, around a wedding. And it’s special to me that it’ll be a fact that people might talk about in the future…people that come to visit the house or live here in the future.”
Of finding the right date, “Even with everybody’s busy schedules, we’ve all talked every day about it,” Charlotte said.
There will also soon be another Pence wedding. In February, Charlotte’s sister Audrey Pence, 24, is set to tie the knot with her college boyfriend, Daniel Tomanelli. The couple got engaged last February.
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