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John F. Kennedy’s grandniece Eunice Kennedy Shriver paid tribute to her late paternal grandmother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, whom she was named after, on her wedding day. Katherine Schwarzenegger ’s cousin wore their grandmother’s Dior wedding dress to marry her fiancé Michael “Mikey” Serafin Garcia in a scaled-down ceremony at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Miami last month. “My grandmother wore it at her wedding to my grandfather on May 23, 1953, and 67 years later, I wore it to marry Mikey,” Eunice told Vogue in an interview published on Nov. 2. “The dress has aged into a French vanilla ivory, and there are a few holes in it, but I didn’t care.”
The bride worked with Ever After Miami to restore the vintage gown and create a new matching bodice and ivory veil. “The dress was as delicate as tissue paper,” Eunice said. “So we had to handle it with great care. I was afraid to even sit!” The bride made her way to the church on Oct. 17 in her grandmother’s baby blue 1965 Lincoln Continental, which was originally gifted to JFK’s sister by her husband Sargent Shriver. Eunice said, “I think my grandmother wanted to make sure I got to ride in her convertible.”
The couple was originally set to exchange vows in front of 200 guests, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the bride and groom had to cut their guest list. “We both have large immediate families,” Eunice said. “So siblings, their families, and our parents alone made for 32 guests. We were hoping things would have eased by October, but we came to the realization that [with] the way things were, it didn’t feel right to ask guests to travel to Florida or do a larger event, especially if it wasn’t going to be the way we envisioned.”
Following his daughter’s big day, Anthony Shriver posted photos, taken by photographer KT Merry, from Eunice’s wedding. “Words can’t express my joy and pride on my daughter Eunice’s wedding day to a great man, Mikey Garcia!!!” the proud father of the bride captioned the post. “Gratitude for my beautiful and loving family. Thank you god.” Eunice also shared pictures simply writing, “Forever.”