ShareThisSACRAMENTO, Calif. - From Sacramento to Washington, D.C., social media and the mainstream press are all atwitter about Mayor Kevin Johnson's upcoming marriage to longtime love Michelle Rhee, the chief of District of Columbia public schools.
"The mayor is keeping quiet about the details for the time being," said Johnson spokesman Joaquin McPeek, but word is that the ceremony is to be Sept. 4 -- or sometime over Labor Day weekend -- at an undisclosed location, perhaps in Northern California.
The one thing Johnson is willing to talk about is his fiancee's wedding gown. At his weekly press conference Tuesday, he told reporters that Rhee will wear a Monique Lhuillier design.
"I don't get to see the dress, apparently, until she walks out. I'm traditional, so I'm good with that," he said.
Lhuillier is a Los Angeles-based designer whose couture bridal creations cost as much as $10,000. Singers Britney Spears and Natalie Imbruglia, TV personality Debbie Matenopoulos and, last weekend, country star Carrie Underwood have all walked down the aisle in Lhuillier gowns.
Johnson has taken such an interest in Rhee's wedding-day finery that he told The Washington Post in May he wanted to see her in something "classic but contemporary."
The mayor, and we, will have to wait a couple of months for the big reveal, but D.C.-area salon owner Carine Krawiec confirmed Wednesday that Rhee bought her gown at Carine's Bridal Atelier in Washington's Georgetown district.
"I don't know if I can give a description of it, because I don't want to give away the beauty of the gown," Krawiec said. "And she is a bride. It doesn't matter what status she has."
Krawiec's salon carries the Bliss by Monique Lhuillier line. The gowns are "classically feminine yet modern," according to the website, and are characterized by "hand-tufting, delicate embellishment, fine laces and impeccable fabrications in silk satin and organza."
Rhee came in for two appointments and was torn between two gowns, Krawiec said. The appointments were after hours, allowing the high-profile bride-to-be to discreetly ponder her selection.
"We didn't want to have people gawking at her," said Krawiec, who assisted Rhee.
Krawiec doesn't recall seeing Rhee tear up at any time -- often a telling moment when choosing a wedding gown -- but said that family members, including Rhee's two young daughters and mother, got misty-eyed when she appeared in "the one."
"Michelle looks amazing in the gown. I think she made the correct choice," Krawiec said.
(E-mail Dixie Reid at dreid(at)sacbee.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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