Although known among fashion circles for her work as a PR Director at Calvin Klein, Carolyn Bessette's name became a household word when she took up in 1995 with the world's most eligible bachelor, John F. Kennedy, Jr.
Prior to Bessette, Kennedy had been linked to a bevy of beautiful women, including: Madonna, Sharon Stone, Sarah Jessica Parker, fellow Brown University student Sally Munro, Darryl Hannah and aspiring actress Christina Haag.
Carolyn allegedly met John, either at the Calvin Klein showroom or while jogging in Central Park, while the former president's son was still dating actress Daryl Hannah.
Some hold that John posed the question of marriage to Carolyn as early as 1995, and that Bessette formally accepted his proposal in March, 1996. At this time, the two moved in together into the Tribeca loft.
With her engagement to America's prince, Carolyn Bessette decided to quit the fashion world and prepare for her September, 1996 wedding and her new role as wife.
Each time the couple had a public argument or appeared without the other partner in that summer of 1996, rumors would fly about a break-up.
However, in a secret ceremony held September 21, 1996, Carolyn and John married. In a small church on Cumberland Island Nature Preserve in Georgia (accessible only by boat), the couple took their hushed Roman Catholic vows before 40 of their family and friends in what Kennedy called a "private, prayerful and meaningful way."
Anthony Radizwell, the son of Jackie Onassis' sister Lee, stood up for the couple as Best Man. John's sister Caroline served as Matron of Honor, and her children partipated--Tatiana and Rose as Flower Girls, and Little Jack as a ring bearer.
Beech Street Grill of Fernandina, Florida catered the reception, which was held on the island at Greyfield Inn, a 30-room mansion built by the Carnegies in 1902.
Several days later a wedding dinner was hosted at his sister Caroline's Manhattan Park Avenue apartment, which included guests not in attendance at the original ceremony, including Julia Roberts.
Talk of a pregnancy cropped up as soon after the wedding as October 25, 1996, but hindsite now reveals that it may not have been anything more than rumor. And in the next three years, the press and the public would continue to dog the lovers, often to the point of causing arguments between them.
No one knew that on July 21, 1999, when Kennedy's Piper Saratoga took off from Essex County Airport in Fairfield, New Jersey, heading toward Martha's Vineyard with himself (38), Carolyn (33) and Lauren Bessette (34), that it would be the end to the love affair of the century.
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