Rare photos of JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's secret wedding resurface

JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy got married in a hush-hush wedding in 1996 to deny paparazzi access to their special day. Now, rarely-seen photographs from the intimate ceremony, clicked by family member Carole Radziwill, have resurfaced and were exclusively shared with  CNN.

JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy got married on Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia, as per USA Today. With only 50 people invited, the nuptials were kept secret to avoid extra scrutiny, and the rehearsal dinner was held under candlelight on the porch of the cozy inn where the couple and their guests stayed, noted the news outlet.

About JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's secret wedding

CNN notes that Carole Radziwill, wife of JFK Jr.’s cousin, Anthony, who was the best man at the wedding, took photographs of the intimate affair on Instamatic film and compiled them into a scrapbook.

Photographs show the easy-going and cozy nature of the wedding, which took place at a small red and white chapel, and consisted of a white canopy-covered dance floor and late-night beach bonfires, as per CNN. Bessette-Kennedy was seen in candid shots from her rehearsal dinner, and JFK Jr. was photographed while getting dressed alongside his best man.

The photographs also captured Bessette-Kennedy’s simple yet elegant wedding dress, which ended up redefining bridal fashion, according to CNN.

Recalling the weekend wedding in an essay written for the Daily Mail in 2019, Radziwill said,

“We all pulled off the coup of the century that weekend. John Kennedy Jr., the most famous man in the world got married on a pastoral remote island off the coast of Georgia and no one knew. Not a paparazzi in sight.”

Radziwill also described looking through the photographs alongside Bessette-Kennedy after the wedding, and wrote,

“Months later Carolyn and I were on the couch at their apartment on North Moore Street…We ordered cheeseburgers from Bubby's, the diner on the corner, and looked through their wedding photos, loose in a box. 'That was crazy,' I said. 'To try to pull it off, then to do it. I honestly expected photographers on the beach and in the bushes.' Carolyn was proud of that.”

The couple had managed to keep their wedding a secret by setting up elaborate plans, as per the Daily Mail. Radziwill described one such strategy and explained,

“Guests had to present a special Indian nickel upon landing on the island or they were quickly escorted off. It was the most famous wedding of the year, the decade. And no one but the thirty-two close friends and family who arrived, knew.”

The couple did not reveal the location of their wedding to their guests. USA Today notes that in JFK Jr and Carolyn’s Wedding: The Lost Tapes, a TLC special, a friend of Kennedy, Noonan said,

“We knew we were going to a wedding but we didn't know where…we had no idea where we were (ultimately) headed.”

As per USA Today, the couple ferried a few guests on a hired jet to Jacksonville, Florida, from where they drove and caught a fishing boat to the Cumberland Island.

In 1999, JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy met their end in a tragic accident alongside Bessette-Kennedy’s sister. They were traveling to Martha’s Vineyard from New Jersey at the time in an airplane flown by Kennedy himself, as per She Knows.