Who Is Paying for Naomi Biden's Wedding? Details of White House Ceremony

Naomi Biden, the granddaughter of President Joe Biden and first lady Dr. Jill Biden, is getting married Saturday, with the ceremony historically taking place at the White House.

Naomi, 28, is the daughter of Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle, who divorced in 2017. She is a lawyer currently based in Washington D.C., and her fiancé, Peter Neal, 25, graduated from law school earlier this year after previously interning at the White House during the Obama administration and working on Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016.

The pair were set up on a date in 2018 by a mutual friend in New York City. Neal proposed to the 28-year-old last September while visiting his childhood home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Having previously planned on the wedding ceremony to take place at a separate location with the reception at the White House, Naomi tweeted in late July with a photo of the South Lawn, and wrote, "Sooo not sure how best to update but was supposed to do so weeks ago... but we have finally figured out where the ceremony will be...and much to the relief of secret service and with the dogs' endorsement...we'll be getting married on the South Lawn! Couldn't be more excited."

According to Elizabeth Alexander, the first lady's communications director, the Biden family is taking care of the costs of the wedding.

In an email to The New York Times, Alexander wrote, "Consistent with other private events hosted by the first family and following the traditions of previous White House wedding festivities in prior administrations, the Biden family will be paying for the wedding activities that occur at the White House."

At a White House briefing in July, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters regarding the wedding "that taxpayer dollars will not go to that."

"That is a personal affair that is happening. That is not White House business, so I cannot speak to that from here," she added.

Weddings at the White House are a grand and historic event, dating back to the 1800s, when the children of James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler and Ulysses S. Grant were married there. Overall, nine children of American presidents have wed in the White House. Meanwhile, only one president—Grover Cleveland—was married in the White House in 1886.

Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of Lyndon B. Johnson, was married in 1967 in the East Room, and Tricia Nixon was married in the Rose Garden to Edward Cox in 1971, walked down the aisle by her father, Richard Nixon.

Most recently, George W. Bush and Laura Bush held a wedding reception for their daughter, Jenna Bush, at the White House in 2008, to which 600 guests were invited.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for additional comment.