Melinda, Bill Gates Walk Daughter Jennifer Gates Down The Aisle In Lavish Wedding
KEY POINTS
- Jennifer Gates tied the knot with fellow professional equestrian Nayel Nassar in a lavish ceremony at her New York estate
- Melinda and Bill Gates walked their eldest child down the aisle during the ceremony held late Saturday afternoon
- Jennifer's wedding was held on the $16 million property her parents purchased for her after she graduated from Stanford
Melinda and Bill Gates reunited months after finalizing their divorce to attend their daughter Jennifer Gates' big day.
The Microsoft founder and his ex-wife walked their eldest child down the aisle late Saturday afternoon during the 25-year-old's lavish nuptials at her estate in Westchester County, New York, the New York Post reported.
Jennifer reportedly had already tied the knot with fellow professional equestrian Nayel Nassar, 30, in a small Muslim wedding ceremony at the same location Friday night.
The bride glowed in her custom-made Vera Wang wedding gown, which featured a dropped waist, lace top, long sleeves and a full tulle skirt. She wore her long auburn hair half up and half down and accessorized with simple earrings, according to the outlet.
Jennifer was spotted posing for photos with her bridesmaids. She was surrounded by nine attendants who wore dark green gowns, some with halter necks and at least one with sleeves.
The wedding was held at Jennifer's 124-acre horse farm, located just 35 miles outside of Manhattan. Her billionaire father purchased the North Salem estate for her for $15.82 million shortly after she graduated from Stanford University in 2018, Fox Business reported.
Around 300 guests, including Georgina Bloomberg, began arriving at the estate at 3 p.m. Saturday for the lavish event, according to the New York Post.
Servers could be seen holding up glasses of champagne. The outlet noted that cheering could be heard from the farm shortly before 5:30 p.m. A rainstorm poured about half an hour later. Wedding photographers captured the couple in a sweet embrace before the storm.
Coldplay and folk musician Harry Hudson were scheduled to perform at the reception.
"I can hear them over there now making last-minute preparations," Linda Dupree, who lives next to the estate, told the outlet. "I thought I heard Michael Buble singing, but it may have just been a recording. The delivery trucks have been coming down the road all morning."
Dupree also noted that the main stage of the wedding has been under construction for the last few days. She said it resembled a "beautiful botanical garden."
An aerial photo of the venue showed newly built, interconnected, glass-covered rooms. The main glass wedding pavilion was packed with people. There were white benches, dinner tables of different sizes set with what appeared to be pink flowers, and white dinner plates.
Days before the wedding, Melinda and Jennifer were spotted together in New York City. An insider told People that the mother and daughter "are very close" and that Melinda was a "huge part of the wedding preparations."
Jennifer, who is studying at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, announced her engagement to Nassar, who was born in Chicago and raised in Kuwait and California, in an Instagram post last year. Nassar’s Egyptian parents, Fouad Nasser and Iman Harby, are principals in Diwan Interiors, an architectural firm based in Kuwait.
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