NCS unique
Photos by Carole Radziwill
Words by Jacqui Palumbo, NCS
August 9, 2025
They had been one of many world’s most publicized {couples} however stored their wedding a secret — even from a few of the friends.
On the cusp of fall in a one-room church on Georgia’s Cumberland Island, John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy had been married in 1996 in entrance of their closest household and buddies. Despite the relaxed nature of their nuptials that weekend — the tiny, rustic chapel; makeshift outside dance ground and late-night seaside bonfires — the wedding has turn into fabled, and Bessette-Kennedy’s unconventional selection of a sublime slip gown has since redefined bridal fashion.
Though extra photos and anecdotes have trickled out through the years, a trove of snapshots has been shared solely with NCS forward of the community’s premiere of its three-part NCS Original Series “American Prince: JFK Jr.,” airing on August 9.
The snapshots had been taken by Carole Radziwill, a former journalist (and, extra lately, a “Real Housewives” alum) who was near the Kennedys. Her late husband, Anthony, was JFK Jr.’s cousin and greatest man, and her Instamatic movie pictures had been a part of a scrapbook she made for the couple.
“It’s almost like they eloped with 30 of their closest friends. It was very much like that,” she mentioned. “You didn’t get the sense that anything was overly planned. They just let things happen the way they happened. And there was something so beautiful about that.”
Radziwill knew upon arrival in regards to the wedding plans, from its intimate setting to the gown by Narciso Rodriguez. Bessette-Kennedy knew the designer from her time working as a publicist at Calvin Klein. But for a few of the friends, she mentioned, the wedding itself was stored below wraps till the final second to stop the press from discovering out about it.
“It became apparent pretty quickly that nobody in the world knew we were there or why we were there,” she mentioned. “That in itself was magical, because we were just like, ‘Oh, my God, they pulled it off.’ Mostly Carolyn pulled it off, because she was determined to be married privately.”
The weekend’s occasions had been attended solely by the high-profile couple’s closest household and buddies.
Bessette-Kennedy with buddies Jules Watson and Jessica Weinstein.
In Radziwill’s snapshots, she took unposed footage of the couple chatting and laughing with buddies and household on the rehearsal dinner. JFK Jr. and Ted Kennedy chat with the pastor exterior of the white and pink chapel; buddies and household collect below a cover tent for the reception. Anthony Radziwill, who died from most cancers lower than one month after the deaths of JFK Jr. and Bessette-Kennedy, poses fortunately together with his cousin whereas he will get dressed for the ceremony, JFK Jr.’s arm slung round him. After the ceremony, the newlyweds stand shut to chop a sprawling floral three-tiered cake, and, on the dance ground, Bessette-Kennedy wears her husband’s go well with jacket as he holds her shut.
And although the bride arriving on the ceremony shouldn’t be among the many photos, that second is eternally etched into Radziwill’s reminiscence.
“It was already dark by that point, so they were lighting the inside of the church with candles. It was very impromptu,” she mentioned. “I just remember the doors opening in the back of the chapel and her walking in. She just looked so beautiful. And the light was insane. It was like a movie.”
“I mean, literally, I was like, ‘Scorsese couldn’t have done this better,” she said.
The simplicity of the weekend is something she looks back on fondly, as the group came together to celebrate the couple before anyone else knew. “There’s an elegance to the casualness that I think is hard to replicate — certainly now and even then,” Radziwill mentioned. “It’s just who they were as human beings.”
Best man Anthony Radziwill with JFK Jr. earlier than the ceremony.
“Anthony and John had been so shut… I do not suppose that there was ever any doubt in Anthony’s thoughts after they received engaged, he can be greatest man.” — Carole Radziwill
Radziwill was JFK Jr.’s cousin. He died from most cancers a number of weeks after the couple’s deadly aircraft accident in 1999.
The officiant meeting with Sen. Ted Kennedy, JFK Jr., and John Perry Barlow, a political activist and lyricist for the Grateful Dead, outside of the chapel.
The couple at their rehearsal dinner.
Bessette-Kennedy dancing with Anthony Radziwill in the course of the reception.
“The gown was quite simple, bear in mind that is the ‘90s — girls weren’t carrying slip attire as their bridal gown.” — Carole Radziwill
Kennedy relations and buddies exterior of the chapel.
JFK Jr. talking on the rehearsal dinner.
The reception befell at a handful of tables beneath a white cover tent.
“There’s an magnificence to the casualness that I feel is difficult to duplicate – actually now and even then.” — Carole Radziwill
Bessette-Kennedy’s rehearsal gown additionally evoked the minimalist spirit of her wedding robe.
Dinner by candlelight for household and buddies.
The couple dancing collectively after their ceremony on a makeshift dance ground, JFK Jr.’s go well with jacket retaining Bessette-Kennedy heat.