The timing of Tiffany Trump’s wedding was always curious. When she chose Nov. 12, which was Saturday, did she not realize that it was the weekend after Election Day—aka a day her father, Donald, had stake or two in? Did she know but go in expecting the best, assuming her nuptials would cap off a triumphant week? Did she have some kind of premonition that things wouldn’t go well for the Republicans, but proceed anyway? Alternatively, did she think the news cycle would be so focused on the midterms that it would allow her wedding to fly under the radar?
Whatever the case, when Tiffany married Michael Boulos, heir to the apparent goldmine that is his father’s company, Boulos Enterprises, on Saturday at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s estate in Florida, it was after a week in which the ex-president saw his party turn in the worst midterm election performance in 20 years and many of the candidates he personally endorsed lose their races. Leading up to the ceremony, spirits can’t have been high. “You come to me, on the day of my daughter’s wedding, telling me my ex-friend the governor of Florida won his reelection by double digits?” Yes, Mr. Trump, we do.
It’s a scenario that seems sadly on theme for Tiffany. As the most forgotten of the Trump children—though, importantly, the only one of the adult ones who isn’t being sued for fraud by New York’s attorney general—her wedding would be overshadowed by her father suffering devastating political defeats as he prepares (maybe, who knows) to announce a deranged run to take back the presidency. Timing has never been Tiffany and Mike’s strong suit. They announced their engagement on Trump’s very last day occupying an office he never admitted to losing and fought big-time not to have to vacate. So of course on the day itself, at the same time her guests were sipping drinks and dancing, Nevada’s Senate race was declared in favor of the Democrats, clinching the Senate for the party.* More than one person joked that Nevada was Tiffany’s “something blue.”
Though Trump can be seen in many photos from the event giving the thumbs-up sign, some outlets reported that things weren’t very thumbs-up at all: “He has been upset and ranting like a raging bull for the past couple of days,” a source told People magazine. The rest of the Trump family attended the wedding too, and they’re all smiles in pictures, but you can’t tell me Tiffany’s half-brother Don Jr. wasn’t seething—well, when is he not?—or that Ivanka was doing anything but grinning and bearing it. Team Tiffany tried in vain to keep the focus on the wedding and not the Trump family mishegoss: “We are focused on this sacred union and welcoming beloved friends and family, not on politics,” Tiffany’s mother, Marla Maples, told People. (Vintage Trumpland character alert! Maples and Trump were married from 1993 to 1999.)
It’s all a shame, really, because the event looked lovely in many ways, and that it was able to happen at all in the wake of Tropical Storm Nicole was a stroke of luck.* Tiffany wore a long-sleeved Elie Saab gown, in a nod to her new husband’s Lebanese heritage, and looked the most beautiful she ever has. Maples, also in Elie Saab, looked spectacular as well, radiant and cheerful despite having to stand next to her ex and the wife he married after her. The Palm Beach Daily News—whose account of the wedding may the best one out there, or at least the one with the most personality, despite being weirdly anti-Marla—was simply bowled over by the hydrangeas.
However, also on the topic of Marla, one off note among the details of the ceremony was the wedding cake. Maples told People that it was a re-creation of the 7-foot-tall cake from her and Trump’s wedding. Given how that ended, the couple would want to re-create it why? Another potential thorn in the day was Don Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, who wore … black? Whether because they were instructed to explicitly or not, every other female member of the Trump family wore a light color to the wedding, and there’s been much speculation that Tiffany’s half-sister, Ivanka, cut Guilfoyle out of a photo she posted on Instagram because her dress looked bad next to theirs. I guess it wouldn’t be a Trump affair without some pettiness. One last gift of the day: We got a rare peek at Barron, who is now 10 feet tall.
People reported that Tiffany was considering doing a second ceremony abroad, possibly in Greece, so we may be doing this again in a few months. No doubt it will coincide with other terrible developments for Trump. Indictment, here we come?
Correction, Nov. 14, 2022: This piece originally misidentified the state that clinched the election as Nebraska. It was Nevada. This piece also misidentified the tropical storm that recently affected Florida as Nancy. It was Nicole.
