<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>President Joe Biden welcomed guests to the White House Saturday for the wedding of his granddaughter Naomi -- an unprecedented ceremony that was closed to the press.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Naomi Biden, a 28-year-old lawyer in Washington, married Peter Neal, 25, a law graduate, on the White House South Lawn, suitingly decorated with white flowers, as invitees in rows looked on, according to photos taken from far away by AFP.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden is the daughter of the president's son Hunter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is not unheard of for the presidential mansion with America's most stately address -- 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- to be decorated with white flowers for a wedding.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The White House Historical Association says 18 weddings have been performed at the mansion, including those of Richard Nixon's daughter Tricia in 1971 and Barack Obama's official photographer, Pete Souza, in 2013.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The association says four times the White House has also hosted receptions for weddings held elsewhere, for instance that of George W. Bush's daughter Jenna in 2008.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">But this is the first time a president's granddaughter is getting hitched there.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- 'Pop' -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The White House has given few details on this wedding, which is classified as strictly private and is closed to the press. This has raised some eyebrows.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The White House press has covered weddings held there through history because the space belongs to the American people and a president's participation is an event of national interest," Kelly O'Donnell, an NBC reporter slated to become the next president of the White House Correspondents Association, said Thursday on Twitter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The New York Times has reported a few tidbits about the bride and groom and the wedding: Biden and Neal are actually living at the White House for the time being, and they will exchange vows before a luncheon, to be followed by a big gala dinner in the evening.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Naomi Biden announced her wedding plans in September on her Instagram account, which features photos of vacations, the Biden clan and her day-to-day life.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden is very close to his grandchildren, who call him Pop and are often seen with him, even at some official events.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Naomi is named after the president's first daughter, who died as a baby in a car crash in 1972 that also claimed the life of his first wife.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US press reports have said Naomi Biden plays an important role in the president's inner circle and pressed him, for instance, to run for president in 2020. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>