Naomi Biden, the granddaughter of US President Joe Biden, announced on Tuesday that she will celebrate her marriage to Peter Neal in a rare wedding reception at the White House this autumn.
"Peter and I are endlessly grateful to my Nana and Pop for the opportunity to celebrate our wedding at the White House," she tweeted.
"We can’t wait to make our commitment to one another official, and for what lies ahead."
First lady Dr Jill Biden's communications director, Elizabeth Alexander, said the reception would take place on November 19.
"The first family, the couple and their parents are still in the planning stages of all of the wedding festivities and look forward to announcing further details in the coming months," Ms Alexander tweeted.
Naomi Biden is a lawyer and her fiance is in law school. She is the daughter of Hunter Biden and Kathleen Buhle.
Dr Biden's press secretary, Michael LaRosa, said she and Mr Biden would be paying for the wedding, which is "consistent with other private events hosted by the first family and following the traditions of previous White House wedding festivities in prior administrations".
Mr Neal proposed to Ms Biden near his childhood home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, in September, CNN reported.
Wedding events at the White House are rare but not uncommon. There have been 19 at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the White House Historical Association says.
The most recent was that of Pete Souza, former president Barack Obama’s official photographer, to Patti Lease in the Rose Garden in 2013.
There have been four wedding receptions, the most recent of which was for Jenna Bush and Henry Hager in 2008.
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US President Joe Biden, with his wife Jill Biden and members of his family as they salute the crowd on stage after delivering remarks in Wilmington, Delaware, on November 7, 2020. AFP -
Wife: Dr Jill Biden. Jill and Joe met in 1975, when Joe was a senator, after they were set up on a blind date by Joe’s brother, Frank. They married in June 1977 and had one child together, daughter Ashley, as well as raising Hunter and Beau, Joe’s two sons with his first wife, Neilia. Getty Images -
First wife: Neilia Hunter Biden. The President-elect and Neilia were married in August 1966, and had three children, sons Hunter and Beau, and daughter Naomi. Neilia and 13-month-old Naomi were killed in a car crash on December 18, 1972, when their car collided with a trailer-truck. Hunter and Beau sustained injuries, but survived the crash. Getty Images -
Son: Beau Biden. Joe and his first wife, Neilia, welcomed son, Beau in February 1969. He attained the rank of Major in the US army, and was deployed to Iraq in 2008. He later became a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office. He passed away in 2015 from brain cancer at the age of 46. AFP -
Son: Robert Hunter Biden, known as Hunter. Joe and Neilia welcomed Hunter in February 1970. The lawyer and businessman shares three children, Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy, with his ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle. He dated his brother Beau’s widow, Hallie, following Beau’s death, and has a further two children, whose names have not been made public, one with Lunden Alexis Roberts, and a son with his wife Melissa Cohen. Reuters -
Daughter: Ashley Biden. Joe and Jill’s only daughter has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. And the 39-year-old, who is married to plastic surgeon Howard Krein, worked as executive director of the Delaware Centre for Justice from 2014 to 2019. She also founded the fashion company Livelihood in 2017. Getty Images -
Granddaughter: Naomi Biden. The eldest of Biden’s grandchildren was named after her late aunt and is the daughter of Hunter and Kathleen. The 27-year-old graduated from Columbia Law School in May 2020 and was a classmate of Tiffany Trump while at the University of Pennsylvania. -
Granddaughter: Finnegan Biden. Hunter and Kathleen’s 20-year-old daughter is currently a student at the University of Pennsylvania. She regularly appeared on the campaign trail with her grandfather. AFP -
Granddaughter: Maisy Biden. Younger sister to Naomi and Finnegan, Maisy, 18, is close friends with former First Daughter, Sasha Obama. She enjoys playing basketball, and is an old hand on the campaign trail, having accompanied her grandfather on trips when he was Vice President. AP Photo -
Granddaughter: Natalie Biden. Sixteen-year-old Natalie is the daughter of the late Beau. She campaigned for her grandfather throughout the election, revealing: 'Pop told us that this election would be totally different from any other election ever. He was worried how it would affect his kids.' Reuters -
Grandson: Robert Hunter Biden II. Natalie’s younger brother (second from left) was named after his uncle. Although he is rarely pictured in public, he appeared with his sister and cousins reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in a video at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. Twitter / demconvention -
Sister: Valerie Biden Owens (right). Highly active in her older brother Joe’s political campaigns since he first ran for the Senate back in the '70s, Owens served as a US senior adviser to the United Nations General Assembly and is vice chair of the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. AFP -
Brother: Frank Biden. The youngest of the four senior Biden siblings, the troubled 66-year-old businessman lives in Florida. He was arrested in 2003 for DUI and petty theft. He was arrested again in 2004 for driving with a suspended license, and was ordered to attend rehab. 'No one anticipated this. It’s spontaneous,' he told the 'Palm Beach Post' of his brother’s win. 'It's overwhelming.' Getty Images -
Brother: Jim Biden. Seventy-year-old Jim has been at his brother’s side throughout the campaign. 'He has been at his older brother’s side at nearly every critical juncture in Joe’s personal and political life,' notes political website Propublica. 'As fundraiser for his brother’s first Senate race in 1972, he helped launch Joe’s political career.' Getty Images -
Daughter-in-law: Hallie Biden. The widow of the late Beau Biden, who she married in 2002, 45-year-old Hallie began dating her brother-in-law Hunter in 2016, a year after Beau died. 'We were sharing a very specific grief,' Hunter told 'The New Yorker'. 'I started to think of Hallie as the only person in my life who understood my loss.' Reuters -
Daughter-in-law: Melissa Cohen. The South African filmmaker married Hunter in May 2019, and the pair has a child together, a son, whose name or photos they have chosen not to reveal. Hunter proposed less than a week after their first date, with then-Vice President Biden telling Cohen: 'Thank you for giving my son the courage to love again.' AP Photo -
Son-in-law: Howard Krein. Married to Joe’s daughter, Ashley, the pair was introduced by her half-brother, Beau, and they married in 2012. Krein, 39, is assistant professor of otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University and a founding partner and co-director of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital’s Facial Aesthetic and Reconstructive Centre. AFP
News agencies contributed to this report
