A first family wedding with no paparazzi?

Presidential daughter Jenna Bush is retreating to the family home in Crawford, Texas, to get married on Saturday, ducking the demand for publicity that would have gone with a White House wedding, even though the event might have raised her father's sagging popularity.

She's the first presidential child to take vows with dad in office since 1992. That's when US President George W Bush's sister, Dorothy, married during the White House tenure of their father, George Bush.

That, too, was a private affair, as were the weddings of 13 of the 22 children of presidents who have married while their fathers were in the White House since 1820, according to Doug Wead, author of All the Presidents' Children.

Instead of bucking tradition, Jenna, 26, is in fact upholding a publicity-shy history by marrying Henry Hager, 29, son of a prominent Virginia Republican family, out of public sight.

No photographers. Few details. An outdoor affair with 200 guests at the family's Texas ranch. It was in keeping with the style of Jenna, who once stuck her tongue out at the press.

Not that she's been spared during her father's seven-plus years as president. When she and her twin sister Barbara violated drinking laws, when they were still under-age in 2001, both made a media splash. Jenna had to pay a $600 fine in Texas for one of several offences.

She explained her need for privacy to Vogue magazine recently. "Henry and I are far less glamorous than the White House," Jenna said. The president — who has spent more time than his predecessors away from the White House, mostly at the ranch — flew on Thursday to Texas to join the rest of the family.