Barbara Bush says rainfall at Craig Coyne wedding had a special meaning: ‘That’s my grandmother’

Barbara Bush didn’t have blue skies for her wedding, but instead, the newly-named Mrs. Coyne welcomed the special rainfall that occurred on her big day and said it had a significant meaning.

“The second that it was announced that we were husband and wife, it started to rain,” Bush explained alongside her twin sister Jenna Bush Hager in a recent “Today” interview. “I thought, ‘That’s my grandmother. She’s with us, too.”

The former first daughter married Craig Coyne on October 7 under gray skies at Walker’s Point in Kennebunkport, Maine at the Bush family compound. The small ceremony included just 20 family members. And while her grandfather, George H.W. Bush, was able to attend his granddaughter’s wedding ceremony, the bride’s grandmother, Barbara, was not.

George’s wife died at the age of 92 in April. But despite not being able to physically be at the wedding, Bush said she felt her grandmother’s presence.

“She might have been mad that we moved all the furniture out of the living room,” Bush’s sister Jenna joked.

And though her wedding day had a few showers, the new wife explained that her wedding was “everything” she wanted it to be.

“It was wonderful. It was everything we wanted,” Bush said. “It was small and in a place that we have grown up and have so many incredible memories in Maine. We just wanted to make sure we could do it while my grandfather was still healthy. So we did it out on the rocks.”

“It was full of pride,” Jenna added. “There’s a picture of us hugging where I’m actually weeping onto her white dress. I’ve wanted the best for her since the day we were born. She’s the most important person in my life, minus my husband and my kids. … She exudes love and joy, and she deserves that love and joy back.”

Bush paid tribute to her late grandmother during her wedding ceremony by accessorizing her gown with her grandmother’s bracelet. In the “Today” interview, the 36-year-old also said that she was proud to share her grandmother’s name.

“I have had a complicated relationship with my name largely because when I was little I didn’t understand why I would get looks with the name Barbara Bush,” she explained. “But when my grandmother passed away, I have a very different feeling about it. She walked into death. She was very fearless about how she lived her life up until she passed away.”d said that she proud to share her grandmother’s name.”

Former president George H. W. Bush and his granddaughter Barbara Bush at her October 7 wedding.
(Allison V. Smith)

She continued, “I remember the night that we found out that she had died…I was thinking about how she showed us all how you should live, fearlessly and leading with love. I thought when I was going to bed that night, ‘Well, I get her name now. That is a reminder to me every day to live my life in this way.’ So it’s no longer complicated. I’m proud and thrilled to have my name.”