Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson have decided against getting married at the White House over fears about the optics, according to a report.
The president’s eldest son and his socialite fiancée will tie the knot over Memorial Day weekend after realizing that their original plan to wait until his father’s war in Iran was over may leave them unwed for the foreseeable future.
The couple has also apparently realized that having a lavish ceremony at the White House while the deeply unpopular Middle East conflict rages on would not be the best look. Instead, they will get married in a small, intimate ceremony on a private island in the Bahamas, sources told Page Six.
Trump Jr., 47, and Anderson, 39, got engaged in December at Camp David while the pair was celebrating Anderson’s birthday.
The couple had been dating for around a year at the time of their engagement, with Trump Jr. beginning his relationship with Anderson just as his engagement to former Fox News host-turned-Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle was coming to an end.
The pair have not appeared overly concerned about holding other extravagant events to showcase their engagement amid the war in Iran, with Anderson being feted at a gaudy wedding shower in April at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort.
However, the couple ultimately decided against holding their wedding ceremony at the White House over Memorial Day weekend, despite initially wanting to do so.
“They’re very aware that a lavish wedding at the White House while people are dying wouldn’t be well-received,” an insider previously told Page Six. “Especially after the state dinner for King Charles—it would be too much pomp and circumstance.”
Trump Jr. and Anderson also floated the far-fetched idea that their wedding could be held inside President Donald Trump’s $400 million White House ballroom, according to Page Six, even though construction on the vanity project is not expected to be finished for more than two years
“This would set them up for future political roles, whether Don Jr. goes after the presidency or something else,” a source told People last month. “This is a consideration.”
Trump Jr. has five children with his first wife, Vanessa Trump. They divorced in 2018 after 13 years of marriage. The two were wed at Mar-a-Lago in 2005.
He got engaged to Guilfoyle on New Year’s Eve in 2020, but the pair quietly ended their relationship in late 2024.
Anderson is the daughter of philanthropists Harry Loy Anderson Jr. and Inger Anderson.
