Chelsea weds under heavy security

Bill and Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, married her long-time boyfriend in the picturesque New York village of Rhinebeck on Saturday, ending weeks of secretive build-up for the wedding dubbed as the American "Royal Wedding."

Chelsea Clinton - the only child of the former president and the current secretary of state - wed Marc Mezvinsky at Astor Courts, a historic 50-acre estate on the Hudson River, around 100 miles north of New York City.

"Today, we watched with great pride and overwhelming emotion as Chelsea and Marc wed in a beautiful ceremony at Astor Courts, surrounded by family and their close friends," Bill and Hillary Clinton said in a statement Saturday evening.

"We could not have asked for a more perfect day to celebrate the beginning of their life together, and we are so happy to welcome Marc into our family," the Clinton couple said.

The wedding, which experts estimate to have cost between $3 million and $5 million, was planned in secrecy and heavily secured.

Airspace above Rhinebeck had been closed for 12 hours from 3 pm EDT Saturday for the wedding, and media were kept well away from the entrance to Astor Courts. Security in the area was comparable to that surrounding state visits.

Apart from the parents of the bride, other high-profile guests seen in Rhinebeck included Bill Clinton's former secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, top fashion designer Vera Wang and Hollywood film tycoon Steven Spielberg, luring celebrity watchers to the small town.

The guest list was reported to include between 400 and 500 people, but it did not include a very understanding President Barack Obama.

"Hillary and Bill probably want to keep this as a thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband," Obama said on "The View" talk show Thursday. "It would be tough enough to have one president at a wedding. You don't want two presidents."

Chelsea Clinton, 30, and Mezvinsky, 32, have known each other since they were teenagers. He is an investment banker, whose parents, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky and Edward Mezvinsky, were once Democratic US House of Representatives members.

Chelsea Clinton, who worked at a New York hedge fund and studied health policy at Columbia University, has kept a low profile since her father left the White House in January 2001, although she campaigned for her mother during her failed run for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Agencies contributed to this story