jenna bush’s wedding plan may 10,2008

A lot of East Coast folks can’t fathom why Jenna Bush is getting married at the family ranch near “sleepy Crawford” instead of the White House.

But Dallas native Lela Rose understands completely.

“Texas is really Jenna’s home. She really identifies with it,” said Rose, who is designing dresses for 15 women and the flower girl in the Bush wedding party. “Texas just draws you back all the time. I’ve been in New York for 17 years, and I still am a Texan. Texas is always in your blood.”

As details dribble out about the May 10 nuptials, it seems clear that the 26-year-old first daughter is doing her wedding her way, with a lot of help from her mother, first lady Laura Bush - and all without a wedding planner.

When Jenna made an appearance on NBC’s Today this week, she told viewers that a White House wedding was too glamorous for her tastes. “I’m more of an outdoor girl,’’she said.

Jenna and Henry Hager, a 29-year-old University of Virginia MBA student and son of a former Virginia lieutenant governor, will exchange vows under a tent at 7:30 p.m. to minimize the Texas heat. A seated dinner and dancing will follow. The guest list of 200 is limited to family and close friends.

“It will be lovely and private and simple,” Laura Bush said on Today. “We hope all the wildflowers will be blooming.”

The mother-daughter TV appearance kicked off a nine-city tour to promote a new children’s book, Read All About It! (HarperCollins Children’s Books, $17.99) co-authored by the first lady and Jenna. The tour will end May 1, a scant 10 days before the wedding, when the duo appears at a book signing at Barnes and Noble in The Woodlands.

“I guess it says maybe we’re crazy,” Jenna said, referring to the hectic schedule.