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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsJacqueline Kennedy and Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis married on October 20, 1968, in a small Greek Orthodox chapel on Skorpios, Onassis’s private island in Greece’s Ionian Sea. Kennedy asked reporters to respect the ceremony as a private moment. The request, and the press attention that surrounded it, captured the tension at the heart of a wedding that was intimate in scale but instantly became global news.
Where and when did Jackie Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis marry?
The couple married on October 20, 1968, on Skorpios, an island in the Ionian Sea. Contemporary UPI coverage and reports in The Observer and TIME place the ceremony in a small chapel on the island. Onassis had bought Skorpios as a private retreat, making the island both the setting for the wedding and a visible boundary between the couple and the crowds following the story.
What happened during the ceremony?
TIME’s November 1, 1968 account described a Greek Orthodox service officiated by Archimandrite Polykarpos Athanassion. According to the magazine, the couple exchanged rings and wreaths of lemon blossoms, drank from a shared chalice, and walked around a table three times. These details come from contemporary press coverage rather than a formal church record.
The ceremony was small. TIME reported that 25 guests attended. A UPI dispatch carried by The Observer named Lee Radziwill and members of the Kennedy family among those present; it was not a complete official guest list.
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What did Jacqueline Kennedy wear?
Contemporary descriptions differ on the dress’s color: The Observer’s UPI report called it ivory, while TIME described beige chiffon and lace. Both accounts portray a light, short-skirted dress; the UPI report said the skirt ended four inches above the knee. Reports also said Kennedy walked about 200 yards through the rain to reach the chapel. These accounts do not establish the designer.
Why did Kennedy ask reporters for privacy?
Before the ceremony, Kennedy sent a message asking journalists to respect the wedding as “a private moment.” UPI reported her words and her appeal for goodwill: “Wish us happiness and peace.” In the same message, she described the couple as “simple” people whose marriage mattered to them as a deeply personal occasion.
The request did not make the wedding secret. A large press presence waited for news, and UPI reported on the ceremony that day. The contrast was plain: Kennedy asked for a private family moment, while the wedding’s location, guests and meaning drew intense public attention.
How did the wedding day unfold after the ceremony?
TIME reported that a reception followed aboard Onassis’s yacht, the Christina. The Observer’s account also placed guests aboard the yacht and said they expected it to carry the newlyweds on a honeymoon cruise. Those are contemporary press accounts, not an official itinerary.
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How did the public react?
The response was divided. TIME’s November 1968 coverage recorded condemnation alongside calls for compassion and respect for Kennedy’s personal freedom. The attention reflected, in part, the continuing public attachment many Americans felt to the image of Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy as a couple. A 2018 TIME retrospective describes the remarriage as a shock to some, not a reaction shared by everyone.
Later writers have suggested that privacy and security may have been among the attractions of Onassis’s island and yacht. Those interpretations do not establish Kennedy’s private reasons for marrying him or for choosing Skorpios. What the contemporary record does establish is that the wedding took place there and that she publicly asked for privacy.
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