Senators Wed In Washington

In a simple ceremony attended by their families and a few well-known friends, Sen. Nancy Kassebaum and former Sen. Howard Baker were married Saturday, the first time two people who served in the Senate have ever tied the knot.

“She was beautiful, he was handsome, and they were happy,” said former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander, who attended the wedding with his wife, Honey, at St. Alban’s Church in Washington.

The bride, 64, who is retiring in a few weeks after serving three Senate terms from Kansas, wore a straight, dark purple dress just below knee length, accented by rolled pearls. Baker, 71, who served three Senate terms from Tennessee ending in 1985, wore a navy suit, white shirt, and navy tie with small yellow dots.

The 15-minute ceremony before 80 guests was performed by former Sen. John Danforth of Missouri, an ordained Episcopal priest, and the Rev. Martha Anne Fairchild, a Presbyterian minister from Baker’s hometown of Huntsville, Tenn.