Shumlin weds in small private ceremony
Vermont has a new first lady now that Gov. Peter Shumlin married his longtime partner, Katie Hunt, in a small private ceremony Tuesday evening at the East Montpelier home they share.
The 59-year-old Shumlin announced his engagement to Hunt, 31, in September. At the time the governor said the two planned to get married within the next year.
The ceremony, which the governor confirmed Tuesday after inquiries from the Vermont Press Bureau, was attended by just a few members of his family — his two daughters, Olivia and Becca, and his brother, Jeff Shumlin.
Other close friends and family were told of the marriage in an email from the couple after the ceremony.
“Love, passion, and promise led us to exchange our wedding vows tonight before a roaring fire in our living room in East Montpelier,” they wrote.
The email said the governor’s brother poured Champagne and his daughters “cheered us on.”
Despite the couple’s wish “to have family and friends with us” they opted for an intimate setting, they wrote.
“We ask for your understanding that you were not there. In the several months that we were engaged, we considered all wedding options,” the email read. “We are so blessed to have each other and you in our lives and we will find many opportunities to celebrate with you.”
The governor’s sister-in-law, Evie Lovett, officiated the ceremony.
No members of Hunt’s family were present.
Shumlin’s office released a short statement from the couple Tuesday.
“We are so fortunate to have such a beautiful partnership and to be able to spend the rest of our lives together,” they said.
Shumlin said the two plan to live in Westminster West when his third and final term as governor expires in January 2017. He announced in June that he would not seek a fourth term.
Hunt is an artist and landscape gardener who grew up in southern Vermont and is working on finishing her degree at Mount Holyoke College, according to Shumlin’s office.
The governor did not acknowledge his relationship with Hunt publicly during his first two terms. But Hunt has appeared more regularly by Shumlin’s side at public events during his third term.
It is the third marriage for Shumlin and first for Hunt. Shumlin and his previous wife, Deborah Holway, the mother of his two daughters, divorced in 2013.
The governor and Hunt, who does not plan on changing her name, are taking a brief honeymoon. “We are off for a long weekend of sun and beach. Back Monday,” they wrote in the email.
read more: QueenieWedding
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