Keeping It All Very Private

By Sara C. Medina

The power behind the Kennedy name was never more apparent than in the Cape Cod town of Hyannis last week. CBS Morning News Anchor Maria Shriver, 30, daughter of Sargent and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, had made it clear that she wanted her wedding to Austrian-born Actor-Businessman Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38, to be a traditional--and very private--affair. So the Shrivers and Kennedys exerted all their considerable influence to maintain tight security, stymie gossip columnists and keep journalists at a distance. Items:

Before Maria flew to Cape Cod last Wednesday, she told CBS viewers only that she would be taking a few days off, never mentioning the imminent nuptials.

Provincetown-Boston Airline, the commuter line flying in many family members and guests, was induced to lock up its computers a day before the wedding so that no passenger agents could divulge the guest list.

From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the wedding day, all air traffic within a two-mile radius of the Kennedys' seaside compound in nearby Hyannis Port was prohibited from cruising below 2,000 ft. A security force of Barnstable County police officers paid by the Shrivers had been patrolling the area for several days.

Not even the Kennedys could produce spring on demand, however, and the wedding day dawned damp and cool. But at the white clapboard St. Francis Xavier's Roman Catholic Church, as the jubilant bride arrived in a muslin silk and lace Marc Bohan gown, she had a sunny smile for crowds that had been gathering since before 9 a.m. Helping the bride with her 11-ft. train were her ten attendants, including her cousin Caroline Kennedy as maid of honor. Schwarzenegger had arrived the day before from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where he had been shooting his latest film. On his way to the church, he slowed his limousine out front, rolled down the window and, holding a cigar, flashed a huge grin at the crowd.

Among the Kennedy family members and celebrities disgorged at the church by a fleet of limousines and buses were the bride's uncle, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, her aunt Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, TV Actress Susan Saint James, I CBS's 60 Minutes Correspondent Diane Sawyer, NBC Newscaster Tom Brokaw, ABC Interviewer Barbara Walters, Columnist Art Buchwald and Singer Andy Williams. Flattopped Actress Grace Jones and Pop Artist Andy Warhol showed up late.

After the one-hour, 15-minute nuptial Mass, the limousines and buses delivered the 450 guests to the Kennedy compound, where two huge white tents equipped with heavy sidewalls and heaters kept out the chill breeze off Nantucket Sound. Inside, fruit trees in full pink-and-white bloom gave the lie to the weather, and a sumptuous lunch was capped by an eight-tier wedding cake weighing a whopping 425 lbs. and topped by the traditional bride and groom figures.

The honeymoon was to be brief, since the bride's leave from CBS is short and the bridegroom has a film crew waiting on location. Naturally, the site was kept secret. --By Sara C. Medina. Reported by Jeanne McDowell/Hyannis

With reporting by Jeanne McDowell/Hyannis