Chelsea Clinton wedding: has the paparazzi met its match?

Chelsea Clinton seems an unlikely person to want a high-profile, $3-million society wedding featuring 400 of her "closest friends."

The daughter of former U.S. President Bill Clinton and current U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, Chelsea is certainly no stranger to life in the public eye. But after putting on a brave face during the Lewinsky scandal, and spending much of her awkward adolescence serving as the punchline for many cruel jokes, Chelsea opted for normalcy, leaving her White House notoriety and earning degrees at both Stanford and Oxford.

She's been so publicity-shy in recent years that it was a pleasant surprise to see her speaking out on behalf of her mother during the 2008 presidential campaign. It's been more thrilling still to see what a well-adjusted, poised young woman Chelsea had become during her time away from the limelight.

Her years of hard-won privacy clearly agreed with her, which makes it all the more distressing to see the current media frenzy surrounding her nuptials on July 31. Ever since Clinton announced her engagement to investment banker Marc Mezvinsky last November, speculation and rumours have been swirling around her big day: Would she wear Vera Wang or Oscar de la Renta? Would the ceremony take place on Martha's Vineyard, or at the Astor Courts in Rhinebeck, N.Y.? Would Barack Obama and Barbra Steisand be on the list of VIP guests? Would the former president shed 15 pounds in time for the first dance with the new bride?

The American northeast hasn't been in a tizzy like this since the day Richard Nixon's daughter walked down the aisle, so it's no wonder the Clintons are using their considerable clout to keep tongue-wagging gawkers and the media in general at bay as Chelsea ties the knot. A week ago, two journalists were arrested after snapping photos on the Astor Estate grounds. Yesterday, New York magazine reported that the Federal Aviation Administration has outlawed all flights in the Rhineback village vicinity starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Will this deter the paparazzi, who have been known to use helicopters to swarm high-profile ceremonies? That's what I'm hoping, at least, though as the event approaches the media remains hell-bent on milking this "wedding of the millennium" item for all it's worth. The most recent batch of Clinton stories ranges from a handy wedding FAQ to an item about the gluten-free cake Chelsea's guests will dine on, while a New York Times piece makes mention of the Today, Good Morning America and Early Show correspondents reporting on the story from Rhinebeck. In yet another item, New York magazine asks if much of this media frenzy could have been avoided. (Ummm, yes.)

I can't help feeling a little sorry for the bride-to-be, who somehow gets lost in all of this. As one New York mag blogger recently observed, Chelsea's nuptials are becoming "more reminiscent of a giant military operation than a wedding."

Isn't it stressful enough getting married in front of 400 official guests?