Captain duPont Coudert in a private ceremony attended only by their mothers in the sacristy at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. A small dinner party at the Hotel Savoy followed the ceremony and the newlyweds sailed for England the next day. The New York Times society page reported that the surprisingly "hasty wedding ... made quite a little stir" although the couple had known each other for more than four years at the time of their wedding and had been frequent companions at public events and social gatherings in New York. Professional life During the early years of her career in Terre Haute, Indiana, Küssner painted miniature portraits of the likenesses of wealthy local residents that included members of the Fairbanks, Minshall, Baker, and Reynolds families. After moving to New York City in 1891, she became famous for her miniature portrait work. Her typical miniature portraits were painted on small, oval discs of ivory from one to three inches in diameter. She reportedly completed more than 200 miniature portraits of notable individuals during her career. In many instances, the artist portrayed her subjects in a favorable light, choosing to emphasize their best features instead of reproducing exact likenesses. New York City and Chicago By 1892 Küssner had settled in New York City to pursue a career painting miniature portraits. Armed with introductions from her school friend and state actress Alice Fischer, as well as examples of her work, Küssner began to receive commissions to painted portraits of Manhattan's elite. She maintained a studio at her apartments in the Windsor Hotel and was paid an estimated US$1,000 per portrait. Küssner's early clients included Emily Havemeyer, the wife of Theodore Havemeyer; actresses Lillian Russell and Marie Tempest; and Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, the wife of William B. Astor (grandson of John Jacob Astor). While visiting her brother's family in Chicago, Illinois, in 1894, Küssner was commissioned to paint miniature portraits of the Armour family, founders of the successful meatpacking firm, Armour and Company. In addition to painting, Küssner taught art. Among her pupils was the miniaturist Rosa Hooper. By the mid-1890s, coverage of Küssner in New York and Chicago newspapers and magazines introduced some inaccuracies in the details of her life. In the February 2, 1895, issue of Harper's Bazaar, for example, a writer profiled her luxuriously decorated studio and described her as a 22-year-old child prodigy, even though she was