( CNN ) -- Long before the heady , rock star-like run for the White House , before `` Ich bin ein Berliner , '' before the Cuban Missile Crisis , the pillbox hats , Marilyn 's `` Happy birthday , Mr. President , '' Camelot and the limo drive through Dallas , John and Jackie Kennedy were a young newlywed couple much like any other newlywed couple -- with one notable difference : By the time of their wedding they were , in a sense , already superstars . The pair had appeared on the cover of LIFE magazine mere months before their wedding , in July 1953 , perched on the sloping deck of a sailboat off of Cape Cod , both of them smiling , windblown , emphatically New England-y , beside the cheeky headline , `` Senator Kennedy Goes a-Courting . '' They were both from prominent , monied , influential families , and they were frequently , together and apart , featured in what are still occasionally called the `` society pages '' of major newspapers . When they married in Rhode Island on September 12 , 1953 , it was national news . LIFE magazine sent photographer Lisa Larsen , then in her late 20s , to cover the highly publicized event . Her photos from the occasion offer not only a solid before-and-after record of the nuptials , but a surprisingly intimate chronicle of one of the most high-profile American weddings of the 20th century . Here , on the 60th anniversary of John and Jackie Kennedy 's wedding , LIFE.com presents a gallery of the very best of Lisa Larsen 's many pictures from that day . Read the full story and see the entire gallery on Life.com .
John and Jackie were married in Long Island on September 15 , 1953 . LIFE magazine hired photographer Jack Larsen to photograph the event . It was one of the most high - profile American weddings of the 20th century .