David and Julie

While her father was assembling his Cabinet, Julie Nixon was hard at work on vital plans of her own--and was keeping them to herself with equal determination. Even when it became clear that she could have a White House wedding if she wished, she stuck firmly to her idea of keeping the ceremony private. With the guest list and other details a closely kept secret, she and Dwight David Eisenhower II, Ike's grandson, will be married Sunday at Manhattan's Marble Collegiate Church.

There was no secret, at least, about why she chose the church: she much admires Marble Collegiate's pastor, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, author of the bestselling The Power of Positive Thinking (who was bedded down late last week with a case of flu complicated by hiccups). Her family has often attended his church. Julie shares a copy of Peak's book with a Smith classmate and brides maid, Anne Davis, who says: "Dr. Peale has helped us through all the rough spots."* Sample Peale advice to newly weds: "Couples who pray together grow together--and stick together."

Gentled Rock. Julie's attendants are mainly school and college friends of David's and hers. Julie's older sister Tricia will be maid of honor, and David's best man will be Fred Grandy of Sioux City, Iowa, a Harvard junior who was his roommate through four years at Exeter. Among the more than 500 guests will be the members-designate of Nixon's Cabinet and their wives but, except for the incoming Secretary of Defense, Congressman Melvin Laird, there will be no Senators or Representatives on hand.

To keep things as private as possible, both the wedding and the tea-dance reception in the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza will be closed to the press. At The Plaza, Bill Harrington's orchestra will tootle Edelweiss, The Impossible Dream from Man of La Mancha, The Blue Danube and, at David's request, some rock 'n' roll in arrangements gentled for guests over 30.

Shopping by Rolls. Prenuptial partying has been kept to a minimum. There were bridal showers given by Mrs. Elmer Bobst, wife of the ex-chairman of Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Co., and Mrs. Edwin Hilson, a friend of the Duchess of Windsor. Mrs. Hil son also took Julie to lunch at Manhattan's chic Cote Basque--and then swept the bride-to-be off in her chauffeured Rolls to start an afternoon round of shopping. Julie went to Bonniers, Bonwit Teller and Bendel's. Julie's wedding shoes, low-heeled white satin pumps with tiny seed-pearl bows in the back, come from Bendel's. Priscilla of Boston, who produced Luci Baines Johnson's 1966 wedding to Patrick Nugent, rounded up the wedding gown, bridesmaids' dresses and trousseau. The bridesmaids will wear pink.

After their honeymoon--probably in the sun and possibly in Florida or Nassau --the newlyweds will settle into a two-bedroom apartment in Northampton in a building owned by Smith College. Furniture is no problem: since her parents' new residence in Washington comes furnished, Julie has scavenged their Manhattan apartment for everything from her father's fruitwood chest to end tables and Oriental rugs. David will commute the seven miles to Amherst in a well-worn white 1962 Valiant, which he bought from his grandmother last year. After earning his degree in political science, he plans to study law, perhaps at Georgetown University in Washington. As for Julie, after graduation in 1970, she aspires to work on documentary films. She should have plenty of opportunity to practice her trade around her family's new home.

* Adlai Stevenson was of a different mind. When it came to evangelists, he once said, "I find Paul appealing and Peale appalling."

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