Hiltons ‘Delighted’ About Daughter Nicky’s Nuptials
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
The Hilton honeymoon suite is occupied – and its owners don’t seem to mind.
Rick and Kathy Hilton insist they are “delighted” with daughter Nicky’s late-night nuptials to money manager Todd Andrew Meister, a surprise union that has tongues wagging all over town.
“Kathy would have loved to plan a formal wedding, yet Nicky opted for a small, quiet ceremony,” Mr. Hilton said in a statement yesterday. The “quiet ceremony” refers to a 2:30 a.m. exchange of vows at the Las Vegas Wedding Bureau early Sunday morning after a night of Sin City clubbing. Nicky’s older sister Paris and friend Bijou Phillips looked on as the hotel heiress got hitched.
The newlyweds, who dated on and off for more than a year, are products of similar social spheres. Ms. Hilton, 20, is pursuing a career in the fashion world – between attending parties everywhere from Beverly Hills to Bridgehampton.
Mr. Meister is the scion of a wealthy New York finance family; father Robert is vice chairman of Aon Group, an international insurance brokerage firm. The 33year-old bridegroom boasts a Harvard MBA, a jet-setting reputation, and a taste for younger women – Ms. Hilton is 13 years his junior.
“Todd exudes a great warmth and personality; he is a longtime friend of the family and is loved by all of us,” the Hilton parents said. Others are less than impressed. “Unless you want to write an expose on someone who doesn’t really deserve his Harvard degree, I’d probably rather not comment on Todd,” wrote one of Mr. Meister’s Harvard roommates via e-mail.
David Patrick Columbia, editor of www.NewYorkSocialDiary.com and Quest Magazine, described Mr. Meister as “a young man with the time and the money to get around.” “The girls say he’s always been a real flirt.” Mr. Columbia told The New York Sun.
As for the wedding itself, Mr. Columbia, a chronicler of the New York social set, gave the young heiress a sliver of credit.
“I think that most people do think that it’s rash, but one always thinks that when people run off and get married at two o’clock in the morning in Las Vegas,” he said. “It’s like Nicky dyeing her hair brown or black or whatever the hell it is now. That wasn’t just, ‘Oh one day I’ll dye my hair.’ There was some consideration given to it.”
