Secrets, Showers & Souffl

Lyndon Johnson took a notion to press the flesh with the folks in Omaha and Des Moines last week. Invited along were Daughter Luci Baines and Fiance Pat Nugent, who attracted their share of attention--and then some. Luci, who admits to being a "theatrical person," wore a dazzling orange dress and outsized, orange-rimmed sunglasses. As for Pat, who was having troubles with an errant zipper on his trousers, limelight was the last thing he wanted. Afterward, the young couple headed down to the L.B.J. ranch for the holiday weekend and Luci's 19th birthday party. It will be about the last respite for Luci before Aug. 6, her wedding day.

The first of some 750 invitations are being mailed this week. Bearing the Presidential Seal, they begin: "The President and Mrs. Johnson request the honor of your presence . . ." Companion cards read: "A reception will be held at the White House following the ceremony." In the tizzy of planning the first wedding of a President's daughter since Eleanor Wilson's in 1914, the biggest problem--whom to invite?--kept Luci and her mother mulling endlessly over Christmas-card lists and guest rosters from earlier parties. The ceremony will take place in Washington's huge Roman Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, but invitations were limited by the President's wish that all their guests be invited both to the church and to the reception, and the White House resembles a rush-hour subway when more than 1,000 people invade it.

Free Flowers. Most of the arrangements have been completed. Luci and Pat have selected twelve bridesmaids, twelve ushers, a flower girl and a ring bearer. The night before the big day, the bridegroom's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Nugent of Waukegan, ILL., will hold a rehearsal dinner for the wedding party and relatives, probably at a private Washington club. The church service will follow the conventional form.

To the envy of other fathers-of-the-bride, the President's costs for the reception will be held down by the fact that it is being staged at the White House. Most of the flowers will be provided by the White House greenhouse keepers, who have grown lilies of the valley for the bridal bouquet. The orchestra will be the scarlet-coated Marine Band. The multilayered wedding cake is being prepared by the White House pastry chef, who worked for two months preparing mock-up designs for Luci.

For the Grandchildren. The wedding dress was chosen several weeks ago in the bride-to-be's bedroom, where, as Luci popped out of the adjoining sitting room wearing one or another of the gowns under consideration, her mother would nibble a sandwich and sip ice tea between such comments as "A lovely neckline" or "That detail is pretty." One outfit prompted Lady Bird to exclaim: "That's an elegant dress--the kind you would hand down to your grandchildren." And that was the one Luci selected. The design (an exclusive from Dallas' Neiman-Marcus) will be kept top secret, Luci fervently hopes, until high noon of her wedding day.

The presents, meanwhile, keep pouring in. Scores have been politely returned to the senders: the manufacturers offering kitchen equipment, the sentimentalists asking the bride to wear their ancient lace. Others have been politely accepted: a set of coasters, decorated with pebbles, from a New Jersey elementary school; a sheet and pillow cases hand-tatted by a 15-year-old Rochester girl; a cake plate lovingly decorated by an elderly woman in the Midwest. Luci has also reaped a harvest of gifts from two bridal showers--one in Waukegan, the other in Washington. At the latter, the bride-to-be received enough souffle dishes to swamp the Confrerie des Chevaliers du Tastevin. Now the future Mrs. Nugent will have to learn to cook a souffle.

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