rhinebeck ny

Clinton Greets Rhinebeck Crowd

If the public needed any further proof that Chelsea Clinton's wedding ceremony is to take place Saturday in Rhinebeck, New York, they got it on Friday: Bill Clinton made an appearance in the upstate village, and took a few questions from the crowd.

How are you?, people shouted, according to the AP. Do you like your son-in-law?

He — and the family — are all doing well, Clinton said. As for Chelsea's fiancé Mark Mezvinsky? "I like him very much," he said. "I really do. I admire him. Hillary feels the same way."

Crowds swarmed the ex-pres as he strolled with security detail through the town.

"He emerged [from lunch] to an enthusiastic crowd of 100 of peoples who shouted, 'We love you!' and 'Congratulations!'," the AP reports. "He took a moment to comfort a little girl who got jostled by the huge crowd but broke into a huge grin after the former president asked her name and whether she was all right."

The AP also has a nugget about the wedding party pricetag. While some wedding planners had quoted the estimated price for Chelsea's wedding to be in the $2-3 or even $5 millions range, a longtime Clinton family friend told the AP that the cost would not exceed $1 million.

Despite the hassle of road closures and crowds, residents of Rhinebeck seem thrilled to be close to the event.

"We thought it was great that he walked down here," Carol Chestney, of Rhinebeck, told the AP. "He could have parked right outside. He looks great."

Marybeth Cale, also of Rhinebeck, said: "It's amazing, all this excitement. We're thrilled that he's here."