Ike’s Grandchild Marries Soviet Scientist : Relations: One Russian guest said the wedding of Susan Eisenhower and Roald Sagdeyev symbolizes that Americans and Russians <i> can </i> get together.

It was a union filled with symbolism--the granddaughter of a former U.S. President marrying a prominent Soviet scientist with a traditional ceremony and a reception that reeked of capitalism.

But when it came time today to cut an enormous wedding cake, Susan Eisenhower and Roald Sagdeyev did what any couple would do. They smiled and kissed and then blushed in front of about 100 smiling American and Soviet guests.

The couple married during a 40-minute ceremony inside a ballroom converted to a chapel at the home of the U.S. ambassador. The reception was held inside a large blue-and-white room filled with marble columns, glittery chandeliers and avant-garde paintings.

The guests nibbled crab and two colors of caviar and sipped champagne. It was a presentation of the finest wares capitalism has to offer.

“The cold war is over,” said Yuri Ossipiam, a guest who is the vice chairman of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. “The wedding symbolizes that Americans and Russians can have a normal relationship in state and personally speaking.”

Tass press agency--which ordinarily does not cover weddings or personal events--expressed a similar sentiment.

“If it were not for the high position of the bride and groom, which has turned their love story into a real sensation, there would have been nothing unusual in forming one more Soviet-American family union,” the agency reported.

Eisenhower, 38, is the granddaughter of former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Sagdeyev, 57, is a radical member of the Soviet Parliament and a rocket scientist who has pushed for joint U.S.-Soviet ventures to the planet Mars.

Eisenhower has been married twice before and has three children, ages eight to 17. Sagdeyev is divorced and has two grown children.

Until 1988, Sagdeyev directed one of the country’s most respected organizations, the Institute of Space Research, which is part of the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

The two met at a U.S.-Soviet conference in the United States about two years ago.

As they mingled among their famous guests, including Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady I. Gerasimov, it was hardly imaginable that one came from a country once referred to by former President Ronald Reagan as the “Evil Empire.”

“We are very happy,” said Eisenhower during the reception, as she walked down a long marble staircase with a bouquet of white irises cradled in her arms.

The couple first exchanged vows earlier in the day in a typical Soviet civil ceremony at a wedding palace. The ceremony was much more sober than the one held before a Protestant minister at the American ambassador’s home.

During that ceremony, Eisenhower walked down the aisle in a white wool suit with gold trim while Sagdeyev waited at the altar. A choir sang traditional music.