President Barack Obama might be trying to enjoy himself during his Hawaii Christmas vacation, but his fun time cut into a military couple’s wedding, and they had to forsake their original choice of scenery because of the president’s golf game, Yahoo News reports.
According to the report, two Army captains, Natalie Heimel and her fiance, Edward Mallue Jr., were supposed to be married Sunday at the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course on the Marine Corps Base Hawaii near the 16th hole. However, plans changed when the pair were told that they had to move their wedding because the president was playing.
As fate would have it, the couple, knowing that Obama would be there, had had the foresight to invite the president to their special day, but Obama had politely declined, via a letter received on Saturday from the White House, Yahoo notes.
“It was kind of ironic they got the letter from them and then, within hours, they were told they had to be moved due to him,” Jamie McCarthy, Mallue’s sister, told Bloomberg Politics. “It was emotional, especially for her—she’s the bride, and in less than 24 hours they had to change everything they had planned.”
Once the president realized what had happened, he personally called the bride to deliver a message. “He apologized and congratulated them,” McCarthy said. “We were all there, it was perfect. Made their day.”
As for the wedding, it was successfully relocated to “the lush, green lawn near the home of Col. Eric Schaefer, the commanding officer of the base, which offers an elevated view near the 16th hole,” the news site notes.
Read more at Yahoo News and Bloomberg Politics.