July 29: Chelsea Clinton’s marriage on Saturday is the hottest ticket in town, but US President Barack Obama would have to give a miss to what is being called the wedding of the decade and of the century as he hasn’t been invited.
He hasn’t received an invitation to the wedding of the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, Mr Obama announced on ABC’s The View on Wednesday. “I was not invited to the wedding because I think Hillary and Bill, properly, want to keep this thing for Chelsea and her soon-to-be husband,” the President said. “You don’t want two Presidents at one wedding. All the Secret Service, guests going through (metal detectors), all the gifts being torn apart,” he added jocularly. Mr Clinton’s vice-president Al Gore, celebrities Barbara Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Ted Turner will also not be attending Chelsea’s marriage to her investment-banker boyfriend Marc Mezvinsky.
The hotly-anticipated, highly secretive affair at a posh private estate 90 miles north of Manhattan would set the former first couple back by an estimated $3 million to $5 million, according to New York Daily News. Security at Saturday’s wedding alone could cost $200,000 because of all the high-level politicians and global celebrities, the daily said.
Built as a Beaux Arts style playground for John Jacob Astor IV more than a century ago, the estate features the sort of commanding view that once inspired Hudson River School painters, as well as 50 acres of buffer space to shield the party from prying eyes.