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A Welsh couple have been turfed out of their first choice wedding venue by the President of the United States.

Christie Connolly and Sam Holland had the shock of their lives when they received a letter informing them that their wedding day would have to move venues due to the presence of Barack Obama and other world leaders in the Welsh capital for the NATO Summit.

Now the couple are making the most of the unexpected move – by inviting the President along to their big day.

“I’m not expecting him to turn up but just to get an email back would be quite cool,” said Christie.

“And if he wants to pay for the wedding off the back of it, well I’m more than happy!”

The Cardiff couple had their wedding booked for September at the capital’s City Hall but have since received a letter from the Superintendent Registrar informing the pair that it will have to be moved to the city’s Mansion House – the official residence of Cardiff’s Lord Mayor – because of the NATO Summit being held in Newport.

“I got a letter through saying that because of the NATO summit that the City Hall and the surrounding areas would be inaccessible, so they’ve decided to move all marriage bookings from City Hall to the Mansion House,” says Christie. “The letter says there is no extra cost but that we would need to come in and do another bit of admin, but not to worry about anything as all we would need to do is sign another bit of paper.”

Christie, 25, who has been with her fiance Sam, 28, for seven years, said: “I phoned the registrar as we needed to make an appointment to go back in and see them, we got chatting and I said I knew the NATO conference was on and we knew Barack Obama was going to be in South Wales that weekend, because we couldn’t book hotel rooms for our wedding guests on the same night."

She said they were "amazed" when they were told their wedding venue would be swapped to the city's Mansion House because of the Nato Summit.

The NATO summit is being organised by the UK Government on behalf of NATO and First Minister Carwyn Jones this week hinted that the Welsh Government would be looking to host an event during the summit: “It is being organised by the UK government so we have to organise ourselves around their own arrangements” he said.

Ian Edwards of the Celtic Manor Resort talks about hosting the NATO Summit 2014

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“But we will be looking to host a large event at the beginning of the summit and of course hosting other events around the summit as well.”

For Christie, who works as a demand planner for Allied Bakeries, and her fiance Sam, who handles press and marketing for The Moon Club and Full Moon Bar in Cardiff, the change of venue has worked out well as their original choice of venue was actually The Mansion House.

“It’s a bit of a blessing in disguise if not a little bit strange,” laughs Christie. “When I read the first paragraph of the letter I nearly fainted as I thought ‘oh god we haven’t got the money to make new plans, it’s a little bit late as we’ve already booked stuff’ and then I read the rest of it and thought okay I remember the Mansion House and it was really pretty.

“Our main concern was can we still get all the people there, as we’ve already told them where and when the wedding will be. We’re going to have to reprint invitations and things like that. It was a little bit hectic at first. However the registrar was great and really, helpful.

“We originally planned to get married on May 25,” she adds. “Then we looked at finances and things were tight so we said we’ll have to move it to make sure things don’t go wrong.

“And now this happens! People have said to us it could only happen to you two because you’re both calamity prone.”

The couple said they are more than happy to accommodate the extra special guest on their wedding.

“We thought it would be quite funny to invite the President, because at the end of the day if I can get an email or a letter back from The White House it would be something to show my kids one day,” she laughs.

“I sent an email through The White House website and basically said ‘I understand this is just what happens when the leader of the free world comes to town and everything gets put on hold, but it’s okay because you, your wife and your secret service guys are welcome to come down for a bit of cake’!”