A Boston couple’s destination wedding in Italy almost didn’t happen after their dog chewed up the groom’s passport — but thanks to their quick thinking, the celebration took place as planned!
The crisis began with Donato Frattaroli and Magda Mazri’s beloved golden retrieverChickie chowing down on the groom’s passportat their Massachusetts home mere days before their Aug. 31 wedding in Lake Garda, Italy.
“It’s hard to describe," Donato, 36, says of his mindset when he first saw the shredded, wet passport. “It’s not like all the joy left me, but it was definitely panic. Typically, I’m pretty organized and keep my stuff locked up. I’m not one of those who loses or misplaces things. And the one time I didn’t…”
Bride Magda, 25, laughs and says the roles were switched in that moment, because Donato is generally the calm, methodical one in the relationship. It’s the quality that drew her to the restaurateur in the first place.
After college, she began bartending at his Victory Point restaurant when some mutual friends recommended her for the job. Although that was five years ago, the duo didn’t start dating until after she left to start another job three years ago.
“The first thing that stands out about him is his composure and ability to command a room,” Magda says. “So when this happened I thought, ‘What would Donato do in this situation?’ We discovered we were a good team.”
Still, “It was a very stressful week," Magda says of the rush to replace her then-fiancé’s passport.
The couple quickly checked theU.S. State Department’s passport website, which states that you can get a same-day passport if you have proof of travel within 14 days. The hitch? It’s contingent upon securing an appointment — and there were no appointments available.
“So yes, we had proof of travel, but getting an actual appointment in Boston was pretty much impossible,” Magda says. “The closest we could find was in Atlanta, and that was going to be on the Thursday before we left for Italy, so that wasn’t really an option.”
The earliest appointment was in El Paso, Texas, and Donato was willing to make the trip.
“There was Plan A, with Plan B being Plan A and Plan C being Plan A, which was I’m getting myself to Italy one way or another,” Donato says.
A resourceful bride on a mission, Magda reached out to local officials, who put her in contact with U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts. They were able to get an appointment in Boston a week later.
“It made Donato’s life very easy because he was willing to go almost anywhere in the country to get a passport,” Magda says. “I know people who waited six months to get an expedited passport.”
The couple had always planned on having a destination wedding. Donato still has family in Italy, while Magda is half-Italian and has family in Morocco. Plans had been in the works for 18 months, with trips back and forth to secure the perfect venue at Lake Garda and plan the details.
Then the pooch — who turns 2 in November — almost derailed it all.
“She just didn’t want us to leave. She’s very attached to her parents,” Magda says. “We wanted to bring her, but it was too much for her. So we had to leave her and she wasn’t happy about it.”
A few years ago, Magda had a 13-year-old dog that passed away, but just prior to that, Chickie came into their lives. She and Donato’s brother had joked about getting him a dog for Valentine’s Day but didn’t do it. Later, they thought they should surprise him with a dog.
“We went out looking for dogs and ended up bringing her home to Donato and naming her Chicken Cutlet,” Magda says of the dog’s original name.
“The reason behind that is my favorite thing Magda makes is chicken cutlets and [the dog] was golden,” adds Donato.
Unbeknownst to Chickie, she was always going to be part of the Italian ceremony, even if it was just in spirit.
“I had ordered a little miniature Chickie to be put on the cake because she’s always a part of our lives,” Magda says.
Looking back on Chickie’s passport ordeal, the couple says it gave them perspective during a complicated trip home after their honeymoon in France.
They missed their connecting flight from New York to Boston, then found out the flight from New York to Boston was canceled due to weather. When they arrived in New York, there were no flights and no cars to rent. So they took Amtrak from Penn Station to Boston.
“The first test for us was how to get to the wedding and the second was how do we get back?” says Magda. “We have learned to pivot.”
source: people.com
