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President and First Lady Obama do not attend weddings very often, but they will be on hand for the nuptials of White House chef Sam Kass and MSNBC host Alex Wagner today in Tarrytown (a town in Westchester, New York).
The ceremony will take place at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills — a Rockefeller-owned Center for Food & Agriculture. This is the first time the POTUS has visited the venue, but FLOTUS attended a fundraiser at the location in 2012.
A minor side effect of having a wedding in which the first family will be in attendance? Being vetted by the secret service! The guests of the Kass-and-Wagner wedding, along with another Labor Day ceremony, are being checked out due to Obamas staying in the area for the weekend. Sources have told the New York Post's Page Six that the president's entourage has blocked off 50 rooms at the DoubleTree by Hilton.
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Journalist, author, and fellow MSNBC commentator Richard Wolffe introduced Wagner to Kass. Reportedly, the chef was instantly smitten with the host — so much so that he asked Wolffe to take him to the White House Correspondents' Association dinner after-party for another chance to interact with Wagner. The two then had drinks at the Monkey Bar in New York City and upon learning that they both were Washington Nationals fans, Kass had the stadium opened in the off-season so he and Wagner could play catch. (How romantic, right?)
Kass has been a longtime family friend of the Obama's and has acted as their personal chef since 2005 according to The New York Times. In addition to running the White House's kitchen, the Chicago-native is the president's senior adviser for nutrition policy and is the executive director of FLOTUS's "Let's Move" campaign, which promotes healthy eating and exercising.