A golden retriever named Chickie was in the doghouse after chowing down on a groom’s passport, threatening his and his fiancee’s destination wedding in Italy.
Donato Frattaroli of South Boston and his fiancée, Magda Mazri, discovered the decimated document hours after filling out their intention-of-marriage forms at city hall in Boston.
They were scheduled to fly to Italy a week later, for their Aug. 31 wedding.
“I’m just a little stressed,” Frattaroli told WCVB-TV as he faced being the only one absent from his wedding. All the guests and his soon-to-be bride were going to go without him if he couldn’t get a new passport.
The couple reached out to local officials and got help from the offices of U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch and Sen. Ed Markey, who Frattaroli said were “super responsive.”
The politicians pulled some strings with the State Department as Frattaroli and Mazri crossed their fingers and hoped their updated “dog-ate-my-homework” story would generate enough sympathy for an expedited passport.
The wish worked, and Chickie was out of the doghouse — though the pooch is not invited to the wedding.
Frattaroli snagged a passport appointment for Monday, with promises of a new one on Wednesday — two days before their Friday flight.
Frattaroli said a filing cabinet or safe tops his post-nuptial purchase list.
“We’re just really fortunate and optimistic that everything is going to work our way,” Mazri told WCVB after the news. “The most important thing is that we get married.”
