A couple’s national park wedding may be canceled due to government shutdown
A Chicago couple received an unexpected note from the federal government due to the shutdown: their dream wedding has been canceled.
Brad Krzyzanowski and Maggie Chardell planned a wedding at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, where they were engaged and where they took their last vacation with Chardell's late father, CBS 2 Chicago reports.
But the couple received an e-mail that that their wedding, which is scheduled for Sunday, June 16, 2019, has been canceled. When they called to get more information, they were only able to reach a voicemail saying, "Due to the partial federal government shutdown we are unable to respond to your voicemails," and, "if you have a reservation or location during the lapse in funding, it may not be honored," CBS 2 reported.
"I mean it's the second longest shutdown," Krzyzanowski said, but their June date is months away, so he wondered why their reservation was canceled, when the shutdown could be resolved much sooner. "It'll probably be over in a couple of days," he speculated. Mr. Trump has said he's willing to let the shutdown go on for "years," though, to secure funding for a southern border wall.
Mr. Trump's insistence on billions of dollars in funding to keep a signature campaign promise and Democrats' insistence on funding the government without money for the wall mean the partial government shutdown is poised to be the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
CBS 2 tried calling and emailing members of public affairs office for the National Parks Service but heard the same recorded message.
The couple said they are far more concerned about federal workers not receiving paychecks, people losing out on mortgages and others impacted by the shutdown, but they wanted to share their wedding troubles to show that there are impacts reaching beyond the federal workforce, too, according to CBS 2.
