Obama's golf game causes army couple to move wedding

HONOLULU, Dec 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama personally apologized to a bride last weekend after discovering his golf plans had forced an Army couple to move the location of their wedding.

The couple, Natalie Heimel and Edward Mallue Jr., both captains in the U.S. Army, had planned to get married on Sunday on the 16th hole of the Kaneohe Klipper Golf Course on Marine Corps Base Hawaii, where Obama has frequently played golf while on vacation with his family.

But on Saturday, the couple was told they would have to find a different location because the president had plans to play golf there at the time of their ceremony.

A source familiar with the incident said neither Obama nor White House staff were informed that the couple had been told to move their ceremony, rather the golf course manager made the decision unilaterally.

The golf course manager declined to comment when asked about the wedding by Reuters.

Obama personally called the bride to apologize for disrupting her wedding plans and offered his congratulations, the source said.