How do you make the best day of your life even better? By having the President of the United States be an unexpected part of it! Two happy newlyweds, Brian and Stephanie Tobe, received the wedding gift of a lifetime when President Obama became an unwitting wedding crasher at their ceremony in San Diego, Calif., on Sunday, Oct. 11.
According to ABC News, the Tobes were getting ready for their early evening ceremony on Sunday when they were alerted that the commander in chief, who had been golfing at the Torrey Pines Golf Course where they were set to wed, was finishing up his game.
“Our photographers, they had earpieces in, talking to each other,” Stephanie told ABC News. “So one photographer, Erin, she was down talking on the lawn and our photographer, Jeff, was up with us in the suite. And they’re talking to each other, and saying things, like, ‘Oh. This might be the one chance; you’ve got to go now.’”
The bride, who had been “peeking out the window” the entire time as she was getting her makeup done, instantly jumped at the possibility of meeting the president, with Brian not far behind.
“Once I heard that there might be an opportunity to even just say hi, shake his hand, or even try to take a picture, we darted,” she said. “We ran to the closest elevator, got downstairs, and I picked up my huge dress and I just started running across the lawn to get over to the president.”
Jeff Youngren, one of the wedding photographers for the day, commented on Stephanie’s swift reaction.
“I’ve never seen a bride run so fast in such an elegant gown,” he said.
“It was so cool because all of our friends were screaming and cheering for us,” Stephanie recounted. “They weren’t even looking at the president, they were looking at us. It was so exciting. And we just ran out across through the crowd and got up to the president and got to shake his hand.”
According to Youngren, Obama and his security team saw the excited couple “coming from a distance and kind of paused,” though POTUS ultimately turned out to be cool and collected given the situation.
“Right when we saw him, Stephanie got to him first,” Brian said. “And he said congrats to Stephanie right away. And at that moment he pointed out that my foot was actually on the train or the trail of her wedding dress on the ground and he said, I don’t remember his exact words, but he’s so relaxed, and he says, nope, nope, you know… you can’t step on the wedding dress.”
The flustered groom added, “I think it was our first marriage advice.”
