Government shutdown threatens romantic wedding by the Jefferson Memorial Suddenly, the couple's romantic Washington wedding was morphing into a government shutdown wedding. By Tuesday, the long-planned event had fallen victim to nasty congressional squabbling - one of two dozen October weddings on the Mall endangered by the federal shutdown and potentially scores of others at hundreds of national parks around the country. "Shutdowns are one of those things that on an intellectual level you know are going to impact an average person, but you really don't get it until it hits you in a way like this," said Cassesso, 29, a legislative analyst for the AARP. "There are plenty of people around the country who may not understand that this isn't just going to hurt nameless government workers and that, in a depressing way, it impacts your wedding plans with just a few days" notice." His intended - who said she'd prided herself on being a low-stress bride - had a somewhat more visceral reaction to the situation. "Oh [expletive]," said Le, 30, a project coordinator for an executive search firm, when she read the e-mail from the National Mall's permit office. This is really happening. Carol Johnson, a spokeswoman for the National Mall and Memorial Parks, sympathized with the couple's plight. I can't even imagine it; it's clearly so crushing. It would be so devastating," she said. But Johnson said that there's nothing she can do and that Cassesso and Le aren't the only couple whose wedding is on the chopping block. A total of 24 weddings are scheduled on the Mall in October, Johnson said. Kathy Kupper, a National Park Service spokeswoman, said the agency doesn't have a tally of the number of weddings scheduled at the country's 401 national parks. But none of them can take place while the government is shut down. All day Monday, Cassesso and Le, who paid $50 for a permit fee to host their wedding beside the Jefferson Memorial, scrambled to choose a backup site. Their options: Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar on Capitol Hill, the site of their reception; or the back yard of their apartment building in Northeast Washington, at the corner of 12th and D streets. Much like the members of Congress they currently revile, the couple found themselves at an impasse. She was leaning toward Sonoma, simply because it will be easier for guests to get to. But Cassesso really wanted the outdoor event because they'd already forked over more than $700 to rent out chairs, which would go unused at Sonoma. The chair vendor, Le said, has actually agreed to give half of their money back and allow them to use the other half for a future event.