A groom-to-be says his dog ate his passport days before he was due to fly to Italy for his dream wedding

21.08.2023 - 11:29 / insider.com / Lake Garda

With just days to go before they were due to fly to Italy for their wedding, a Boston couple's plans took an unexpected turn after their pet dog ate the groom-to-be's passport.

NBC Boston reported that Donato Frattaroli and Magda Mazri went to Boston City Hall on Thursday to get their marriage license and letter of intent.

To celebrate collecting the paperwork and their impending nuptials, the couple went for a romantic dinner, NBC Boston said.

But upon returning to their home, they realized their wedding plans appeared to have been scuppered.

"Our extremely cute 1.5-year-old Golden Retriever decided that maybe she doesn't want us to go away to get married, so she hopped up on the counter and decided my passport was a nice new toy to play with," Frattaroli, the groom, told the Boston Herald.

Their dog, Chickie, had chewed out the first four pages of the passport and several back pages, NBC Boston reported.

"It was like every important page. Like all of his personal information -- completely torn up, his picture page was torn up, the barcode on the back of the passport was torn up," Mazri, the bride-to-be, told NBC Boston.

The wedding is due to take place on August 31 at La Torre di San Marco, a historic watch tower overlooking Lake Garda in northern Italy, according to The Herald.

It takes about eight to 11 weeks for a passport to be processed and delivered on routine service, and five to seven weeks if the process is expedited, The Herald reported.

Pressed for time and with an absence of appointments in the New England area, the couple reached out to lawmakers in a desperate bid to get a new passport in time for the wedding.

"Sent out an email to Congressman [Stephen] Lynch's office, then got in touch with Sen. [Ed] Markey, their staffs have both been incredible, super communicative," Frattaroli told NBC Boston. "But ultimately it really comes down to the State Department and the passport office."

Insider asked Markey, Lynch, and the State Department to comment but did not immediately receive any responses.

Speaking to The Herald, Frattaroli recognized the absurdity of the situation. He said: "It's almost like the 'dog ate my homework' excuse but with slightly bigger ramifications."

Frattaroli also told NBC Boston that he's not coming up with a "Plan B" because he and Mazri are going to make it to Italy "one way or the other."