JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP/WJXT) — President Barack Obama attended the Florida wedding of his longtime staffer and most frequent golf partner.
Marvin Nicholson is the White House trip director and the president’s personal aide. He and Helen Pajcic tied the knot at an evening ceremony Saturday in Jacksonville, Florida. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry officiated the ceremony, according to attendees.
Pajcic is the daughter of a longtime Obama fundraiser and – according to her LinkedIn profile – a special assistant at the U.S. Education Department. The bride and groom both worked on Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
WJXT reported that the president did not want to steal the spotlight on the couple’s special day.
“He wanted to make sure he wasn’t stealing the thunder from Helen and Marvin,” said Steve Pajcic, the father of the bride.
“He is really such a good person, a nice, good, real person,” Pajcic said of Obama. “Which is demonstrated by the fact that come hell or high water, he was going to be at this wedding as a groomsman for his friend Marvin.”
Obama has played 333 rounds of golf since taking office and Nicholson has joined the foursome for 192 of them, making him the president’s most frequent golf buddy. That’s according to White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who is widely respected for his presidential record-keeping.
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