Plans? Preparations? No Promises!

Michele Petrillo and Matt Bensen study a NATO security map. The site of their wedding, the Hotel Washington, is in a zone closed to pedestrian and car traffic this weekend because of the summit. (By Lois Raimondo – The Washington Post) Related Links First NATO Leaders Arrive for Summit City Braces for Uncertainty Summit Gives D.C. a Chance to Shine Summit Q & A Map of Closings

By Libby Copeland and Eric L. Wee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, April 22, 1999; Page B1

A year ago, Michele Petrillo and Matt Bensen thought they had planned the perfect wedding: the right band, the right Key lime cake, the ideal location. They would get married on Saturday on the top floor of the Hotel Washington, with its splendid views of the heart of D.C.

No one told them that their wedding was going to take place at ground zero of the biggest international summit in Washington's history.

Now the Bethesda pair has gone into a cold sweat, wondering how their 130 guests, 25 ushers and bridesmaids and assorted musicians, caterers, hairstylists and babysitters will get to the wedding. The hotel, at 15th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, is in a zone closed to pedestrian and car traffic throughout the weekend because of the NATO summit.

Since she learned last week about the street closures, Petrillo and her wedding planner have been making frantic calls to State Department and D.C. officials. They've been told that their guests probably will be allowed through but that all traffic rules are subject to change at the last minute.

"I'm a total wreck," said Petrillo, 43. "You do everything to ensure this is a wonderful day for yourself, family and friends, and you want everyone to have a wonderful time. . . . The whole thing could blow up in our face."

Like Petrillo, many Washington area residents and tourists have only recently discovered that NATO is coming to town – and that its three-day extravaganza is ruining their own plans to visit downtown this weekend.

Commuters who can't take tomorrow off are clenching their teeth in anticipation of gridlock. Tourists are canceling trips to the White House and the Mall. D.C. theaters and concert halls have been fielding calls from ticket-holders worried that they'll never make it to their show on time.

Even the local Red Cross has been thrown for a loop, canceling several large blood drives slated for this week in the District because of fears of a low turnout.

Although NATO officials set the date of this weekend's summit two years ago, most tourists and area residents say they weren't aware of the event – and the extent of the disruption it would cause in downtown Washington – until about a week ago.

Cathie Magee, of Fairfield, Conn., made plans four months ago to visit Washington this weekend with her brother-in-law and his family. The first hint of trouble didn't come until Tuesday, when her hotel told her that she needed to get into a parking lot before streets closed this evening. Then she talked to the staff at other hotels, who told her that Washington was going to resemble a police state. She found out that several museums she wanted to visit were going to be closed.

So Magee and her relatives have decided to cancel their visit altogether.

"They were very disappointed. They've never seen the monuments and the Capitol, and we've been talking about it for months," Magee said. But "seeing sharpshooters would have put a damper on what the trip was all about."

A group of seventh-graders from Atlanta came to Washington as scheduled this week, but the highlight of their trip – a VIP tour of the White House arranged by Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.) – was scrapped because it interfered with NATO business.

"To have a VIP tour of the White House is not an easy thing to get," said Phil Wendel, an assistant principal at the private Galloway School, who led the group of 55 youngsters and bemoaned their bad luck.

Maryanne Sandretti has a similar timing problem. The Chevy Chase woman is awaiting the arrival today of 40 to 50 relatives for her son's bar mitzvah. They were counting on "a chance to do some of the tourist stuff," Sandretti said. Now most of those sites are off-limits, because she doesn't want her son and his cousins getting stuck in traffic.

"That would be a hard thing to explain to the rabbi," she said.

Officials at several D.C. theaters said they are advising ticket-holders to leave home early and take Metro to shows this weekend to avoid traffic problems. Most theaters are not offering to exchange tickets for another date.

"We've just been getting a ton of calls asking, 'What is happening?' . . . and, 'How am I going to get there?' " said Nicki Miller, public relations director at Ford's Theatre, which is performing the musical "Eleanor: A Love Story" tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.

Commuters also will be leaving early as they try to make it into work tomorrow.

Erika Flagg, 30, who lives in Woodbridge and works for a nonprofit group at 13th and F streets NW, figures it will take her about two hours to reach her office, compared with the usual 40-minute drive. Flagg plans to drive to Metro's Springfield station.

"All the access roads I usually take are virtually closed," she said.

Alice Howes, 32, has two jobs on Fridays. First she must get from her home in Arlington to the building on 15th and F streets where she works as a newsletter editor. Then she has to drive to Suitland High School in Prince George's County, where she teaches dance. Through a combination of public transit and taxicabs, she will somehow survive the day without her car, she said.

For D.C. workers who got the day off, of course, the NATO summit is no ordeal at all. Kristen Vanderbush, a management consultant whose boss gave her the option of taking a paid vacation day tomorrow, has organized the "First and Last Annual NATO Day Golf Tournament" in Centreville for herself and a few friends.

Mary Anne Caporaletti is treating the NATO summit as an exercise in creativity. She is planning her twin brother's wedding and studying downtown maps very carefully. The ceremony will be at 6 p.m. at St. Mary's Church, at Fifth and H streets NW, followed by a reception on the top level of a boat that will leave the dock at Seventh Street and Maine Avenue SW at 8 p.m.

Realizing that the bride and groom and their guests probably will be slowed by summit traffic on their way to the dock, Caporaletti is cutting short the wedding photos – and possibly the ceremony as well.

"We may literally miss the boat," said Caporaletti, 39, a lifelong D.C. resident.

Petrillo said she picked Saturday as her wedding date for a very specific reason: It was the last weekend she and her fiance could rent the top of the Hotel Washington before it reverts to restaurant status.

But lately, she said, she's been having a recurring dream that she's walking down the aisle in an empty room. Up to the last minute, she'll be worrying about whether her guests will reach the hotel through blocked-off streets.

"I'm praying," she said. "I've never prayed so hard in my life."