Chelsea Clinton's wedding a private affair

NEW YORK, July 24 (UPI) -- Donors and A-listers hoping for invitations to former first daughter Chelsea Clinton's upstate New York wedding are learning the event is not a state affair.

The super-secret wedding, set for July 31 on the private Astor Court estate in Rhinebeck, N.Y., overlooking the Hudson River, is limited to an estimated 400 guests -- all with direct connections to Ms. Clinton or her bridegroom, Marc Mezvinsky.

And some self-styled hot shots are taking it the hard way.

"I'm good enough to borrow a plane from, but not good enough to be invited to the wedding?" one Clinton friend, who wished to remain anonymous, complained to The New York Times.

Hank Sheinkopf, a consultant who worked on President Clinton's 1996 re-election bid, explained, "It is dangerous to presume closeness to people in power, and it is very rare when there are real, unbreakable friendships.

"This is not another meeting of power for those who want to get close to the former president to figure out what they can get out of him, or the secretary of state," Sheinkopf, who also did not receive an invitation, told the Times.

"It's not a political rally, it's not a state affair," another invitationless Clinton ally said. "There are people who are elbowing and hinting and looking, but you don't go to a wedding to collect autographs."