Swarms of photographers, reporters and plain old curious folk are expected to descend on the upstate New York town of Rhinebeck when Chelsea Clinton gets married there on Saturday. Now it appears they will have to make do with whatever they can see through the hedges — if they can even get that close.

The Federal Aviation Administration said late Wednesday that it would enforce a temporary ban on flights below 2,000 feet for the area surrounding the estate on the Hudson River where Ms. Clinton is to be married.

The ban will be in effect from 3 p.m. on Saturday until 3:30 a.m. on Sunday, frustrating the hopes of any members of the media hoping to capture a glimpse of the nuptials from above.
Swarms of paparazzi-filled aircraft and news helicopters are often a nuisance at celebrity weddings. But the F.A.A. can and often does ban air travel when there is likely to be enough air traffic to pose a safety risk.

The F.A.A. also routinely bans flights at the request of the Secret Service when a senior federal official or dignitary’s safety is at issue. In this case, with the mother of the bride being the secretary of state and the father a former president, that was the concern. A spokeswoman for the F.A.A. said Wednesday that the Secret Service had requested the flight restriction.

Rhinebeck has been bracing itself this week for a crush of visitors. But many of those visitors may find themselves kept quite a distance from the actual wedding, which is reportedly taking place at Astor Courts, an estate that sits on a 50-acre plot of land about two hours north of New York City.

To cope with the expected flood of people traveling there, village officials were preparing to close roads around the wedding venue starting on Friday.

(Source: NY Times)