EXCLUSIVE: Hunter Biden and his South African bride are seen together for the first time celebrating their wedding on an LA rooftop - as it's revealed he had an intense phone call with his Democratic candidate father just minutes before saying 'I do'

• e-mail

Former Vice-President Joe Biden's son Hunter poses next to his new wife Melissa Cohen while surrounded by friends in the first photo of them celebrating their 'shock' wedding.

The image, obtained exclusively by DailyMailTV, shows the smiling pair dressed casually at a posh West Hollywood hotel following the couple's impromptu nuptials.

And DailyMailTV has uncovered exclusive details of their May 16 wedding which was far from a fairytale affair.

DailyMailTV has learned the marriage ceremony was held on a rundown roof deck at Melissa's modest one bedroom West Hollywood apartment with just one guest and her pet Poodle in attendance.

And minutes before the intimate ceremony Hunter had a fraught 30-minute call with his dad - the frontrunner to clinch the Democratic presidential candidate nomination.

Joe Biden's son Hunter, 49, married Melissa Cohen, 32, from Johannesburg, South Africa, in a surprise wedding ceremony in Los Angeles on May 16

DailyMailTV has obtained an exclusive image of the pair smiling with friends and dressed casually following the impromptu nuptials

DailyMailTV has discovered Hunter - who has a reputation for unpredictability - arranged the last minute wedding on a Thursday evening by calling an instant marriage firm he found online.

He had popped the question the day before - despite having only known South African filmmaker Melissa for a week - but couldn't wait to tie the knot with his much younger fiancée.

Hunter spoke to certified Wedding Officiant Maria Kharlash, who owns Instant Marriage LA, but was told he had left it too late in the day.

Wedding Officiant Maria Kharlash, who owns Instant Marriage LA, tells DailyMailTV she received a call from Hunter Biden the day of the wedding and was paid $500 to marry them hours later

Speaking exclusively to DailyMailTV from her Encino office, Maria revealed: 'He called me and said, ''I want to get married today'', I get these type of calls all day long.

'I said I couldn't do it and he wasn't too happy. I said, ''how about we wait until tomorrow'', but he said he had to fly to the east coast the next day, ''It has to be done today,'' he said. He desperately wanted to get married that night.

'I was already at home, it was like 4-5pm and I wanted to watch an NBA game, but he insisted.

'I felt sorry for him, so I said okay okay, no problem, just pay me something extra for my trouble and we agreed.

'They were supposed to come to my office in Encino but then he called back and asked if I could go to them.'

Hunter agreed to pay Maria around $500 - considerably more than the usual $260 weekday fee - to ensure the wedding went ahead.

Maria then traveled to South Africa-born divorcée Melissa's small one-bed West Hollywood apartment where she met the couple.

But there were no guests waiting, no flowers and no special arrangements.

'I got there to West Hollywood, to her apartment, and he introduced himself as Robert, Hunter is his middle name, and I met Melissa as well.

'They were very nice and we started working on the paperwork, but they asked if I could wait until a male friend of Melissa's arrived, he was on his way,' she recalls.

'But when the friend eventually turned up I had to wait some more.

'Hunter received a call. I was a little annoyed because I had already been waiting, Melissa told me he was on the phone with his father, I had to wait another 30 minutes.'

Maria, originally from Russia, said Hunter disappeared out on to the roof deck for the lengthy phone call to his dad.

She claims Hunter sounded 'business like' during the conversation which she could hear because he was out on the balcony.

'It was a very business like call, some kind of preparation, he had to talk to his father. He was talking for 30 minutes. I was sat on the sofa waiting with Melissa and her friend, she was a sweet girl and we were talking and playing with her dog.

'I was like, ''what the hell, can't he talk to his father after the wedding?'' but Melissa said, ''no no, it is very important he talk to his dad.'''

This is Melissa Cohen's one bedroom apartment in West Hollywood where the surprise nuptials took place 

The ceremony was held on this rundown roof deck at the building of Melissa's one bedroom apartment just before sunset between 7-8pm 

Just one guest and Melissa's pet poodle attended the wedding just one day after Hunter popped the question

Hunter was dressed in black trousers and an open necked white shirt without a tie, while blonde Melissa wore a figure hugging white dress for the quick ceremony 

Maria said she didn't realize at the time that Hunter was talking to Barack Obama's Vice-President of eight years and now a candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination.

Eventually a flustered Hunter returned and the wedding went ahead.

The ceremony took place just before sunset between 7-8pm on a large roof deck accessible from the third floor apartment.

The shabby deck, pictured here, is surrounded by a weathered wooden fence with a view of the apartment building's gray roof which is dotted with piping and cable TV dishes.

Maria said the deck was filled with patio furniture and a table but there was plenty of space for the happy couple, their male friend and pet Poodle.

She recalls Hunter being dressed in black trousers and an open necked white shirt without a tie, while blonde Melissa looked beautiful in a figure hugging white dress.

'They both looked nice, Melissa looked pretty in her dress,' she said. 'Some couple's like to spice it up with their own vows and they had prepared something to say to each other, something about always loving each other and caring for one another.

'They exchanged rings which were both Cartier, very nice, no big diamonds, very classy bands.

'They took a couple of pictures and that was it, very small and intimate wedding.'

Hunter, 49, and Melissa, 32, provided their California driver's license as proof of identity.

Maria - who claims to have also officiated the wedding of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard - says she was able to complete all the marriage paperwork for the couple and has issued a confidential marriage license.

'A lot of celebrities do this to protect their privacy,' said Maria.

Minutes before the intimate ceremony Hunter had a 30-minute call with his dad - the frontrunner to clinch the Democratic presidential candidate nomination

Melissa, a divorcée, met Hunter in May and the two had a whirlwind romance - even getting matching tattoos, a friend said

Jill Biden posted a family photo celebrating Hunter's daughter Maisy's graduation from high school in D.C., and absent from the group shot was Hunter's new wife Melissa, though the photo was taken just after the nuptials. Pictured: Joe and Jill, their daughter Ashley Biden (far left), Hunter and Hunter's three daughters, Maisy (center), Naomi (second from left) and Finnegan (far right) 

Snap marriages of this kind, although legally binding, do not require a witness.

That night Hunter and Melissa celebrated but arranged a larger celebration at a later date.

DailyMailTV has learned the couple partied at the Petit Ermitage, a boutique hideaway hotel in West Hollywood, just two blocks from Melissa's apartment.

There they had drinks on a fireside deck on the hotel's private rooftop, accessible by guests only - as seen in our exclusive photo.

Some of the wedding party even took a dip in the rooftop pool during the relaxed affair.

Room's at the posh hotel start at $450 and the couple will have enjoyed dinner at the lush rooftop garden restaurant which is recognized as a sanctuary by the National Wildlife Federation.

When news of the wedding broke last month, Wedding Officiant Maria posted on her Instant Marriage LA Facebook page: 'Guess who got them married?! Since the cat is already out of the bag, and the news is all over the internet, we feel we have the bragging rights to reveal that our company officiated Hunter Biden and Mellisa (sic) Cohen wedding! Hunter and Mellisa (sic) are joining our list of celebrities whose marriage we officiated, after Jonny (sic) Depp and Amber Heard.'

The marriage came soon after Hunter and Hallie broke up. They began dating after the death of her husband Beau Biden - former Vice President Joe Biden's elder son. Then in 2017 she began to date Beau's brother Hunter who was still married to his then-wife Kathleen (pictured together right in 2016) 

Melissa is an activist, traveling to Africa and Indonesia to support indigenous tribes

In an interview with The New Yorker magazine, Hunter later revealed he told dad Joe, the 2020 presidential hopeful, about the nuptials immediately after the wedding.

'I called my dad and said that we just got married. He was on speaker, and he said to her, ''Thank you for giving my son the courage to love again,'' Hunter told the magazine.

'And he said to me, ''Honey, I knew that when you found love again that I'd get you back'' … And my reply was, I said, ''Dad, I always had love. And the only thing that allowed me to see it was the fact that you never gave up on me, you always believed in me.'''

Hunter met Cohen in early May, and within days of their first date, he got a tattoo of 'shalom' in Hebrew on his left bicep to match the one she had, according to The New Yorker report.

The article even featured a posed up photo of the pair standing on the deck where they married.

Hunter, who has a troubled history with drugs and alcohol, married Melissa not long after splitting from his brother Beau's widow Hallie Biden who he started dating last year after Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.

He had just recovered from the bitter divorce from his wife of more than 20 years, Kathleen Biden, following a messy split in which she accused him of blowing money on drugs and strip clubs.

Now politician dad Joe, 76, who has one of the biggest years of his life ahead, will hope his son's new wife will keep him on the straight and narrow.