It's not all glitz and glamour for Virginia socialites Michaele and Tareq Salahi

He and the event were sued for more than $300,000 by Market Salamander, a high-profile catering operation in Middleburg in 2008, alleging nonpayment of services for a Polo Cup event that was widely panned. (The Salahis countersued.)

Market Salamander officials did not return calls Friday.

This spring, the organization hosted a United States-Italy polo match, with performances by Huey Lewis and the News and fireworks to benefit the Journey for the Cure Foundation, a Salahi-run charity that said it raised money for childhood diseases.

But the next week, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services sent out an official caution noting that the foundation had, as of three days after the event, "not registered with or been granted the appropriate exempt status by the Commissioner as required by law."

The organization's Web site now lists a federal tax ID number. It was not immediately clear whether the warning from the state has been resolved.

On Wednesday, the day after the state dinner, Michaele Salahi came into Georgetown's Roche Salon. She had been there the week before, a visit that was filmed for possible inclusion in "The Real Housewives of Washington," a potential reality show planned for Bravo.

On her second visit, she was excited about the White House event.

"She was telling me all about the dinner," Dennis Roche said. "She was, like, it was really great. She said they didn't get home until 5. Then she came back in here."

As to how she got into the event, "she alluded to me is that she had White House clearance," Roche said. "I took that to mean, if she had White House clearance, she had an invitation."

Diane Weiss, tasting room manager at Oasis, said Secret Service agents came to the winery Friday, seeking the couple. She quoted one agent as saying: "We're not here to arrest them today. We're just looking to talk to them. It's very imperative that we talk to them." (The Warren County Report newspaper first reported the Secret Service's visit to the winery on its Web site.)

She said the agents spoke to Tareq's parents. His father briefly got on the telephone with The Post before handing it back to Weiss. Corinne Salahi was not immediately available. "She's a very private person," Weiss said. "She prefers not to be talking to anybody."

Staff writers Cindy Boren, Michael Cotterman, Wil Haygood, James Hohmann, David Montgomery, Dan Morse and Ian Shapira, and staff researchers Meg Smith and Julie Tate contributed to this report.