Winter Wedding in the Ladies' Pavilion, Central Park

Lauren and Andrew came over from Middlesborough in the UK along with their family to get married in Central Park this November. They have been together for seven years, they met in a pub and became friends from there and slowly become more. Andrew asked Lauren to marry him in Central Park whilst they were staying in New York in November 2009.

Marriage is important to them because they feel that marriage fully cements our commitment. They originally had a church wedding and big hotel reception wedding booked for early 2014. They realized that something did not feel quite right about it and in the end they decided that they would prefer to go away for their wedding. They thought that is may upset their families if they did, so they tried to put it out of their minds, but could not so they brought up the subject of changing their wedding plans to their immediate family and straight away they were supportive. So, Lauren and and Andrew changed their plans to the Central Park wedding that they really wanted. They knew that not everyone would be able to attend so they arranged a small reception to celebrate with everyone upon their return to the UK. Once they had decided to go with a destination wedding, Central Park was the first and only choice for them. Since they had visited New York City on 2009 and then got engaged in Central Park, it felt special to them.

I asked them if they had had any concerns about getting married in New York and they said that their only worry was obtaining the marriage license, but that process turned out to be quite simple and quicker then they had expected, they even enjoyed seeing lots of other couples at City Hall who were also preparing for their wedding.

They chose my personal favorite location in Central Park, the Ladies' Pavilion, because they liked the design of the structure itself, and they liked the location of it. It is right by the Lake and has a lovely view of the New York skyline.

Lauren wore a Sincerity bridal gown purchased from her local bridal shop, and had motif lace shrug custom made to match the dress. Andrew choose his three-piece suit and red tie from Next in the UK. They brought artificial flowers from the UK. Lauren did her own make-up for the day, and her mother did her hair for her.

They stayed at the newly renovated Novotel Hotel in Times Square for ten days. Lauren said they would recommend the hotel, “the rooms are very modern and the staff were friendly and we had a lovely view of Times Square.” After the ceremony and photographs in Central Park the party returned to the Novotel hotel restaurant for a meal and drinks.

When I asked for their final thoughts Lauren said “getting married in Central Park was better than both of us imagined it was a perfect day. The whole experience was made stress-free and straightforward, and would recommend a Central Park wedding in a heartbeat. Our photographer and officiant were fantastic, so friendly and was a pleasure to meet them and have them be part of our special day.”

For more information on planning your own Central Park wedding, visit our website, or "like" us on Facebook for photos and more inspiring stories.