It has been nice to get back in to planning plenty of weddings this year after the disaster that was 2020, but we’ve still only been doing around half of the number of weddings we’d usually have. That’s because most of my couples tend to be from outside of the US, so travel restrictions have effected us. Sadly, still rather a lot of my time working this year has been spent dealing with more re-arranging plans and having couples ask me questions about the future that I’m just not able to answer.
The past couple of years have certainly been quite trying for anyone planning a wedding, and for anyone who works in the wedding industry. This year, we have been planning weddings for lovely local couples, and a few from out of town, but very few of our usual destination wedding groups have been able to get to New York, although we’ve had a few eloping couples from the UK towards the end of the year. We’ve still seen far more events have to be cancelled or postponed this year that I expected this time last year. It’s still been quite a trying time for someone who loves their job because they’re usually dealing with happy people!
My blog posting for the last couples of years tends to run to a three week cycle. I post a real wedding, an advice post and then take the third week off from posting. I’m making an effort to focus the advice pieces on trends I see emerging, such as the questions I get asked most frequently, requests I get from couples, or popular posts that I find when I do this yearly review.
Below are my top five most viewed posts of 2021. I’ll see you all in 2022, which so far is looking like it will be a very busy year, so we will see some more beautiful real weddings, and I will be inspired to share more tips on getting married in Central Park.
1 Destination Wedding Etiquette and Tips – How to Make the Trip Easier for your Guests
This post is overwhelmingly the most popular blog post I’ve ever written, and it was the most popular of this year. I think it must have something to do with Pinterest users re-pinning it (do you follow me on Pinterest?), and also it being a generally useful post to anyone planning a destination wedding. After two years of destination weddings very much taking a back seat due to ever-changing travel restrictions, it’s quite surprising that couples are still giving destination weddings a lot of thought. It is by far the most popular this year, with twice as many views as the next most popular post. I posted this in August 2018 and it was the most popular post of both 2019 and 2020. So, in 2020, I posted another piece in the same theme: Destination Wedding Etiquette and Tips – How to Make the Trip Easier and More Fun for your Guests and I’ll probably try to think of something else to say on the matter for another post next year.
2 20 Wedding Readings and Poems
The second most-read post for the year is another post that I think is generally useful to anyone getting married. It is a list of readings and poems that some of my couples have used for their wedding ceremony and a few of my personal favorites. I knew that this post was popular, so I posted 20 More Wedding Readings and Poems in September of 2020, a further list of some readings and poems from my couples’ ceremonies and some of my own suggestions. Maybe I’ll post another list after 2022 wedding season and couples have brought me some more poems!
3 Alternative Wedding Ceremony Promises
This one has not been in my top five blog posts lists before. Again, generally useful to anyone getting married and also might be getting lots of hits thanks to Pinterest users re-pinning it (do you follow me on Pinterest yet?). This post is some of my suggestions of an alternative to the traditional part of the wedding ceremony where each of the couple in turn says “I do”. It’s the classic part of a wedding ceremony, but sometimes couples don’t want to say that, or more frequently; they do want to say that, or something similar, but also want to say something more unique to them.
4 Wedding Vow Renewal in Central Park
This was third most popular post last year, and second most popular in 2019. I posted this in January of 2018, in response to increasing requests from couples interested in renewing their vows that year. It’s quite surprising that it has been so popular in recent years, because vow renewals haven’t been so popular lately, with travel and gatherings being so restricted and uncertain. Maybe I should write more about vow renewals, or consider a special vow renewal package…?
5 How to get your marriage license in New York City
This is very old one; from 2012, and one I share with every couple who contacts me about getting married in Central Park. Although things have changed for recent years due to the virtual appointments being offered due to Project Cupid. I’m unsure as to what the process will be going forward, so it might be that I either update this post or write a new one, once it becomes clear what City Hall intends to do for the long term, going forward. I often share this post at least two or three times with a couple during the planning process, just to make sure they’re clear on it, so that probably increases the hits on this post!
I write and share this list at the end of each year to help to give myself some ideas about what to write for the blog in the coming year. I like to see what couples are finding useful and what sort of information is directing people to my site. So, I’d love to hear any suggestions from people in the comments about what you’d like to see me sharing in future.
Some other posts that remain very popular, so might be of use to anyone reading this blog are listed below. If you’re new to the idea of getting married in Central Park then it might be worth reading through a few of these, and the emailing me at [email protected] with any questions. You can also “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and follow us on Pinterest.
