Jacqueline and Danilo got married in the Ladies’ Pavilion in July. They are from Jersey which counts as pretty much locals for us. They had been together for three years when they got married. They got married in the latter part of July and they first contacted me in the first part of June, so we organized everything quite quickly.
Jacqueline and Danilo met in through an interest in chokes and holds and knocking each other to the ground! They trained together in Jiu Jitsu for a few months before Danilo asked Jacqueline out one night after training. “From the very start, everything was easy, and happy, and flowed just as it was meant to. Nothing had to be forced or worked on,” Jacqueline told me.
They chose the Ladies’ Pavilion for their ceremony, which is a great location for a wedding on an afternoon in July. Usually, it’s hot and humid in New York City in July so the roof of the Ladies’ Pavilion provides some shade and also some cover in case of rain. Rain isn’t common in high summer in New York, but if it happens, it’s likely to be heavy, so we had a wet weather backup plan of holding the ceremony underneath Bethesda Terrace in case of rain, since the roof there would cover their whole group.
We began the ceremony in the mid afternoon, and we arranged for a cellist to be there to play background music for the guests while they waited for their bride to arrive. The Ladies’ Pavilion is a great location for a bride to make an entrance in my opinion. There’s a lovely tree-lined pathway that a bride (or groom, or couple together) can walk down that I think beats many church aisles! Jacqueline walked in to the cellist playing Isn’t She Lovely, and he played Hallelujah when they were pronounced married, then he went back to a little background music while they took group photos in the area.
For the ceremony introduction, we kept things quite short and sweet. “We aren’t worried about having an extra lengthy ceremony so we don’t need to fill in the time with saying thanks or acknowledging people or anything like,” Jacqueline said. “The people who are coming are very close family and friends, so it’s not like people don’t know us and our story,” she explained. There was a reading of the poem A Moment of Happiness by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, which I’ll put at the end of this post. They exchanged traditional vows, then they repeated some more personal vows that they had chosen because they felt meaningful to them.
Jacqueline and Danilo had chosen to incorporate the Lasso ritual into their wedding ceremony. The Lasso is a wedding ritual in which the couple are bound together with a ceremonial rosary. I had read that traditionally this takes place after the exchange of vows, so that’s where I put it in the ceremony. Lassoing is where the couple make a declaration of intent to be bound together before their friends and family. Their best man helped with this part, by draping the lasso over their shoulders and they made promise to each other. Then they exchanged rings after that.
Jacqueline and Danilo had arranged for their guests to go off to the Loeb Boathouse after the ceremony, they had a bar tab for them there. Then the two of them had a short portrait photo session together at Bethesda Terrace. They enjoyed that peaceful time alone with the photographer. “Honestly, running off with her for a moment after the ceremony, away from the guests, gave us time to enjoy our new unity and play around for a moment before getting overwhelmed by everyone again,” she said.
I asked Jacqueline how we did. “It was perfect. Your crew was amazing!! The officiant made an amazing intro to begin the ceremony, the cello was beautiful, the photographer was great, she came and met me on the street side and really executed the whole flow of the ceremony, her familiarity with the park made getting the good shots in so easy,” she said.
If you would like me to help you with planning your own Central Park wedding, where you’re from near of far, please visit our website. Check out our reviews on Wedding Wire and Google, too. Keep updated with our news and see lots of beautiful photos, follow us on Facebook, or Instagram or Pinterest. And of course, please comment on our posts and let me know how you’re doing!
A Moment of Happiness by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden’s beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land.
