Cheryn and Kyle eloped from their home in Austin, Texas in November to get married in Central Park. Cheryn is 58 and Kyle is 57. They told me that they both love to travel, but had not visited New York together, so eloping to New York felt like a great choice for them.
The couple met at a country western dance hall in Texas. Kyle asked Cheryn to dance. That was around five years before they got married. They got engaged in the January, and then they contacted me in the summer, and got married in November, so engaged and married all in the same year! They had been living together for three years, and they were ready to make their relationship official.
They knew straight away that eloping was for them. “It’s the perfect option for people getting married at our age who have already had the big wedding thing, and don’t want to put out elderly family members and other family with small children with having to travel to a wedding,” Cheryn said.
When they started to talk about getting married, they discussed other options for destination weddings. “We looked at getting married in Europe but decided it would be too far to travel to get there and back, and we didn’t have that much vacation leave. Plus, we heard it would be more red tape to get married in Europe,” Cheryn told me. I hear that about many European countries, too. “When we decided on a November wedding date we knew New York City in the fall would be beautiful, and it would be much less hassle to get married in New York versus Europe,” she said.
They told me that they had no regrets about their decision not to have a “traditional” wedding closer to home. “It was perfect, very intimate and a beautiful setting,” Cheryn said. “Also we were able to combine the wedding with a vacation where we enjoyed seeing the New York sights,” she said.
I asked if they had had any worries or concerns in the lead up to the wedding. Cheryn said they had been a little worried about the weather, which is a common one and also one we can’t do much about. We can see pretty much any weather in November in New York, although usually it’s still quite warm and sunny and this is the best month in the city for anyone who enjoys autumn. “I was also anxious about the weather but it turned out to be a beautiful day,” Cheryn told me. She said they were also a little worried about getting the marriage license from City Hall only three days before the wedding, “but it went fine,” she said. So many of our visiting couples only have a day or so to get the license and we rarely have issues if the couple come prepared with all of the paperwork needed.
Cheryn and Kyle stayed in the city for six days. They stayed at the Beacon Hotel, on the Upper West Side. Regular readers of this blog will know that’s probably my favorite neighborhood. “The hotel was in a convenient location for the wedding,” Cheryn said. There was a grocery store right across the street which they went to several times. Their room had a kitchenette which they told me was handy. It’s very near to Central Park and the Ladies’ Pavilion where the ceremony was held, so they could walk to the park for their ceremony, which is quite a relaxed way to get there – there are no traffic worries when you’re on foot!
The couple met at a dance and they love to dance together, so we wanted to incorporate that in to the ceremony. We decided on the Ladies’ Pavilion for their ceremony location because it has a paved area just outside of eh structure that would suit some dancing. We had a violinist in this area, playing some requests before, during and after the ceremony, and also a videographer to capture the ceremony and the dancing. They were happy with their choice of location. “The Ladies Pavilion is beautiful and looks so pretty in pictures,” Cheryn said. Although she said perhaps her favorite photos were taken in front of Bethesda Fountain with the angel. Their photographer was Jakub Redziniak. “Both Kyle and I are dancers so we had a blast dancing at the different locations for the photos and videos,” she said.
Cheryn wore a street length white dress she purchased, online from Nordstrom. Kyle wore a suit he already owned and a blue tie Cheryn had bought him to match her shoes and bouquet. Her blue satin heels were from Ann Taylor. We had arrange for flowers to be delivered to their hotel, Cheryn carried a bouquet of red and orange roses and blue delphinium and thistle to match the blue in her shoes.
They had pre-booked a pedicab ride around Central Park for after they had finished with the photos. “The driver took us all over the park and took a ton more photos, using our iphones, of the two of us in even more scenic spots around the Park,” Cheryn told me. “It was like having a three hour wedding photo session in the park,” she said. Then he dropped them off at the Tavern on the Green for a romantic wedding dinner.
I asked if Cheryn had any advice for anyone else considering getting married in Central Park. She said that couples should consider the weather and how they feels about passers by. “The nicer the weather the more crowded it will be,” she said. “The photographers are good at working around the crowds but consider a colder month or an earlier ceremony time if you want more photos with no people in the background,” she advised. I would say that if it’s not raining then it’s likely to be busy and in Central Park, whether it’s warm or not. And I’d agree that the earlier you take photos, the fewer passers by you’ll have in photos. We’ve done shoots at 8am or 9am and the parks tends to be quieter then. Cheryn said that their date in November was a beautiful fall day with all the pretty fall colors, “so we were very happy with the photos, even though the park was quite crowded that day,” she added.
I asked how we did. “Claire was great! She was so helpful and answered all my questions. I loved all the vendors she used for our day, which was a violinist, the officiant, a photographer, and a videographer,” Cheryn said. “Also, the florist who made the beautiful fall bouquet using the inspiration photos I provided did such a fantastic job,” she added. She said that everyone involved did such a great job and she was so glad that she didn’t have to find them on her own. Of course I’m biased but I do agree that if anyone had to search through all of the service providers in New York to find all of these vendors it would have been very time consuming, and of course you can’t be sure that anyone you find yourself from Texas will be reliable, and all of our vendors are awesome, and will be where I’ve said they will be at the time agreed. “I would highly recommend Wed in Central Park to anyone wanting to get married in Central Park. Claire made everything so easy and low stress,” she added.
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your story with us, Cheryn and Kyle, it was a pleasure to plan your wedding with you! I wish you both lots of love and happiness for your future of dancing and enjoying life together! If you would like me to help you with planning your own Central Park wedding, whether you or are eloping to New York from another part of the US as this couple did, or visiting from another country, visit our website. Keep updated with our news and see lots of beautiful photos, follow us on Instagram, follow us on Facebook, follow us on TikTok, and follow us on Pinterest.
