Enese and Ibrahima got married in the Shakespeare Garden in March. It was quite a wet day, with showers off and on, as we can often see in New York at this time of year. They got married on a Wednesday, in the morning, so they were lucky enough to be in the park at a very quiet time! Being in Central Park mid-week on a wet day will get you some incredible photos!
They had been together about a year and a half when they got married. Ibrahima worked as a driver, she got into his car on Thanksgiving day and they just hit it off. “We couldn’t stop laughing and joking as if we had been best friends for years, instead of just having met!” Enese told me. They felt that it was meant to be, and that they had connected so easily that day because they complete each other.
We arranged the wedding quite quickly. Enese first contacted me just two weeks before the wedding. They knew straight away that they wanted to hold the ceremony in the Shakespeare Garden. I quite enjoy planning a last-minute wedding, there’s something quite exciting about the urgency of it all!
There are a couple of options for ceremony location in the Shakespeare Garden. They had planned to hold the ceremony on a rough-hewn, rustic wooden structure halfway through the garden. Ibrahima and many of the guests waited on the wooden platform, at the top of some steps for Enese to arrive. She arrived with her party and they decided to change their minds at the last minute and hold the ceremony beside one of the flower beds in the garden.
If we get an event permit for the Shakespeare Garden then we have permission to get married anywhere in the garden, so changing your mind at the last minute is fine. I usually apply for a permit for two hours, so there’s time for the ceremony and plenty of time to take photos before the permit time runs out. There’s also a nice spot at the top of the garden, where the Charles B Stover Bench is. This is a large granite bench, also known as the “Whisper Bench” because a whisper spoken into one end of the bench can be heard on the opposite end of the bench.
Enese is a Christian and Ibrahima is a Muslim, the officiant read a passage from the Bible and a passage from the Quran to represent each of their faiths. I’ll put both of those short readings at the end of this post. Apart from those two readings, we kept the ceremony fairly secular and they also wrote some personal vows to read out to each other before they exchanged rings.
After they had said “I do” and finished up the ceremony they took some photos with the flowers, which do look very lovely at this time of year, and on the wooden structure and its steps. The plan was to walk down to Bethesda Terrace for more photos, and they stopped off at the lovely Oak Bridge on the way, which is a nice place for some photos, with a striking backdrop of very high buildings in the background.
Because of the recent rain showers, the park was unusually quiet. Bethesda Terrace was almost deserted due to the recent rain, so their photographer Jakub Redziniak was able to take the opportunity to get some fabulous wide shots on the whole terrace. After spending some time making the most of the terrace free of passers-by, they took some further photos on the Mall before our photographer left them.
I asked Enese how we did. “Everything went smoothly. The officiant and the photographer were both amazing,” she said. “Thank you for helping me. Ibrahima and I can’t stop talking about you and your team. You are the best,” she added. Thanks for your kind words, Enese, and I wish you both lots of luck for your future together! If you would like me to help you with planning your own Central Park wedding or elopement, whether you’re from near or far, visit our website. Keep updated with our news and see lots of beautiful photos, “like” us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and follow us on Pinterest.
Reading from Corinthians, in the Bible:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.
Reading from the seventh surah of the Quran:
It is He Who created you from a single person, and made his mate of like nature, in order that he might dwell with her (in love). When they are united, she bears a light burden and carries it about (unnoticed). When she grows heavy, they both pray to Allah their Lord, (saying): If Thou givest us a goodly child, we vow we shall (ever) be grateful.
