Gina and Karthik got married in the Conservatory Gardens on a sunny weekday morning in June with an intimate group of friends and family in attendance.
The couple met in the city of Belfast when Karthik was visiting on a work trip, but at the time he was living in New York. Karthik was able to relocate to the UK for work shortly after they had met. They had been together for three years when they got married. Throughout those three years, their relationship had stood the test of living between three different cities.
This wedding took place in the Conservatory Gardens at the very start of the huge construction and refurbishment project that has been taking place recently in the gardens. When couples want to get married there, we are asked to choose from the following: North Garden, South Garden, Wisteria Pergola, North Terrace, or South Terrace. Many couples choose the Wisteria Pergola, because it provides some shade, but many photographers familiar with the Conservatory Gardens that it provides too much shade, and doesn’t always look great for couples underneath the pergola with the bright light behind them.
Gina and Karthik got married out in the open on the South Terrace. It wasn’t too hot and sunny that day, and they got married in the morning too, so their decision worked out well. We had a guitarist play and sing for the groom and guests while they waited for their bride to arrive.
Gina was walked into the ceremony and then given away by Karthik’s dad, Gina’s father-in-law to be. Her parents were unable to be there in person for the wedding. It is quite a long walk from the beautiful Vanderbilt Gate on 5th Avenue, at the entrance to the gardens, to where the ceremony took place. They walked into the ceremony to Canon in D as is tradition, and then that lead into the Christina Perry song A Thousand Years before they arrived. We had the officiant talk a little about their relationship to date, and he read a poem that had been written just for them by a poet they had met previously in Bryant Park.
We also had a short piece about twin stars which is a popular story for Hindu marriages. Thousands of years ago the ancient rishis could identify two tiny spots in the sky as a twin star system. They named the stars Arundhati-Vashistha. The stars revolved around each other. In most twin star systems one star is stationary and other rotates around it, while Arundhati and Vashishtha both rotate in synchrony with each other. This is symbolic to what Hindu marriage wants the newly wed to learn that neither the husband nor the wife should ‘dance to the tune’ of the other, or for one to rotate around the other. This story illustrates for us that instead, a good marriage is where both people are in perfect sync and harmony with each other. This also signifies that both the husband and the wife are given equal status in a Hindu Marriage.
After the officiant spoke about the twin stars and what we can learn from the story, Gina and Karthik exchanged traditional Christian vows, and then also some personal vows they had written especially for each other before exchanging rings.
Karthik wore tuxedo and black tie and Gina wore a sparkly long gown. Her flowers and hair and makeup were organized by Karthik’s sister, so I cannot take credit for those! After the ceremony, they took photos around the Conservatory Gardens and then left from there for lunch with their guests.
We’re looking forward to the Conservatory Gardens reopening this year. If you would like me to help you with planning your own Central Park wedding, whether you or are eloping to New York as this couple did, or bringing a big group with you, 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.
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