Paul and Louise call their wedding ‘the wedding that nearly didn’t happen’. They came to New York all the way from Essex in England to get married end of October. They wanted to experience the crisp, cold Fall weather and enjoy the Fall colors in Central Park But Hurricane Sandy tried to ruin their plans…
Paul and Louise have been together as a couple for five years, but met at school so have known each other for twelve years. They say that the never officially got engaged, they just made a joint decision to get married two months before their trip to New York. They had always dreamt of marrying in new York City, and the beauty of Central Park, especially at this time of year, seemed perfect to them.
The couple had attempted to get their wedding license from the City Clerks’ downtown office the day before the ceremony, but it was closed all day due to a power cut caused by Sandy. They waited for the power to return and the office to re-open but by mid-afternoon they gave up and instead they went to the Brooklyn office instead. They shared a cab with another couple in a similar position and got their license from Brooklyn with an hour to spare.
They were staying n New York for just five days so they were unable to be too flexible on the day of their ceremony. They had decided to keep the wedding a secret from everyone- a true elopement! Louise was dressed in a knee length white wedding dress and Paul was dressed in a three piece suit. Louise had a bouquet of pink roses and Paul had a matching pink button hole rose.
On the morning of their wedding Central Park was closed due to the terrible damage done by Hurricane Sandy. There was a security guard on the gate, but when Paul and Louise showed him their permit he let them in to the Park, along with their officiant and photographer. Once inside they walked through a deserted Central Park to the location of their ceremony, the Ladies’ Pavilion (pictured above, taken on their wedding day). They were concerned that a different security guard may stop them, so they quickly began the ceremony, and the photographer was able to take some photos. On completion of the ceromony another security guard did come to ask them all to leave Central Park. They signed their license outside the Park on Central Park West, and had a couple more photos taken there.
After their speedy ceremony and photo session were over they headed to the Mandarin Hotel overlooking Central Park for a celebratory lunch.
