Kelly and Dylan brought their family and friends from Canada to get married in Central Park this August. They met at a wedding in 2007. Kelly was friends with the bride and Dylan was friends with the groom, so they had walked down the aisle together at that very first meeting, as part of their friends’ procession. At the time Dylan was living in Toronto in Canada and Kelly was living in London in England. They had a long-distance relationship for a little while but soon they moved to Barrie, Ontario and the rest is history!
They got engaged on Dylan’s birthday in their home. Kelly laid eight clues that would lead him on a scavenger hunt through the house. One of the clues led to a bottle of vintage wine where we sat and had a glass. The final clue led to a set of golf irons. Then Kelly proposed and of course he said yes!
They said that they were ready to make this next step in their relationship to make things official, especially to everyone else. They did consider some other destination wedding locations, with such a diverse list as Mexico, Las Vegas and Ireland. They were planning their wedding on a bit of a last-minute basis (although not as last-minute as some!) and they wanted to get married before the end of the summer, before Kelly went back to work as a teacher. The other locations not only needed more planning time and required a longer trip away, they would also limit the amount of friends and family that could attend, so they chose New York City and Central Park for their wedding ceremony location.
They did have some worries about getting married in Central Park. The permit application process was frustrating to them, as it is to many couples, and to me! We apply for the permit from the Central Park Conservancy, and then if there is already a booking in that location then they reply straight away, but if there is no clash then we may not get official confirmation for some weeks. I go in to more detail on the Central Park Conservancy permit application process in this blog.
Kelly and Dylan had their ceremony on the lovely Belvedere Castle Terrace, overlooking Turtle Pond. Both Kelly’s parents gave her away, and her niece was her flower girl. She carried dark pink roses. We arranged for a violinist to play before and after the ceremony.
They had around twenty-five guests, who loved the idea of getting married in Central Park. They were very happy that so many people were able to make the journey to join them on their special day, they would have liked to have had more than that, but they had to keep to a budget for their reception dinner and drinks. After the wedding they went to Tony’s DiNapoli in Times Square for dinner then to Beer Authority for more drinks into the night. Kelly said that she would recommend both venues.
Thank you for sharing your story with us, Kelly and Dylan, I wish you the best of luck for your future together. For more information on planning your own Central Park wedding, visit our website, or “like” us on Facebook for photos and more inspiring stories.