Leila and Rob brought their close family over from their home in the North of England in June for their wedding in Central Park. Leila was 28 and Rob 30 when they got married. The couple’s first ever trip together was to New York and they had visited Central Park back then (how could you visit NYC and not see beautiful Central Park!?). They had cycled the perimeter of the park, and been skating on the Wollman rink. “It was somewhere we’d returned to for different reasons and somewhere we never had a bad trip to,” Leila said.
The couple met on the dating app, Bumble, around five years before they got married. Coincidentally, even though they met on a dating app they realised later that they worked across the road from one another and went to the same gym but had never bumped into each other. They got married in the USA and they also got engaged in the USA! Rob proposed in May two years before they got married after the castle fireworks one evening in the Magic Kingdom, Disney World, Florida.
Once they were engaged, they started to look at small venues close to home, “but no one wanted to cater for such a small wedding party,” Leila told me. From the very start of their planning they hadn’t wanted to have any more than ten guests. They knew that they wanted their wedding to be an intimate one. “This delayed us really thinking about planning the wedding for almost a year as it became such an ordeal,” Leila told me. She happened to see something online about getting married in Central Park, so she suggested it to Rob. “After looking into it, it was exactly the type of wedding we were looking for – small, customisable and non-traditional,” she said. Yes! This is spot on, and should be our tag-line; small, customisable and non-traditional.
So, Leila and Rob discussed the idea of getting married in New York with their small group of nearest and dearest, and they agreed that this suited them perfectly. “We wanted to choose something that reflected us as a couple, including our love to travel, and also a destination wedding seemed perfect in order to avoid awkward conversations explaining to people why they weren’t invited,” Leila explained. “The price of the wedding also meant that we were able to pay for our family to fly out with us and for us it was quite a nice feeling to be able to say that we’d taken our family to New York,” she added. I do make a huge effort to keep my prices as low as I can, because I know New York is awesome, but it’s not a cheap city!
I asked if they had had any worries about getting married in New York. Leila said that they were concerned about the legalities surrounding the marriage. “In the UK, from what we hear, being able to register the marriage is quite an ordeal and is usually done months in advance of the wedding date,” Leila told me. “When we found out that we only needed to do it at least 24 hours before the ceremony but we had to be in the state of New York, this all felt quite tight,” she said, and in their case there was an added panic after all of the flights out of their airport of Manchester were cancelled the day before their travel date. “In the end, going to the City Clerk’s office added to the whole experience,” Leila told me. “Everything at City Hall was a breeze, and we even got to pick up an “I got married in New York” magnet and an official wedding certificate sleeve from the gift shop,” she said. She told me that it’s something they love reliving and telling people about because it was just the two of them who attended that part and it was a really unique experience for a British couple.
Leila and Rob stayed at the Hotel Belleclaire on Broadway on the UWS, my favorite NYC neighborhood! “The hotel was stunning and our room in particular was perfect, being able to see up and down Broadway from the bed,” Leila said. They stayed in the King Bed (Broadway view) room and Leila’s parents also stayed in the same hotel, “which was a massive help on the day,” she said. They flew to New York on the Monday and flew home on Friday, which they said felt like the perfect amount of time for their wedding party.
They got married on a hot and sunny day in June in the middle of the day. Ordinarily, I’d advise against being in the park between noon and around 3pm at this time of year, and Leila and I did discuss this. In the end, it was unavoidable that they would get married close to noon, because of everything else they wanted to do on the day. This does happen sometimes, and I don’t think the heat in New York is unbearable in June, but Leila and Rob were hot while taking their photos, but it doesn’t show on their faces in the pictures, they were absolute troupers!
We decided on the Ladies’ Pavilion for the ceremony location, because it has a roof. So, we knew that they would have some protection from the sun for the ceremony. Also, there are benches inside the structure, so their family could sit a little before and after the ceremony. “The space was perfect, enabling us to get stunning photos but also have a concealed entrance, as you may expect with a more traditional ceremony,” Leila told me. Leila said that some of her favorite photos were taken on the streets outside of Central Park at the end of their long, hot photo session. “Even though we had been taking photos for around one and a half hours in 40 degree heat by this point, they are just stunning,” she said. “The fact that the traffic looks like it had stopped for us make it look like a scene out of a movie,” she added.
We kept the ceremony fairly short and straightforward. Leila walked in with her dad and he gave her away. We had the officiant talk a little in the introduction about their relationship to date. Leila and Rob exchanged a more modern and unique take on the traditional vows, and also shared the good old “in sickness and in health” promises. “Given that we were not getting married for religious reasons and wanted a low-key ceremony this worked really well from us,” Leila said. “What we didn’t expect was how amazing our wedding celebrant would be!” she told me. I do try to get an idea from the couples about which of our officiants will suit them best – do they want a lighter feel, or a jokey feel, or do they need someone calming, or funny. I hope I get it right most of the time and match them up with the officiant who will be best for them. “His whole demeanour was perfect for the vibe we wanted, nothing super soppy or deadly serious but more upbeat and a celebration, and even cracking a few jokes along the way!” Leila said.
Leila and Rob wore traditional wedding attire that they had purchased back home. Rob’s suit was in their checked luggage, bought from a local suit shop in Leeds. Leila’s dress in their hand luggage, bought from Ava Rose Hamilton Bridal Boutique. Leila’s seamstress was able to pack her dress for her after alterations. Leila had brought an artificial bouquet with her from home, made by Popsie. She had considered getting fresh flowers delivered to their hotel, but decided that was too expensive. “I’m so glad I changed my mind as I loved my bouquet and have been asked how I picked it up in New York and whether I brought it home, as such as the flowers looked so real,” she said. And of course, she was able to take it home with her, which she couldn’t have done with fresh blooms. “My bouquet ended up costing just short of £100 and I carried it in my hand luggage on the flight to and from New York,” she said. “It currently sits on our TV unit and I love being able to see it everyday!” she added.
Leila had her hair and makeup done at The House of Beauty, which was just up the road from their hotel. “Whilst I loved my hair, I felt like my makeup was rushed and therefore I am not a huge fan of the beauty shots from the day, which is a shame,” she said. “In hindsight I would have gone for a makeup trial before the day but given we landed Monday evening and were getting married on the Wednesday there wasn’t a great amount of time!” she said.
Their guests were just their parents and Rob’s mum’s partner. “They were excited to see New York, albeit a little apprehensive!” Leila said. She told me that her parents had previously made comments about expecting them to elope just the two of them, so she said they were glad to be invited! After their photo session in the park, they went on to a Circle Line Landmarks Cruise, with a meal at Giardino 54 afterwards.
Leila and Rob said that they felt their guests enjoyed the tour but they had both felt pretty hot and tired from the photo session (and busy morning getting ready!) and after several hours in the heat, they said that it felt like a bit of a rush to make the boat, and it was more of a rest and refuel stop for them, rather than something exciting and memorable for their wedding. “We did get some nice photos on the boat from the top deck included in our premier ticket but overall it just wasn’t really the right fit for the day,” Leila said. “I think a cruise that served cocktails a little later on in the evening would have been better, that way we could have had time to refresh before we hopped aboard,” she said. I’ve done that evening cruise and I do recommend it to couples who want to sightsee and enjoy dinner and music at the same time.
Leila and Rob loved their dinner choice, though. They said that Giardino 54 was a lovely, dainty restaurant to finish off their day. “We certainly felt like the only table in the restaurant and the service was impeccable” Leila said. “The small, homely atmosphere was exactly what we were looking for. Whilst not our usual cuisine, the food was amazing was a lovely way to finish the day,” she said. I often get asked for restaurant recommendations by couples, so I always ask for them from our previous couples. “Our first married meal was at Katz’s Delicatessen and we wouldn’t have had it any other way!” Leila said. “We’d also like to shout out Tom’s Restaurant in Brooklyn which (in our opinion) is the best breakfast in the whole world,” she added.
I asked how we did. “Claire was absolutely amazing throughout the whole process. Being a couple that wanted a totally non-traditional wedding, this was Claire’s bread and butter and she had all the knowledge that we needed to make the day perfect!” Leila said. “We planned our wedding to be EXACTLY what we wanted to do and wouldn’t have it any other way,” she added.
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your story with us, Leila and Rob, it was a pleasure to plan your wedding with you, and thank you so much for allowing me to attend your wedding, it was beautiful! If you would like me to help you with planning your own Central Park wedding, whether you or are eloping to New York, or bringing a small group of your nearest and dearest, as this couple did, 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.
