Lisa and Jason came to New York from their home in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia this April to get married in Central Park. They met through a mutual friend when Lisa was fifteen and Jason was turning seventeen, and they started dating shortly afterwards. So, by the time they got married they had been together for over twelve years.
They got engaged on Christmas morning 2014. Lisa and Jason had had many conversations about marriage in the past and after planning their US vacation, they had discussed the possibility of getting married whist they were away. Lisa and Jason had chosen the engagement ring together a couple of months before Christmas and Lisa knew that a proposal would be coming eventually, but Jason still managed to surprise her by recording a video message and proposing on Christmas morning. They both see marriage as the next natural step in their relationship and in a few years they would like to start a family together.
Lisa and Jason were visited the West coast of the US before coming over to New York, so they had considered getting married in Las Vegas. They contacted several wedding chapels there, but nothing felt quite right to them “we were concerned that that the ceremony and day could not be completely personally tailored to suit our wants and needs and we did not want to feel like we were in a queue where our marriage was one of many that they were churning out throughout the day,” said Lisa. They started to think about a wedding in Central Park and “once we realized how easy it would be to arrange a wedding in Central Park it seemed like the obvious choice,” said Lisa “there were so many different location options throughout the park to hold the ceremony and the scenery is so picturesque, it really suited us.”
They stayed at the New Yorker Hotel, when they found out that they were in town to get married, they upgraded them to a suite on the top floor for the duration of their stay and sent a bottle of champagne up to their room upon check in along with another bottle of wine of the actual day of their wedding.
Lisa and Jason did not have any guests at their wedding, because they had planned the entire day in secret. Prior to eloping, they had sent invitations to their “Engagement Party” and on their return they told everyone that it would be their wedding party and celebration. Once they revealed the surprise to their family and friends, they got lots of positive reactions and everyone was very happy for them. Many people saw the photos and remarked on the beautiful location. We made a video of their wedding ceremony to show to their friends and family back home. “Our videographer did an absolutely brilliant job, we cannot believe how well it turned out. He managed to capture everything but without being too “in your face” so that we were at ease and did not have the feeling of being constantly aware that we were being filmed,” said Lisa.
Lisa and Jason had the same worry that all couples do when planning a Central Park wedding, or any outdoor wedding; the weather. It was unusually cold for April on their wedding day (9 degrees Celsius/48 degrees Fahrenheit) they did not see any rain and they were happy about that.
They chose the Ladies’ Pavilion as their ceremony location. “There were so many options but we loved the look of the Pavilion and it was also quite conveniently located near one of the entrances so was not too difficult to get to,” said Lisa. Lisa’s dress was purchased my dress from Portmans, a retailer in Australia. She had her makeup done at the Napoleon Perdis counter in Bergdorf Goodman and her hair was by Dream Dry.
I engaged singer and guitarist Brian Ripps to play at their wedding, Lisa and Jason supplied us with a list of requests for him in advance. “Brian took on board all of our song requests and even threw in a couple of extra songs for good measure. Having Brian perform on our day really helped set the tone and we are so excited that we were able to have had someone so talented be a part of our day,” said Lisa.
Their photographer, Andy Mars, took photographs at the Pavilion, during their ceremony, and afterwards with their guitarist, Brian. Then they had further pictures taken around the Park and later on, at Grand Central Terminal and Times Square. “We were so at ease with Andy and she really made the whole experience fun. She made sure that she captured everything that we wanted and we cannot believe how fantastically the photographs turned out,” said Lisa. After the photos, they took a dinner cruise on the Bateaux New York. The cruise traveled down the Hudson River and gave an amazing night-time view of New York City. After the cruise finished, they went to Smith’s Bar in Hell’s Kitchen to see their wedding singer, Brian play before finally getting to bed completely exhausted at about 1am.
“We cannot speak more highly of our experience with Wed in Central Park,” said Lisa. “I was concerned that I was quite high maintenance as I sent so many emails back and forth, however Claire always responded to our emails quickly and answered many questions and alleviated any concerns. I felt completely confident with Claire. Right from the start it was obvious that she was organized and had everything under control taking into account our requests.” Personally, I prefer a couple who have lots of questions and feel that they can ask me whatever they need to. I have organized lots of weddings now and it is not too often that I get a new question that I am unable to answer, so I would much prefer it if couples just ask me things that come to mind.
“I know people that search for the “right” musician, photographer, videographer and officiant meeting with multiple people before finding someone that they like. Claire has done all of the hard work for you and the suppliers she uses are second to none. I could not have picked better myself,” said Lisa. “Everyone that we dealt with on the day was so welcoming, accommodating and genuine. They helped make our day a complete success and we are glad that they were all a part of it, we felt like we were amongst friends as opposed to people we had met as the day was unfolding.” I do love the team of people I work with, they are all terrific people, and it has taken me a while to find the “right” set of people who I trust and enjoy working with. They are so committed to what they do, and it shows in their work.
Thank you for sharing your story with us, Lisa and Jason, 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.
