Luan and Steven Wise met at a mutual friends birthday party in January 2009 in Weston-Super-Mare. They came to New York to have a surprise wedding this Spring. They had booked their vacation to New York City, and Luan decided to secretly start arranging a wedding. A week ahead of their trip, Luan asked Steven if there was anything in particular he would like to do while in the city…. then she suggested that maybe they could get married! Steven said he thought that was a great idea, and Luan surprised him with the news that a Central Park wedding was all organised.
They agreed to keep the wedding quiet, and told just family and close friends before they left. Then they broke the news by Facebook to their wider social circle while they were still away. Being married was important to them both, they wanted to show commitment to their relationship, but did not was a huge fussy wedding. They had no flowers or professional hair or makeup, no guests, just the person who was the most important to each of them, the officiant to do the legal stuff and the photographer to take the fabulous pictures to have a lasting record of the day.
When planning the wedding, Luan had considered Brooklyn Bridge as a location, but decided against it because it may not be private enough, and if the weather is bad in New York City, then it’s very windy up there on the bridge, so I think they made the right decisions, but then I am biased. Iasked why they chose Central Park, Luan said “The combination of being in New York with the skyline views, but also an open space and fresh air. Ladies Pavilion also meant some cover in case of poor weather.” Luckily the sun was shining so they had nothing to worry about. I find this worry of weather is very common with the British couples I work with. The risk of having wet weather in Manhattan is considerably lower than it is in the UK!
As soon as they arrived in New York, they took a taxi to the hotel, dropped off their bags and went straight to Tiffany to choose their rings. Then they got themselves a glass of champagne each and started to enjoy their week’s break. They took a bus tour around the city, which you can hop on and hop off as suits you. On the morning of their wedding they completed it with the Uptown section of the tour, and had stopped of to have a look at the Guggenheim on the Upper East Side.
Luan said that their favorite pictures on the rocks right by the Ladies’ Pavilion, where they had their ceremony. They loved the skyline with the rocks, the Lake and the trees with the iconic skyline of the skyscrapers behind it all. I love that, too.
I asked Luan if she had any thoughts on marrying in Central Park that would like to share, and she said “it was perfect.” That says it all, really. Thank you for sharing your story with us, Luan and Steven.
