Our Wedding Day

Destination Wedding in New York City

Before I knew it, we were packing our bags and heading for New York to say our vows in Central Park and start our new chapter as Husband and Wife. Our Wedding was 15 months in the making. Although I couldn’t have predicated some of the things that happened, It was perfect and a day I know I will cherish forever.

Photography credit:@aaronalmendralphotography

Before I Do

I did a post back in January about our wedding plans, at that time most things were already decided and organised. So it was just a bit of waiting for May to roll around. As I mentioned in that post, it was really important for us to get married on the 23^rd May, as it was our 10 year anniversary. I’m so happy we were able to tie the knot, on such a significant day to us. It gave us plenty of time from getting engaged to getting married, to plan our wedding day.

My Dress

It may shock some of you to know, I actually kept the first dress I tried on! It wasn’t a completely impulsive decision, I knew what I wanted and didn’t, and what I was willing to comprise on. I had been looking at dresses online for over 8 months, before I found one that really ticked all the boxes. When it arrived, it just felt like the right dress for me. I did have to get it altered as I’m 5’2 and the dress was made for someone 5’9, so quite a bit needed trimming. This took a total of three appointments, to make sure it was fitting right, over a 2 month period.

All in all, I was really delighted with my dress. I wanted something with lace but still minimal. It was hard to find a dress that didn’t have an open back and was full length too, so when I found it, I clicked buy straight away. I felt like once I had my dress, everything just slotted into place.

Wedding Planner

I mentioned in my wedding plans blog post, about hiring a wedding planner. Honestly it was 100% the right call. We put a lot of trust in them but they exceeded our expectation at every corner and really made every part of our day so special. Our wedding planners Marisa and Sandy arranged; my flowers, hair stylist, transportation, our photographer, the permits, booking our wedding meal, they officiated our wedding and did all the paper work for us too. Honestly everything!

We would have been lost without them. Every part of the day was perfectly planned and coordinated. They helped us every step of the way, while planning and really made it so all we had to worry about was saying ‘I do’. We found Ultimate Weddings USA though some extensive internet research. When we found them, we just knew it was the right call for us. I think if you are looking to get married abroad and you don’t know where to start, a wedding planner can really take all the stress away from planning. I would highly recommend them and I am forever grateful for how perfectly they planned our special day.

Packing for a destenation wedding

How do you pack for a wedding? Well in my case it was take everything you can think of and a bit more just in case. I didn’t want to risk my dress being lost by the airline, so I brought a box with a handle and packed my dress and husbands suit in that and took it as my hand luggage. I felt like worst case scenario, we would have time to replace shoes, makeup etc. My dress… not so much, so I made sure it never left my side.

To make sure the airline wouldn’t have an issue, (we flew with British Airways for reference) I brought a box that was smaller than their recommended carry-on size. The size of my dress was a consideration when picking it, as I wanted to be sure I could fold it down to a reasonable size. A bit of tissue paper helped keep it neat and I’m pleased to say it made the trip without a crease.

Getting our marriage license

Before we could get married, we had to request our marriage license, a few days before. It’s one of the reasons why we booked more time before the date then after, to be in New York. We meet with one of our wedding planners, Marisa on the Monday morning. To head down to City Hall and start the process of getting our marriage license. I’m so glad we had her help, as we would have been totally lost without her. Once the paperwork was all done, and we answered a few questions we were given the thumbs up to get married on the Thursday as planned.

The Morning

I didn’t wake up nervous. However, my future husband and I both had the flu at this point in the trip. So we were feeling terrible, but of course we weren’t going to call off our wedding. Some flu medicine later, we got up to get ready. I didn’t feel hungry at all, probably due to the flu. I remember having a sip of coffee and that was about all I could manage at that point. We wanted to make sure we weren’t in a rush, and that I had plenty of time to shower and do my makeup before my hairstylist came at 10am. So it was a pretty slow start to a very exciting day.

Makeup

I decided to do my own makeup. Perhaps a risky decision but I just felt like I could take the time to do it, exactly how I wanted, and feel like me. I ended up taking a shed load of products with me but managed to decant quite a bit to save on luggage space. I deliberated on what products to take for such a long time, swapping things in and out of my bag. At the end of the day, I would have been happy with anything from my collection. It wasn’t at the forefront of my mind, the way I would have predicated it to be. Still I of course brought some of my favourite products including the Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder, my trusty Anastasia Dip Brow and my favourite gloss, the Dior Lip Maximiser.

I don’t know whether it’s too late to do a makeup wedding post? Let me know if you would be interested.

Dress on, hair done, ready to go

I was so delighted with my hair, my stylist came to our hotel room and absolutely nailed the look I was going for. I slipped into my dress and got ready to leave. The morning really did speed by and it was time to get a cab to Central Park.

Our wedding planner Marisa, meet us in the lobby with our flowers. I was so happy with my bouquet, I had sent some photos of the flowers I wanted and they were even more beautiful than I could have hoped. Overall, I felt quite casual about most aspects of the wedding but not my bouquet. I really wanted a very pastel and leafy arrangement. After the wedding, I so desperately wanted to sneak it in my suitcase, but sadly that’s not allowed.

The ceremony

We chose to have our ceremony on Bow Bridge in Central Park. We did have a few close friends and family join us, which made it even more special. Our ceremony was quick and very public but I locked eyes on my future husband and focused on saying my vows. It had been raining on our way to the park and as we stepped out of the cab the rain stopped. I kid you not, it poured down when we got back to the hotel a few hours later. It’s like it was waiting until we were done! Our ceremony was preformed by Sandy (wedding planner number two). It was the perfect spot to say “I do”.

Photographs

After the ceremony, we took a few photos on the Bow Bridge, then took a walk around to Bethesda Fountain. Every spot in Central Park is a dream photo background. Our Photographer Aaron Almendral was incredible, he really knew how to direct us, to get great shots. Despite it being so busy, he managed to make us feel like we were the only ones there. I was just over the moon when our photos came back. After spending about an hour walking around Central Park taking photos, we headed to Times Square. We really wanted the contrast from the lush park, with some iconic New York scenery. Walking around Times Square in a wedding dress was pretty daunting but I just focused on the camera and my new husband. After about a two hour shoot that was a wrap, we were married!

Dinner

I was totally over whelmed when faced with the decision of where to have our wedding meal. New York has an abundance of restaurants and can it can be quite hard to judge the atmosphere from photos and reviews alone. Sandy suggested The Robert and it was absolutely perfect. I mentioned this in a bit more detail in my New York blog post. We wanted to have a really amazing meal, to celebrate our wedding day and The Robert was absolutely just that. Thankfully by this point, I had my appetite back and enjoyed a wonderful meal with my family, friends and new husband.

Wedding Certificate

Our Wedding planner, took our signed certificate and handed it in to City Hall for us the following day. We received it in the mail, back in the UK about a month later. We could have gone with her to get it then and there but it was our last day in New York and we decided we were happy to wait. In the UK you don’t need an extended license, if you are from a country that does, you will need to return to City Hall to apply for this.

Tying the knot

It’s such a strange feeling being a bride, as really you are only a bride for one day. I wanted to soak up every detail, every feeling and almost just press pause, so I could take it all in. In reality it happened so fast. You always heard people describe their wedding as a ‘whirlwind’ and it really was. I think because we just had a ceremony, and not a traditional reception it perhaps felt even quicker.

I’m so glad we have such an archive of beautiful photos to remember every aspect of our special day. I ordered some framed prints of a few of our favourite photos, so I can be reminded of our wedding every day. The wedding was so special but even better, was knowing I was marrying my soul mate.

I hope you enjoyed this post about our wedding day, we want to return to New York in a few years and retrace some of our steps for an anniversary. I’m dying to walk along Bow Bridge again but now as husband and wife.