Laura Sims and Alan Goodman, married on the 8th of December at Belvedere's Castle, Central Park, New York
We flew to NY 5th December ready for our wedding on the 8th. There were a few health problems with a few of our guests when we got there (2 bridesmaids, best man and myself included; note to self, don’t get tonsillitis the day before you fly to the US or it will cost you $270 to see the doctor!!) and it absolutely tipped it down with rain the day before the wedding! However a trip to see Santa at Macy’s & my friend proposing to his girlfriend at the Rockefeller tree brightened up the day.
We stayed at the Hotel Beacon on the Upper West Side and it was superb- that’s not a word I use alot but it felt like the right one to describe the hotel. The location was brilliant, about half an hour walk down Broadway to get to Times Square or through Central Park to 5th Ave, but not slap bang in the centre of all the hustle & bustle. It was a ‘normal’ neighbourhood but with a Sephora store literally on the next block – I was in HEAVEN as it’s my favourite shop! When we checked in, we explained we were here for our wedding and cheekily asked for an upgrade and they put us in a king room on the top (25th) floor – the view looked out onto the Hudson and we were higher than almost every building from the hotel to the river – it was amazing. I would definitely recommend the hotel to any of your future NY clients!
The night before the wedding Alan went down to stay at the Stanford Hotel on 32nd street where 1 of my bridesmaids and maid of honour (Lucy) were staying Lucy came up to stay with me (they did a bed swap!) so we were able to keep that tradition of not seeing each other before the wedding – which was really important to us. I had planned to have a NY hen do at Serendipity 3 earlier in the week but due to my illness, we had to cancel. So my mum, Lucy & I had a mini hen do in my giant bed, drinking Martini Asti and playing Mr and Mrs that Lucy had planned for me!
I don’t know if any of your other brides have woken up on their wedding day being serenaded right into their ear by their maid of honour singing a medley of wedding songs to them? No? Well that was my wake up!! It was fab! Not only was that a lovely way to wake up, but we had slept with the blinds open so we could fall asleep looking at the stars and awoke to a brilliant blue, cloudless sky with bright sunshine bursting through the window – the perfect day. After my mum, dad, sister (and also bridesmaid)and her boyfriend and their little boy came up to my room, we ordered breakfast from a little place called Gigi’s who delivered to the room! Chocolate chip pancakes with syrup – what a wedding breakfast! From then on I have NO idea where the time went! Next thing I know I am down in my parents room with my sister and best friend getting me into my dress – we are 15 minutes late for the car and still have to lace me in! Next discovery is that my mum has taken my wedding shoes to the ceremony location so I had to go out in my Vans trainers – which, actually, was a good idea as it was much comfier walking in them!
We chose to get married in December as we love Christmas and it could not have been more fitting than setting off in the limo to the ceremony with ‘It’s the most wonderful time of the year’ being played on the radio.
I forgot to mention our meeting with Catarina! It was great, she is wonderful & totally loves weddings & people so she is perfect for the job. I could go on and on and write a whole essay about getting the marriage licence (FYI brides, the people at City Hall are VERY miserable so don’t go expecting a joyous occasion and them being really happy for you! We had to tell our guy that we didn’t have social security numbers 3 times and that was after we had told him we were British and he had our passports in his hands!) then meeting Cat and her sorting out confetti for us the day before and just being so organised. But I will skip that and get back to the wedding day
Cat met us at the entrance to Central Park along with Wendy the photographer and we walked, probably about 5 minutes, through the park to Belvedere Castle. I was glad of my trainers as due to the rain the day before, there were a few puddles to hop over. So many people were walking past us and saying congratulations and taking pictures! There were school trips of children who were just amazed as they walked past us and I waved at them all and they waved back and it was so lovely. Wendy captured a picture of me waving at them, I look like I think I am royalty or something!!
The ceremony itself was officiated by Susannah who we had emailed in the months before the wedding to talk about the content. She was fantastic and had been talking to my guests for the hour they were waiting for me to show up! We had our own vows and our best man Martin, did a reading for us – we chose the lyrics of the great Elvis Presley song, Love me tender. The sun shone throughout the whole service and it was a crisp, chilly day but I don’t remember feeling cold at all. The castle location is wonderful, I don’t remember seeing much of it due to the excitement of getting married but the pictures speak volumes and my family and friends all said how beautiful it was.
We had hired an old fashioned trolley bus to transport our guests from Central Park to DUMBO in Brooklyn where our reception was held and we were not disappointed! NY Trolley Co’s Dave had been great in our email correspondence and Cat had spoken to him the day before to organise where to meet us and all the fine details – which she didn’t have to do, but did because she was brill. We supplied some beer and sparkling wine, cups & music for the guests and the idea was to have a mini tour on the way to Brooklyn, but because I was so late getting to the ceremony, they didn’t get to have much of a tour but they all loved it anyway.
Reception was held in a place my friend Claire had researched on the Internet for us a bar/restaurant called reBar. I had exchanged approximately 100 emails with their wonderful events planner, Veronica and she had been so patient and accommodating. We couldn’t have been happier. The venue was perfect – we had the reGal room which had just opened and consisted of 2 rooms with its own private bathrooms. One room they had set up a long table for us and the other room, which had a bar in, we used to lay the food out and dance. There were about 20 of us in total and the rooms were exactly the right size. Our cake was made by Anne Heap and her team at Pink Cake Box, based in New Jersey. Again, we researched the net for a cake maker and this company were fantastic. Our cake was a 2 layer, jaunty angle, silver, pale blue and white (our colours) one with a ‘frosty day’ idea to it. The bottom layer was vanilla with rainbow sprinkles in and vanilla butter cream the top chocolate cake. There were snowflakes and stars on wires popping out the top and it was COVERED in glitter! Everyone was astounded with it and we could not have been happier.
Basically, everything was perfect on the day and having been a bride now and researching all the things you need for your wedding, I would have loved it if someone could have offered to chat to me about it, where to look, what to do, what to worry (or not worry)about, someone who had been there, done that – so I didn’t have to bother Lisa as I felt I was constantly taking up her time!
So I would like to offer my experiences and knowledge to any other NY brides to be who have any questions – please get in touch and ask away! It’s always nice to make new friends and if I can be of help to anyone, I would be more than happy. Lisa, if anyone wants to email you to get my address that is fine or you can advise them to contact me on facebook.
So, at the end of the essay, I conclude by saying thank you again and thanks to Susannah, Wendy and Cat for making our wedding AWESOME!
Love Laura & Alan Goodman xxx
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