Kristy and Adam, from South Derbyshire, decided to get married in their favourite place, New York City. They invited 21 of their friends and family members and had their best friend officiating the ceremony (he got ordained by the Universal Life Church especially for the occasion!) in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

They planned the day entirely for themselves, hiring a photographer and a vintage New York Taxi cab and visiting some of their favourite spots for photos before meeting up with everybody for the ceremony. They then rounded off the night with dinner and drinks at The Wythe Hotel.

The inspiration for the day was, of course, the city itself. As soon as they first visited in 2019, they fell in love with it. “We fell in love with Williamsburg in particular”, the bride explained. “We felt that it was somewhere you could be whatever you wanted to be, unapologetically. We wanted to wear what we wanted and celebrate how we wanted without having to tick all the usual boxes. We wanted to enjoy NYC throughout the day and we celebrated throughout multiple spots in Brooklyn with our guests, before ending the night with raising a glass to the Manhattan skyline on the rooftop of the Wythe Hotel.”

The bride’s dress was made for her by her mum! “I wanted a courthouse style vintage dress”, she told us, “but I couldn’t find anything which felt like me. I wanted something classic, sophisticated but non-traditional and fun! It was even better than I imagined. I had lots of compliments walking about NYC in it.”

Although this was a destination wedding, they found the planning very stress-free. They found their photographer on Instagram, and he knew all the best spots to go for photos. The most stressful part was getting their marriage licence, as being based in the UK they had a few extra hoops to jump through, but it all worked out in the end!

The ceremony itself was at 11am, and after doing their photos first (so they got the best light) they met their guests at Jane’s Carousel. “We wondered down to the waters edge, so we were next to Brooklyn Bridge”, Kristy continued. “We hadn’t told anyone about getting Dan officiated so we pretended that the officiant was no where to be found! Eventually, we let everyone in on the surprise which also helped explain why Dan was in a tuxedo with a stars and stripes bow tie.”

“I thought I would be nervous about the prying eyes, but you get so wrapped up in the magic and everyone’s energy that you’re just really excited about the day. We had written our own vows and had them printed on a postcard which had a photograph of the Williamsburg Bridge on it. This was a photograph which Adam had taken when we visited for Christmas 2019 – if only we knew back then that we would be reading our vows off it all those years later. Adam slipped in some lyrics into his vows, signing it off with Matt Wilder’s Never Going to Break My Stride – a song which we have danced to with Dan on many a drunken night.”

“You do you – throw away the rule book”, the bride advised in conclusion. “Buy those crazy shoes or the funky bag which you want. Don’t worry about upsetting those who thought they ‘should’ be in the wedding party and don’t pay for something because you
think you’re supposed to have it. And if you need an officiant in the state of New York, Daniel Chapman will be available!”