NYC: Insider’s Tip – the Library Hotel
There is a terrific moment in the first Sex and the City movie when Carrie Bradshaw, everyone’s favorite columnist about romance, realizes that she can have her wedding at the incomparable New York Public Library. While we now know that her walk down the aisle was a circuitous one, the movie raised the prospect of ideal wedding spots for books lovers and others. Soon I will be marrying a lovely couple from Glasgow, Scotland. For their destination wedding, they have selected The Library, a boutique hotel on Madison Avenue, near the actual NYPL. The hotel is part of the HK Hotels group, with nifty properties dotting the Big Apple. Part of the charm of the hotel is the fact that the floors are organized by the Dewey Decimal card cataloging system—yes, the same system you found in your primary school library, years ago! The rooms on each floor are enveloped by hundreds of books on a particular subject. So if a guest is interested in history, she should request a room on the ninth floor; the arts, the seventh floor. The twelfth floor—focused on title about religion—includes books on ancient religions, new age topics, Native American practices, and African and Eastern religious philosophy, among others. Brilliant!
Custom weddings, held daily at The Library, are situated on the top floor atrium area, flooding with light and views of the City. Jayla Hughes, the sales and events manager, at the hotel, handles wedding coordination activities, stands ready to assist “destination wedding” brides and grooms with big tasks and small. According to Hughes, the number of couples coming to New York for destination weddings is increasing in recent years. Check out the amenities at The Library as you search for wedding spots in the Big Apple.
Wedding & the City (WATC)
Several years ago, dreaded news was delivered to many American women when HBO announced that the groundbreaking program “Sex and the City” (SATC) would end production. In a retrospective of the show’s success, actress Sarah Jessica Parker and program creator Darren Star speculated about the elements that distinguished SATC from other series. They argued that beyond the witty repartee, it was the City of New York that partly explained the show’s enormous popularity. New York was, in fact, the fifth leading lady of the show, along with Samantha, Miranda, Charlotte, and Carrie. SATC devotees, like my pal Denise, know that Sex and the City shined a light on all that we love about the Big Apple, from famed landmarks to obscure local haunts. As a Celebrant, I have come to consider our heroine NYC as a most important backdrop—or guest, if you will—at destination weddings, large and small.
Lately I have been working with couples travelling to New York for their own special wedding ceremonies, casting iconic New York images as important elements of the wedding. Thanks to the generosity of Cheryl Fielding-LoPalo of Cheryl J. Weddings & Events, I was able to work with Matt and Sherri, a young couple from suburban Washington,D.C. Along with their closest family members, Sherri and Matt wed in Rockefeller Plaza. There is a sweet garden tucked in the middle of Manhattan—602 Loft & Garden, part of the famous “Top of the Rock.” This perfect wedding space is nestled in the bustling midtown area with a manicured garden, reflecting pool, and spectacular landscaping. And in every direction we were surrounded by breathtaking views of NYC’s cityscape. The photo in this posting is our stunning couple poised before St. Patrick’s Cathedral, one of New York’s most important religious institutions.
As I finished up this blog posting, I was on the Facebook page of my friend Christina Buzzetta who (lucky girl) works at TheKnot.com. I smiled when I noticed her profile picture caption was a famous line uttered by our friend Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City: “If you only get one great love, then New York may just be mine.” I think a lot of brides, in New York and beyond, feel just the same way.
