NY Athletic Club Wedding : Jackie & Mike : New York, Ny

The New York Athletic Club sits at the southeast corner of Central Park — 180 Central Park South — and it does not understate itself. The ballroom has a coffered and painted ceiling that runs the full length of the room, a dozen chandeliers, and windows that look directly into the park. It's the kind of room that sets an expectation for the evening before anyone sits down.

Jackie and Mike were married on a Saturday in June. Both got ready at the NYAC itself, on separate floors. The first look happened on the outdoor terrace. Mike had his back to her, turned around, saw her, and wiped his eye.

The ceremony was at St. Paul the Apostle on 59th Street — full Catholic Mass, tall nave, white orchid arrangements on pedestals at the altar. Jackie walked in on her father's arm to the Bridal Chorus, pink peonies in hand. Father Chris Krall officiated. There's a frame from the middle of the ceremony — the two of them seated side by side on the altar, turned slightly toward each other, congregation a blur behind them — that I kept coming back to in the edit.

After the ceremony it was time to hop in the iconic vintage checkered cab from Film Cars NY. These cars have been working the roads of NYC for decades including in countless movies like Home Alone 2. We drove across to Central Park and went straight down to Bethesda Terrace. The arcade tunnel frames the fountain through the arch and the light was hitting the stonework right for that time of afternoon. Then up to Bow Bridge — where Mike had proposed — which from the right distance reduces two people in a ballgown and a tuxedo to a very small detail against a lot of summer green. The veil was doing its own thing the entire time.

Lauren Zizza had the evening running exactly the way a room this size needs to run. Cocktail hour in the Card Room with the East Coast Band's piano and saxophone setup, then the full nine-piece for the reception. Jackie and Mike came in to "Jubel" — Mike's arm was up before he was fully through the door — and danced their first dance to Natalie Cole. There was a lift at the end. The room had circled the floor and it stayed there.

Venue: New York Athletic Club

Ceremony: St. Paul the Apostle

Planning: Lauren Zizza Events

Florals: Ariston Flowers

Band: East Coast Band

Cake: Empire Cake

Videography: First Day Films

Photobooth: Flux Photobooth

Hair: Jvalldi Styling

Makeup: Karla Duarte 

NY Historical Society Wedding : Liz & Evan : New York, NY

Elizabeth and Evan got married on a Saturday evening in April at the New York Historical Society, tucked into the Upper West Side just across from Central Park — the kind of New York wedding that feels effortless because every detail was so clearly considered.

After getting ready, the day started blocks away in the park. Triplets Bridge, the Ladies Pavilion at the water's edge, the stone arch at West 77th — spring canopy just coming in, that first fresh green against grey stone and yellow cabs. Guests filtered into the Smith Lobby for cocktails, then moved into the PDK Library for the ceremony: rows of chairs, a hydrangea-lined aisle, a floral arch framed against the room's original stained glass. Officiant Alex Hance led the ceremony to Hans Zimmer's Interstellar theme, Elizabeth walked in to a string quartet version of "Can't Help Falling in Love," and the room emptied out to Avicii's "Levels" — phones down the entire time, which changes the way a room watches a wedding. You could feel it.

Cocktails moved through the Skylight Gallery and past the museum's Tiffany lamp collection — not staged, just there, glowing behind the guests the whole time. Dinner was in Dexter Hall, under a two-story Picasso, with floral print linens, gold tapers, and low hydrangea centerpieces echoing the ceremony flowers. Melarosa built the whole palette in blues, whites, and greens — quiet, garden-toned, nothing overworked.

Then the library transformed. Black and white checkerboard floor down, GYE took the stage, and the first dance to Kygo's "Firestone" opened a night that didn't let up — father-daughter to Celine Dion, mother-son sliding from "Stand By Me" into "I Want You Back," and at 11pm, Evan and Elizabeth stepped behind the decks themselves for a surprise DJ set that the room will be talking about for years. Cake cutting came late, to Benson Boone, a four-tier white cake from One the Cake standing at the center of it all. Brunch the next morning at Park Loggia closed things out slow, the way the best weekends do.

Photography: Brian Hatton

Planning: EAP Weddings

Venue: New York Historical Society

Catering: Great Performances

Florals: Melarosa

Video: First Day Films

Band: GYE / Soundtrack Central

Beauty: VickyC5

Cake: One The Cake

Dance Floor: Dance Floor Kings

Lighting: L&M

Photo Booth: 321 Photo Booth NYC