Central Park Rowboat Wedding

I met Nicolia by chance in 2007 while we were studying abroad in New Zealand. We were sitting at a picnic table chatting, when we discovered we have a mutual friend…and not just any mutual friend, a mutual best friend. Courtney is one of my best friends from high school and one of Nicolia’s best friends from college. Small world. We became facebook friends (as people do in these situations) and eventually both ended up in NYC.

Fast-forward years later, (after not seeing each other since New Zealand) and I receive an email from Nicolia, letting me know she’d followed my work over the years, and would love for me to capture her wedding day. It was a great honor to join Nicolia and Andrej at their unique, Central Park wedding at Wagner Cove. Technically it was an elopement, since they weren’t living in NYC at the time, and family and friends flew in from all over, including Slovakia, Andrej’s home country.

Everything about this wedding was unlike I’ve ever seen before. Nicolia wore a beautiful seafoam dress, and oh yeah… did I mention the whole wedding took place in rowboats?! That’s right, Nicolia and Andrej had friends arrive to the park early and reserve a dozen rowroats (they cannot be rented in advance). Nicolia told me, “we really didn’t know how it would work out, but we met in Central Park, and paddled in the rowboats on one of our first dates, so that’s exactly what we wanted to do for our wedding!” Half of the guests were in rowboats, and the other half (affectionately referred to as the “land group”) walked along the water, watching and waving to the rowboat group.

I thought long and hard about my approach for this wedding. Ultimately I decided to shoot the processional and ceremony from land, and then hop in the rowboat after the ceremony. It worked out perfectly! After the wedding, guests joined Nicolia and Andrej for a fantastic Sangria-infused brunch at Calle Ocho inside the Excelsior Hotel. Guests were able to return to their hotels after brunch for naps and relaxation before heading to the informal party celebration at the sultry Madam X, which I attended as a guest, not a photographer. I found the whole day to be an amazing, well-planned alternative wedding, and the best part seemed to be that Nicolia and Andrej truly got to spend quality time with each and every guest. I hope they enjoy this blog post as they finish up their honeymoon roadtrip across the USA!

Central Park Rowboat wedding by NYC wedding photographer Erica Camille. NYC elopement package available.