How to Plan an Awesome NYC Wedding without going Broke

You’re engaged and ready to start your wedding planning. What do you do first? Find your venue! When you realize a NYC wedding venue can cost between $20,000 - $40,000 you almost plutz. Finding the ideal NYC wedding venue is almost as tough as finding an apartment in New York, because they get snatched up so quickly! What if you don’t want to wait 2 years to get married at the Pierre; what if you were to contact a venue that interests you that isn’t a wedding venue and ask them to have your wedding there? Not only would you save money on your NYC wedding, you would have a truly unique NYC pop-up wedding experience!  

That is what Jean & Bryan Woo did, although their venue was a RAW space  about to be developed: A Bronx Post Office! It had never held a wedding, nor will it again in the future, it was a truly unique wedding space.

As their NYC wedding photographer, Karen Wise, recounts on her blog:

“Jean and Bryan are one of my most stylish NYC brides and grooms. I’m thrilled to have gotten to photograph them in such a unique space as a US Post Office! Take a stylish couple and place them in a grand building filled with light and raw space and you've got perfection! The historic Bronx Post Office was being developed by Bryan and his father's real estate firm, so it seemed like the perfect venue to host a large party... A special guest at the wedding was Martha Stewart, a family friend, who got one of the best aisle seats during the ceremony! She looked so glamorous and beautiful in black lace. What a nice surprise to get to photograph Martha with the couple and their families in this unique venue!”

The wedding and their story was so original that it ended  up being featured in the NY Times and in Town & Country Magazine. Brooklyn Wedding Photographer, Karen Wise’s artistic photos were featured in Town & Country Magazine this month, as well as on Instagram.

The NYC bride raves to the Brooklyn Wedding Photographer, “Karen, the Town & Country feature looks amazing, much thanks to your beautiful photos! Thank you for beautifully capturing our special day!!” Thanks to Hannah Gluckstern the planner, and Bride and Blossom the NYC floral designer for doing an amazing job too!

Be creative and try to think up ways to save by hosting your NYC wedding event, big or small, at home, in a friend’s courtyard garden, in a local restaurant, or in an empty store or building about to be developed. You’d be surprised what you can find just by asking!