Getting Married at Belvedere Castle featuring Claire from Wed in Central Park

Did you know there is a castle in the heart of New York City where you can get married? Its name is Belvedere Castle. It has stunning views, it was renovated in 2019, so it is looking amazing and you can even get married there if you’re on a budget!

Claire is a wedding planner specialising in helping couples to plan their wedding in New York’s Central Park. She has planned over three hundred weddings with her business Wed in Central Park and is still going strong, despite the disruption to weddings over the past year or so. Many people visit New York to get married, and unfortunately many of them have had to postpone their plans recently. With the closure of City Hall – the usual choice for a quick, easy wedding – locals are turning to Central Park for a beautiful location with the added reassurance of being outdoors to keep their guests safer from the risk of virus transmission. And we are so excited to introduce Claire as a guest blogger to tell you more about the beautiful castle folly in the heart of Manhattan…

Belvedere Castle is built at the highest point in Central Park. The word “belvedere” is Italian, and it derives from two Italian words, bel, which means “beautiful” and vedere, which means “view.” This is the perfect name for this castle because it overlooks the Great Lawn of Central Park, with the famous skyline of Central Park West and the American Museum of Natural History in one direction and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the other direction.

The building was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in 1867–1869, at the same time when they were planning the rest of Central Park. Belvedere Castle borrows its architectural design from both Gothic and Romanesque styles, and is built from Manhattan schist – the stone the rest of the island of Manhattan is made from. Most big cities have their primary weather observations centers in their airports, but not New York. Theirs is at Belvedere Castle, due to its perfect position in the heart of Manhattan, at this wonderfully high vantage point.

With the big restoration project of the rest of the park in the early 1980s much of Belvedere Castle was repaired and rebuilt. Then in 2018 it closed for another huge renovation project lasting a little over a year, so it has recently reopened. It is now looking its best, and is more accessible to all thanks to the construction of a new access path.

The inside of the building is a visitor center and gift shop. There are covered areas on the Terrace where weddings are permitted to take place. A permit for a wedding at Belvedere Castle can be purchased for $25. Central Park requires a permit for any event with more than twenty people, although I advise that couples should purchase a permit no matter their group size. If you don’t get a permit then you run the risk of getting to your wedding location and find that someone else is there getting married. Then you would have to wait until they were done until you can move into the space, which might make a mess of your other plans for that day. Getting married in Central Park is quite straightforward. Couples need to purchase their event permit at least three weeks in advance of the wedding. Of course, there is a huge choice of photographers, officiants, videographers, florists and other wedding vendors to choose from in New York.

Couples can make their own selection from what the city has to offer or contact Claire at Wed in Central Park or someone like her to help them. When planning to get married in New York, a couple must pick up their marriage license from City Hall at least 24 hours before the ceremony. Then they can get married anywhere in the beautiful setting of Central Park! I recommend having a photographer for at least two hours to capture photos of the ceremony as well as some time for portrait photos and candid photos in Central Park.
Belvedere Castle is around a fifteen minute walk from the most iconic part of Central Park – where Bethesda Terrace and Fountain and Bow Bridge are situated.

After the wedding ceremony in the beautiful setting of Central Park, a couple and their guests can go on to experience the amazing bars and restaurants that New York has to offer. There’s really something for everyone is this awesome city and it’s the perfect choice for a truly unique and memorable elopement or destination wedding. If you would like help with planning your own Central Park wedding or elopement, perhaps at Belvedere Castle, or another beautiful location in Central Park, or if you have any questions – visit their website Wed in Central Park for further information. Keep updated with their news and see lots of beautiful photos; “like” us Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and follow us on Pinterest!