New York City Elopement Photography: Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park & City Lights

New York City is the world's great urban elopement destination — a city of incomparable architectural drama, neighbourhoods of intense individual character, and a quality of energy that produces wedding photography of extraordinary vitality. The Brooklyn Bridge at dawn, Central Park in early morning mist, the Manhattan skyline from a rooftop at dusk — New York creates images that are recognisable worldwide and yet feel personal and unrepeatable.

Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge — its Gothic masonry towers and web of suspension cables above the East River — is the iconic New York elopement location. The pedestrian walkway at dawn, before the cyclists arrive, has the combination of suspended architecture above and the Manhattan skyline visible both ahead and behind. DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) — the Brooklyn neighbourhood at the Bridge's base — provides the classic framed-by-arches view of the Manhattan Bridge that has become one of the definitive New York engagement images.

Central Park

Central Park is 843 acres of designed landscape at the heart of Manhattan — Bethesda Fountain and the Terrace, the Bow Bridge over the Lake, the Ramble woodland, the formal Mall with its canopy of American elms. In spring (cherry blossom at the Reservoir, April), autumn (October foliage in the Ramble), and winter (bare trees and snow), Central Park provides four completely different portrait environments at different seasons. Early mornings, even on weekdays, provide relative solitude.

Legal elopement in New York City

A civil marriage in New York City requires a marriage licence obtained from the City Clerk's office — available online and collected in person. The licence becomes valid 24 hours after issue. City Clerk ceremonies are available at the Manhattan Office for a small fee and take approximately five minutes. Many couples take the licence, have the five-minute ceremony at the City Clerk, then spend the rest of the day in portraits across the city.