The Romantic Wedding

In consultation with Bronson Van Wyck of Van Wyck & Van Wyck.

• By Jada Yuan
• Published Summer 2006

HIGH BUDGET

CONSERVATORY GARDEN
105th St. at Fifth Ave.; 212-360-2766; centralparknyc.org

COOPER-HEWITT, NATIONAL DESIGN MUSEUM
2 E. 91st St., at Fifth Ave.; 212-849-8341; ndm.si.edu

Location

In spring, the French-style North Garden in Central Parks' Conservatory Garden (212-360-2766) boasts the city's most spectacular landscaping, with 20,000 tulips, daffodils, and crab-apple trees in bloom. After the ceremony, send guests on private buses to the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum located in the turn-of-the-century Andrew Carnegie mansion. You'll have the run of the galleries, the dark wood-paneled Great Hall, and the gorgeous Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden surrounded by 100-year-old wisteria. Outside, dancing and loud music must stop at 11 p.m., but the guests are free to continue in the Great Hall.

Catering

Guests are greeted at the entrance by white-gloved butlers passing sparkling wine. They walk into the Great Hall, where Restaurant Associates, the in-house caterers, pass petits cadeaux of salmon and goat-cheese quesadillas. Curtains part to reveal the dinner tent, which has a raw-oyster bar. For entrées, guests choose between beef negimaki or baby lamb chops. Order a cake from Confetti Cakes Bakery (212-877-9580) that looks like a topical relief map of the original design of Central Park. Also, assemble a dessert bar in the Great Hall with mini chocolate soufflés, dulce de leche crème brûlées, Key-lime pies, and assorted fruit and cheeses.

Music

Hire a solo violinist or flutist for the ceremony, then greet guests at cocktails with the Leonardo da Vinci Ensemble (646-872-0971). When they're done, Motown specialists The Jimmy Church Band (615-292-8529) from Nashville-fronted by a former bandmate of Jimmy Hendrix-start in with "Your Precious Love" by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. At 11 p.m., turn the Great Hall into an after-party lounge and dessert bar for the late-night crowd. Hire D.J. Todd Mallis (tmallisnyc@gmail.com), who works the tables at Bungalow 8 and Home Night Club, to spin a sophisticated mix of eighties classics, new rock, and hip-hop.

Flowers & Décor

The Conservatory Garden is unspeakably lush-just add personal flowers, like a bouquet of white peonies with dark-green sawtooth leaves. At the Cooper-Hewitt, iron urns with pink hydrangea stand at the entrance. Decorate the walkway to the Great Hall with pillar candles, then serve dinner under a clear tent canopy with walls of sheer white gauze and garlands of garden flowers and ferns. Wrap tent poles in burlap and wisteria vines and fill silver revere bowls with pink and white peonies for centerpieces. Flank the stage with eight-foot-tall garden topiaries and line the Great Hall with white lounge chairs for the after-party.