This venue will always hold a special place in our hearts. My husband and I first met at this hotel; we then celebrated our engagement weekend here; and we ultimately chose it as our wedding venue. It’s the perfect location right next to Central Park and pure luxury. Although our main points of contact changed a fair bit amidst COVID challenges, everyone we worked with was responsive and professional. Leading up to the wedding, Rachel and Sarah were our go-to contacts. They helped us finalize all of the little details and accommodated some special requests related to our menu. Speaking of the menu, the food was absolutely delicious. Our guests are still talking about how awesome everything was from the unique stations and passed hors d’oeuvres at the cocktail hour, to the fancy poached pear salad, to the mouthwatering filet and potato gratin, to the lemon meringue tart and red velvet cake, to the fun mini desserts, and finally the mini sliders and fries they grabbed on their way out at the end of the night. No one left hungry and the food was simply delicious – certainly not “wedding food” but akin to fine dining. We also don’t want to leave out how fantastic the Central Park Suite Terrace is – if you’re contemplating whether or not to splurge on this, this is your sign to just do it. The bridal party got ready in the suite (some feedback: all of the food left over from the day was thrown out; we would have liked to store the leftovers in the fridge), and my husband and I had our first look on the terrace overseeing Central Park on a gorgeous day. It doesn’t get much better than that. It was the perfect day and far exceeded our expectations. We wish we could do it all over again!

From the minute we walked in the grand salon to look at the venue for our wedding, we knew this was the place. We were met with attentive service, wonderful staff, and a gorgeous backdrop for our special day. Jocelyn and Danny in particular took extra special care of us, especially from the tasting up through our wedding day (and even checked on us after!). Jocelyn made sure the day of went so smooth and took care of so many behind the scenes details. Danny worked with us to make signature cocktails based on our specific tastes and we were given plenty of drinks at our sweetheart table. Our guests could not stop raving about the food and the beauty of the hotel and grand salon. It was everything we could have hoped for!

Jocelyn and Sarah at the Essex House made all of our wedding dreams come true! They were always responsive to our emails but more than that, came up with valuable ideas from their years of experience, that we would not have thought of otherwise. They were so personable and made the whole wedding process as stress-free as possible and added little personal touches that made us feel taken care of. The food and special cocktails we created came out perfectly, thanks to the amazing food and beverage staff. Plus, the location on Central Park South and the beauty of the ballroom at the Essex House cannot be beaten for a classic NYC wedding.