Lotte New York Palace Wedding – Christopher and Peter

A Lotte New York Palace wedding gives you something almost nothing else in midtown can: a landmarked Gilded Age mansion attached to a working hotel, so the whole day happens inside one address. Christopher and Peter used all of it. They got ready upstairs, made their portraits in the Villard Mansion, married under a chuppah in one of its panelled rooms, and danced until the ballroom emptied out.

The Villard Mansion is the reason to book this venue

The hotel tower is comfortable and completely ordinary. The mansion in front of it is not. The Villard Houses were built in the 1880s for Henry Villard, president of the Northern Pacific Railway, and designed by McKim, Mead & White as a set of brownstone houses around a courtyard. The city landmarked them in 1968. What that means on a wedding day is that you are photographing inside carved marble and gilt that was made by hand for one family, and none of it looks like a hotel.

Two pieces in the mansion are worth planning around, and both are by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens. The first is the zodiac clock set into the marble of the stair wall, a gilded sunburst face ringed by twelve carved medallions. It is lit from the sconces beside it and it photographs beautifully at any hour, because none of that light is daylight.

The second is the red Verona marble mantel, carved above the lintel with figures representing Joy, Hospitality and Moderation, with shell-hooded niches and basins set into the wall on either side. The venue fills those basins with candles. It is the strongest single backdrop in the building, and the one I would build portrait time around.

Staying in the hotel means nobody travels in formalwear

Staying in the hotel is the practical argument for this venue. Nobody travels between locations, nobody is stuck in midtown traffic in formalwear, and if you forget something it is upstairs rather than across town. It also means the getting-ready pictures happen in real daylight from the tower windows, which is the one thing the mansion cannot give you.

The courtyard is the only private outdoor space here

The courtyard on Madison Avenue was the carriage entrance to the mansion, and it is the only place at this venue where you are outdoors and still private. The iron gates carry the building number. It is a short walk from the lobby, it works in almost any weather because the arcade is covered, and it is the one exterior frame that tells anyone looking at your pictures exactly where you married.

Forty minutes in these rooms without repeating a background

The Gold Room was fitted out by Stanford White with gilt ceilings, walls and wainscoting in 1882, and it reopened as a cocktail bar a few years ago. Around it sit a series of panelled sitting rooms, a bar and a library, all of them dark, warm and lit by lamps rather than windows. This is the part of the venue most couples underestimate. You can spend forty minutes moving between these rooms and never repeat a background.

The thing to know is that all of it is tungsten and candlelight. There is no window light in the mansion’s public rooms to speak of, which is why these frames look like evening even when they were not. If you want that gold, book enough time before dinner to actually use these rooms rather than passing through them.

The chuppah went in a panelled room, not a ballroom

Christopher and Peter married under a chuppah in one of the mansion’s panelled rooms. Its poles were wrapped in white roses and greenery and a tallit was stretched overhead, with their ketubah on an easel beside them. The chairs were set in short rows, which matters more in a space this size than it does in a ballroom: everyone was close enough to actually see the kiddush cup and the glass.

A chuppah is a structure rather than a backdrop, and it wants room on all four sides. If you are planning one here, agree the footprint with the venue early, because it determines how many rows of chairs fit in front of it.

Dinner in a separate space means no room flip

Dinner happened in a different space from the ceremony, which is one of the real advantages of a venue with thirty thousand square feet of event space. Guests moved once, the ceremony space was reset out of sight, and nobody stood in a hallway waiting for a flip. The dining space is a lighter one, with painted panelling, arched windows and a parquet floor under the chandeliers.

White and green ran through the whole day, which is a choice that ages well. The mansion supplies all the colour a wedding needs, and decor that tries to compete with gilt and red marble tends to lose.

Planning notes for a Lotte New York Palace wedding

A few things I would tell any couple looking at this venue. Build portrait time around the mansion, not around sunset, because the best backdrops here are interior and lit the same at four o’clock as at nine. Another couple used the same building the opposite way and married across the road at St. Patrick’s, which is worth seeing in their gallery from the same venue. Ask specifically which mansion rooms are yours and for how long, since the Gold Room operates as a bar and the public rooms are shared with the hotel. And if you are deciding between spaces, walk them in the evening rather than at a midday site visit, because that is the light you will actually have.

If you are planning a same-sex wedding in the city, I have written separately about how to plan a same-sex wedding in New York City, and this venue handles it without any of the awkwardness some rooms still manage.

For guest capacities, what actually drives the cost and how the rooms compare with one another, I have written a separate Lotte New York Palace venue guide.

Questions couples ask about a Lotte New York Palace wedding

Where do you take photographs at a Lotte New York Palace wedding?

Almost entirely inside the Villard Mansion: the marble stair wall with the Saint-Gaudens zodiac clock, the red Verona marble mantel, the Gold Room and the panelled sitting rooms, the bar and the library. The Madison Avenue courtyard, once the carriage entrance, is the outdoor option and stays private. St. Patrick’s Cathedral sits directly across the street if you want midtown in a frame.

How many guests does the Villard Ballroom hold?

The venue lists the oval Villard Ballroom at up to 225 guests across 3,456 square feet, the Holmes Ballroom at up to 220 across 2,856 square feet, and the Reid Salon at up to 130 across 1,525 square feet. Confirm the number against your own floor plan, because a band, a dance floor and a sweetheart table move those figures.

Can the ceremony and reception be in different rooms?

Yes, and it is worth doing. With roughly thirty thousand square feet of event space the venue can hold your ceremony in one space and your dinner in another, so there is no room flip and no waiting. Christopher and Peter did exactly this.

Is the Villard Mansion available for a small wedding?

The venue offers the mansion for smaller weddings and also runs in-suite weddings for up to about fifty guests. For a small group the mansion is arguably a better value than a ballroom, because the architecture does the work that flowers would otherwise have to do.

Can you have a Jewish ceremony at the Lotte New York Palace?

Yes. Christopher and Peter were married under a chuppah set indoors in one of the Villard Mansion’s panelled rooms, with the ketubah signed alongside it. Agree the chuppah footprint with the venue early, since it governs how many rows of seating fit in front, and confirm any catering requirements with them directly.

What is the light like inside the Villard Mansion?

Warm and artificial. The public rooms are lit by lamps, sconces and candles rather than windows, so the look does not change with the season or the hour. That is a real advantage for a winter wedding, when an outdoor venue would have lost the light before cocktails.