Weddings at Wagner Cove, Central Park

Wagner Cove is a very popular location for elopements and weddings with just a few guests.  This is the spot that people tend to choose if they want to keep their ceremony as private as possible.  It is tucked away down some stone steps in a corner of Central Park Lake, right on the water. 

The steps that lead to Wagner Cove from the main pathway on Cherry Hill are hidden between trees.  Cherry Hill is around seven minutes’ walk from the West 72nd Street entrance to Central Park. 

From Cherry Hill, it’s a short walk down to Bow Bridge and from there just a few minutes to Bethesda Terrace, so Wagner Cove might be the most central of popular wedding ceremony locations, whilst also being one of the most private. 

If you don’t like too much walking to get to the major iconic spots, then Wagner Cove might be the ceremony location for you.  If you or anyone in your party is not comfortable with steps, though, it may not be appropriate.  The steps down to Wagner Cove can get slippy in wet weather and the ground around it is a little uneven. 

Wagner Cove features a rustic, rough-hewn wooden shelter with seats on either side which is right on the water of Central Park Lake.  When the water level is high, it comes almost right up to the wooden structure, and in the summer, turtles can be spotted in the water.  That wooden shelter is useful to cover the couple and officiant in case of any light rain or bright sunshine.  

Wagner Cove is a very photogenic spot for a wedding ceremony because that wooden structure frames the couple and officiant very well.  It is possible for a photographer to go around to the other side of Central Park Lake to capture the couple inside the structure at Wagner Cove from afar.  And that vantage point is really the only way a wedding ceremony at Wagner Cove could be observed by passers-by, since people tend not to just wander down the steps.

The maximum guests allowed for an event permit issued for a wedding here is 25 people.  The pictures on this page show a little of our weddings at Wagner Cove. 

Check this page of the Central Park wedding blog for more photos of Wagner Cove or email me for any advice on this location.  For a detailed consultation and to discuss this location, or others in more detail (non-binding and free of charge), please send me an email.