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There's a fun, new wedding chapel in Brooklyn that gives couples a chance to tie the knot quickly but in an intimate space, unlike at the city courthouse.
Sweet Hearts is a Las Vegas-style wedding chapel that offers up a beautiful, artist-designed space to those who want a traditional ceremony, vow renewal, a commitment ceremony, a declaration of friendship or self-love.
It opened earlier this month and is now taking appointments through October.
"This is a space to say 'Hey, you’re my person,'" founder Julie Guinta says. "It’s a happy, lovely space for people to celebrate what love means to them."
2020 was a tough year for those planning to get married. Ceremonies were rescheduled or at the very least minimized because of the pandemic, forcing many to say their "I do's" in a much different way than they had previously hoped.
Guinta, who is an ordained officiant and founder of Little Sister Creative, came up with the idea for Sweet Hearts when she married two friends at a Williamsburg steakhouse last year. She wondered why there weren't any one-stop-wedding spots that weren't a courthouse.
Having worked with some leading event design companies in New York City, including Rye Workshop, where she led the company’s Wedding Design division, her designs have been featured in Vogue, The Knot, Martha Stewart Magazine, Over the Moon and more. Nowhere in NYC was a space that provided easy, no-frills weddings to those who just want to commit but also have a beautiful and personalized space to make that commitment.
Sweet Hearts fills that need—it's a naturally lit, ground-level "white box" space with backdrops designed and fabricated by local artists. The front wall actually opens to the street when the weather allows, too.
One of the requirements Guinta had for opening Sweet Hearts is that it be a safe, inclusive place for couples or friends to make it official, partner up, or simply pair their hearts. It also had to be affordable. Appointments are just $650, a small fraction of the cost of a traditional wedding.
Sweet Hearts is located at 57 Conselyea Street in Brooklyn. Ceremony inquiries are now being accepted via the Sweet Hearts website sweethearts.nyc or by calling or texting (646) 355-8155.
