‘Pop-Up Chapel’ Will Host 24 Same-Sex Weddings in New York City

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It’s not quite The Boathouse, but at least you’re in the park.

On July 30, the first Saturday same-sex marriage will be legal in New York state, two makeshift chapels will pop up in Central Park, where 24 couples will wed. The chapels will emerge near Merchant’s Gate, the entrance to Central Park by Columbus Circle, the New York Times reports.

Pop Up Chapel, with the wedding planning website The Knot, is commemorating the historic legalization by offering couples an open-air option for their summertime nuptials. Predictably, scores of City Hall-averse couples are pining for a spot, but it’s too late. The 24 couples have been chosen.

(PHOTOS: New Yorkers Celebrate the Legalization of Gay Marriage)

A contest was also launched, which ended July 21, that allowed architects to submit design entries for the 8 feet by 8 feet mini-altars. The winners will receive $3,000 for construction and installation.

“This is basically wedding planning on steroids,” Carley Roney, Pop Up Chapel organizer, told the Times.

The weddings will begin at 10 a.m. on July 30 and go on until the chapels disassemble at dusk. Each couple will be allowed 12 guests.

“It will be rich and lovely,” Roney adds. “Not Vegas-style.”

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