The Island Destination Wedding a MetroCard Swipe Away

Last weekend at the wedding of Paul Choi and Ashley Austin Morris at a small stone church on Roosevelt Island, there was the kind of vertigo in the air that you’d expect from a real island destination wedding. That’s because most of their guests, despite living in New York City for years, had never set foot on Roosevelt Island, Manhattan’s residential waterfront community in the East River.

“I took the cable car here once and then I went straight back,” says David Wodka, a stable boy. “I never thought there was anything remarkable on Roosevelt Island. But now that I’m here I understand why they chose this location. It’s beautiful, and you can see people jet skiing on the water.”

The ceremony took place in the sanctuarya wedding and events location who took over this old church on the north side of the island over two years ago and saved it from destruction. With a leafy outdoor dining area that offers perpendicular views of the Manhattan skyline and an Instagrammable concrete pier jutting into the East River, the Sanctuary has since become an unlikely wedding hotspot. The pitch is that it’s a destination wedding within the city limits, accessible via a scenic streetcar ride from Midtown for the cost of a MetroCard swipe.

After exchanging vows that sunny afternoon, the couple danced out of the church to the tune of Aretha Franklin’s “How I Got Over” as their friends followed behind. As they posed for photos on the gravel driveway, a seagull dove into the brackish water behind them to devour a fish, and the distant drone of the FDR Drive buzzed through the air. A shipping vessel passed while a server served hors d’oeuvres to guests.

Well, maybe it wasn’t Barbados, but it still hit the mark.

“My friends were so excited to take the tram here,” said the bride, Mrs. Morris, an actor and stand-up comedian who lives in the Upper East Side. “For so many New Yorkers, getting away is not an option, but this place feels like a sanctuary. And tonight we can all go home again.’

In the 19th century it was called Blackwell’s Island and was used by the city as a warehouse for asylums, hospitals and a penitentiary. It also housed the New York City Lunatic Asylum, which houses the journalist Nellie Bly infiltrated to expose his inhumane living conditions. In the 1970s, Roosevelt Island was developed from the ruins of those sites into a middle-class residential community, and the early residents of the Mitchell-Lama condos had a pioneering spirit. They planted a community garden, hung hammocks from trees, fished for striped bass in the river, and rode bicycles along the still low-traffic Main Street.

The Church of the Sanctuary was built in the 1920s to serve the Metropolitan Hospital, and after the hospital moved in the 1950s, a chaplain lived in the rectory for many years. Then came the Dayspring Gospel Church, that was turned off in 2019, and then arrived Frank Raffaelea Queens-born businessman and former employee of the city’s Parks Department who saw potential in space, despite it being overrun with cats and raccoons.

With a partner, Alfonso Biondi, initially Mr. Raffaele opened the Sanctuary as a beer garden and speakeasy, but it never got off the ground. However, after organizing a wedding party for a young local couple, he rethought the concept of his venue. The sanctuary is now booked almost daily, Mr. Raffaele said, and he has inquiries through 2026.

“Somehow we’ve become this hot spot for weddings, and it’s because of the mystique of the island,” he said. “Roosevelt Island is having a moment lately, so we are taking advantage of that. People check in at the Graduate Hotel and spend three days on the island as if it were Jamaica or Cancun, with our wedding as the main event.”

Mr. Raffaele referred to the recent wave of trendy revitalization of Roosevelt Island. To graduate, a boutique hotel with a rooftop lounge, the Panorama Room, serving caviar nachos, arrived two years ago. A yoga and barre studio, Island Om, also popped up. That’s why the shiny campus of Cornell Tech opened its doors.

But Mr. Raffaele said the Shrine’s popularity was also due to its affordability. While a 100-person wedding in Manhattan costs about $50,000, including food, drinks, and venue, the Sanctuary can cost half that. He described his clients as “creatives and insiders” who appreciate a lot, such as actors, dancers, musicians, journalists and Broadway professionals.

“The creatives always come first,” he said. “We are not yet attracting bankers and people from society because we are not yet on their radar. They want Cipriani and Tavern on the Green. Sure, it’s great to have the cachet of those places, but they don’t have my opinion. Maybe one day we can be like a Cipriani.

The shrine has been largely welcomed by locals, but its arrival initially raised the concerns that can arise when change comes to a small waterfront community. There were concerns about noise pollution and the fate of a cat shelter adjoining the church.

“There was some mistrust because we are outsiders,” said Raffaele. “This is a place where it gets busy with vintage cars because the cherry blossom festival is getting too popular. So I’ve always had to be respectful, and it took me a while to pierce the veil. There was even a blog that didn’t like us.”

A after from that blogging, The Roosevelt Island Daily News, had grumbled, “Popular picnic tables and outdoor grills are just feet away from where weekend parties are likely to leave tipsy visitors wandering along the West Promenade. Blaring music overtaking your family gathering? Who is in favor of public urinating over the sea wall?”

But two years later, the location seems to have won over skeptics, and Mr. Raffaele made sure to help move that neighborhood cat shelter safely. “Some of those people are now our biggest supporters,” he said. “We host events here for the senior center and always make sure we give them a good price.”

Judith Berdy, the president of the Roosevelt Island Historical Society, has lived nearby for a long time. In an interview at the association’s visitor center kioskwho sells red tram toys and copies of Bly’s “Ten Days in a Mad-House,” she agreed that the Sanctuary had settled nearby.

“I lived in Manhattan once, and unless you died and started stinking, no one would notice you were dead,” Ms. Berdy said. “Here, it’s not like that. We know our neighbours. It’s like a small town. So yes, some of us have been here for a while and sometimes we have comments. But they have respected the history of the church and they are pleasant with neighborhood groups.”

After the couple hooked up at the Sanctuary last weekend and the wedding party got livelier, golden hour arrived on the island. In a park across from the church, locals began setting up lawn chairs, cracking beer, and lighting barbecue grills. As Mr. Raffaele led the guests to the dining tables, a sunwrinkled man in shorts approached him.

“Can you please get me some olive oil?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” said Mr. Raffaele.

“I caught a fish and I’m cooking it.”

Mr. Raffaele fetched him a cup of olive oil from the kitchen. While the bride and groom prepared to dance the night away, the man went to grill his fish.