Inside Sure Thing Chapel NYC: Red Velvet, a 1992 Bob Mackie, and Swans on the Cake

Sure Thing Chapel opened its Lower East Side location on September 3rd. Five days later, photographer Sylvie Rosokoff had Maithri and Taylor standing in front of its pink marquee heart, with a 1992 Bob Mackie between them and all that red velvet.

Sure Thing is the Las Vegas chapel built on what its own site calls “new Vegas kitsch”, inspired by the drive-through wedding chapels of the Strip and rebuilt in fringe and velvet – and New York City is its second location. “I’ve always loved the retro/kitschy vibe they have and all the gorgeous color and decor they bring to their chapels,” Sylvie says, so when she heard it was coming to her city, “I knew I had to shoot at the new location as soon as possible.” She pulled together a real couple and a team of downtown vendors, with styling by Eva Lopez, owner of Cha Cha Linda Vintage to share what is possible with couples looking for something a bit different.

Sure Thing Chapel NYC books legal ceremonies, vow renewals, and photo sessions, so a couple who wants to elope in the city with actual color around them now has the perfect spot.

We love that the team kept everything within a few blocks…getting ready happened in a suite at Nine Orchard, a nine-minute walk from the chapel, and nearly every vendor on the list is based in the neighborhood.

Getting Ready at Nine Orchard

The dress is a 1992 Bob Mackie from Cha Cha Linda Vintage: a lace bodice with floral appliqué, short puff sleeves, and a skirt of layered Swiss dot tulle that stops above the knee. “We wanted this look to be a sophisticated but light-hearted take on vintage,” says Eva of Cha Cha Linda, “with chic modern jewelry and feathered heels to balance out the playfulness of the dress.” Mackie died this month at 87, less than a week after this shoot. He spent a career proving that feathers, beads, and camp could be couture, which is more or less the idea Sure Thing built a chapel on.

Taylor wore a dark suit, with a forest green tie that picks up the olive of the suite’s curtains, plus a Vivi Fleurz boutonniere built the same way as the bouquet, with mini flowers hanging from pink ribbon.

Swans, Feathers, and a Nod to Degas

The modern jewelry is Susan Alexandra, whose flagship is in the same neighborhood: chandelier earrings in pastel faceted stones with a pink heart at the top, and layered pink bead necklaces tied in bows, one hung with a white enamel dove, one with two swans facing each other. Those earrings are the palette of the whole shoot in miniature, which is how the nails ended up matched to them.

Hair stylist Gabrielle Kim gave Maithri a sleek low bun as a nod to Degas’s ballerinas, then let a spray of white feathers loose at the back of it. The feathers are the first appearance of a motif Sylvie threaded through the day. Nine Orchard has a Swan Room, and there are swan benches outside the hotel, and so the shoot got swans. 🦢 Feathers in the hair. Jeffrey Campbell’s white feathered kitten heels, which fan up past the ankle like a pair of wings. The swan necklace. And, later, swans on the cake.

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A Petite Bouquet and Bob Mackie Nails

Vivi Fleurz scaled the bouquet to the dress. It is petite, pink and powder blue and butter yellow, and the reference is retro wedding flowers, the kind that often came with a cascade, so mini blooms hang from pale pink ribbon streamers instead of trailing greenery. With a knee-length skirt, trailing greenery would have hidden the hemline. The streamers nod to the cascade and let the dress show.

The nails are where the Bob Mackie homage gets literal. “Jewels were central to this design with tones hand-selected to match Susan Alexandra’s chandelier earrings,” says nail artist Frisky Mariska, whose studio is also nearby. The base is the Chromatic press-on set from Hotline Tips, “upgraded with chunky jewels and pearls laid with chrome and sequins.”

If the chrome is what caught your eye, we rounded up 44 chrome nail designs, from a soft glaze to a full mirror finish.

Makeup artist Olivia Garvin kept the face fresh so the jewels could be loud. “We landed on a look with fresh skin, rosy cheeks and a nice pop of pink on the lips,” she says. “I love the combination of red and pink, and Sure Thing delivers on the red in the best way possible.”

Swans on the Steps

Inside Sure Thing Chapel NYC

Sylvie describes the chapel as “a brightly colored, impeccably designed oasis in the busy Lower East Side,” and the practical thing to know about it is that the room is finished. Red velvet floor to ceiling, pink fringe swagged overhead, a sky mural down one wall, a heart marquee where the couple stands. There is no arch to rent, no drape to install, and nothing for a florist to stretch across a bare wall. For an elopement or a micro wedding, the money you were going to spend on the room goes back into the dress and the photographer.

The marquee heart is the ceremony spot, and its bulbs run red, green, white, blue, orange, and pink, which is the bouquet’s palette turned up to Vegas volume.

The rings are both Bario Neal. Maithri’s is a cluster ring of sky blue sapphire, salt and pepper diamond, and blue green sapphire, the same cool pastels as the earrings set in stone rather than crystal. Taylor’s is the organic “arc” band in Bario Neal’s signature shape.

The chapel is also attached to Autophoto, a photo booth museum, so couples can pick from multiple booths on the way out. Love that!

The Wurlitzer and the Pigeons

Along the side wall, a vintage Wurlitzer electric piano in pink sits under a backlit stained glass panel of two pigeons in roses, hearts, and pink clouds, and there is a custom pigeon disco ball overhead.

Past the ceremony room, it keeps going: burgundy damask wallpaper, emerald green tile, a pink doorframe, and a mirrored hallway strung with red hearts. For a photographer, there is no dead corner in the building.

A Swan Cake from Tipsy & Baked

Tipsy & Baked built the cake in two tiers with a different idea in each. The base is a cube, pale yellow, hand-painted with red hearts and arrows on one face and pink bows with initials on the next; the top is a sculptural pink heart with two painted swans and a glacé cherry. The bakery describes it as “playful, romantic, and kitschy,” with “delicate hand-piped motifs and shimmering buttercream.”

Swans at the hotel, pigeons at the chapel, and a 1992 Bob Mackie walking the few blocks in between. Sure Thing Chapel NYC is open now, so if Vegas was the plan mostly for the velvet, the Lower East Side just saved you a flight. Thank you to the creative team for sharing this inspiring shoot with us today!