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New York weddings can involve a year of planning, a five-figure venue deposit and a seating chart that can end friendships. Or you could get married by a clown on Allen Street.
Sure Thing, a Las Vegas wedding chapel business, has opened its first New York location at 122 Allen Street on the Lower East Side. The 400-square-foot storefront began hosting weddings in late August, bringing quick ceremonies to Lower Manhattan.
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Among the officiants is Tillie, a vintage-clad, genderless clown. Hellvis, a goth-edged comedic Elvis character, also officiates. Filmmaker John Waters even presided over one lucky couple’s ceremony there this month, according to Curbed. (That particular guest appearance is a hard-to-top wedding anecdote.)
As for the surroundings, a flamingo-pink façade gives way to a pink-and-red floor, cloud wallpaper and red velvet curtains. Overhead, a mirrored mobile of amorous pigeons scatters light around the room. A neon-pink Wurlitzer organ sits beneath a backlit stained-glass panel featuring (you guessed it) more pigeons.
Co-founders Victoria Hogan and Amy Lee opened their first Vegas chapel in 2019, followed by a second in 2024. Their New York outpost is the smallest of the three, with design references ranging from David Lynch to Studio 54. “I want everything to feel gaudy and over-the-top,” Hogan told Curbed. “Anything not millennial gray.”
That aesthetic comes with a relatively compact commitment: $666 buys a 30-minute booking for the couple and up to 18 guests. Couples can pay double for an hour, with room for a few more attendees and the option to book an organist. There’s a photographic bonus, too: a back door connects the chapel to Autophoto, the neighboring gallery of working vintage photo booths, where newlyweds get to skip the line.
For couples who want a small wedding with a substantial personality, the appeal is fairly obvious. Plus, you can always have the big reception later. For now, there’s a pink chapel on the Lower East Side—and the pigeons are dressed for the occasion.