The Andy Lee wedding took place on the rooftop of Nine Orchard, a hotel on Manhattan's Lower East Side, on 13 October 2026, where he and Bec Harding married in front of about 80 family and friends. The weekend ran from welcome drinks at The Carlyle to a reception in Chinatown and breakfast the next morning at Old Mates, the pub Lee co-owns, as Mamamia and The Nightly report.
Their weekend is also a working model for a small New York wedding from abroad, down to the licence and the late bar. Wedded Concierge looks after the guest travel, accommodation and vendor management behind one, from wherever you are.
Lee and Harding said their vows on the rooftop of Nine Orchard (Mamamia), reportedly between 5pm and 7pm (The Nightly). Earlier, Harding was photographed leaving The Bowery Hotel in her gown, with stylist Elliott Garnaut beside her (The Nightly).
Hamish Blake was best man, with Lee's brother Cam Lee and Michael Horgan as groomsmen (Marie Claire). Guests included Zoë Foster Blake, Lauren Phillips and Paul O'Brien, Nikki Glaser and Hugh Jackman. No planner has been named, and the couple haven't said how they kept the day private.
Welcome drinks were the night before at Bemelmans Bar, inside The Carlyle, and guests found Yankees caps embroidered with the wedding date waiting in their rooms.
The reception was at Chinese Tuxedo in Chinatown. The morning after, guests gathered at Old Mates, the three-floor Australian pub at 170 John Street that Lee co-owns with Hamish Blake (Tribeca Citizen).
Harding married in strapless white satin with a corset-style bodice, a bow at the waist and a long train, reportedly by Australian designer Steven Khalil. She changed into a second Steven Khalil dress for the reception, per Mamamia, and the next morning wore a mini dress and red ballet flats outside Old Mates (New Idea). Lee wore a custom P Johnson suit. On a weekend this long, fit the morning-after look at the same appointments as the gown.
The couple's joint Instagram post reads "JUST MARRIED - 13.10.26", and 13 October was a Tuesday. At 5pm in Manhattan it was already 8am on Wednesday in Sydney, a likely reason Marie Claire says Wednesday while The Nightly's first report says Tuesday. The afterparty is the other open point: Mamamia places it at Opera House, the cocktail bar beneath Chinese Tuxedo, while The Nightly reports it was believed to be Apotheke in Chinatown, running until 2:30am.
The only reason reported for Lee and Harding is the hotel itself: they had stayed at Nine Orchard on earlier trips and fallen for it (Mamamia).
For anyone marrying from overseas, the legal side is short. New York accepts a passport from any country as ID, states no residency rule for an in-person licence, asks for a 24 hour wait and lets you marry anywhere in the state within the licence's 60 days (NYC311). If your families live on two continents, New York asks both sides to fly, so neither plays host to the other.
To compare New York with other cities and regions, browse destination wedding locations or the destination wedding location guide. For another recent US celebrity wedding, see Ben Barnes and Aubrey Cleland's Oregon wedding.
At City Hall, the City Clerk marries you for US$25, by appointment through Project Cupid, and hands you the certificate at the end. The Clerk currently allows one witness and no other guests (City Clerk), so the dinner afterwards is where everyone else gathers.
At the hotel, the ceremony is legal on its own. Your officiant must be eligible under New York State law, which covers clergy of any religion, judges and certain officials (City Clerk FAQ), and registered with the City Clerk before the day. A friend can marry you instead with a One-Day Marriage Officiant Licence: US$25, open to anyone 18 or over with no residency rule, though they can only apply once you hold your marriage licence. The certificate then comes by post about 20 days after the Clerk processes the signed licence.
If you marry legally at home first, New York needs no paperwork at all, and the weekend becomes a private dinner.
Nine Orchard lists Wedding as an event type on its own enquiry page, but a listing isn't a yes, so ask whether it takes a wedding at your size and date. It has 113 guest rooms and three event rooms:
The Greenhouse: The indoor and outdoor rooftop, fully climate controlled, with 2,590 square feet, 225 for cocktails or 70 for a seated dinner.
West Room: 1,530 square feet with arched windows, 125 for cocktails or 50 seated.
Blue Room: 600 square feet under a botanical mural by Happy Menocal, seating 40 for dinner, which makes it the room for a wedding of 30 to 40.
At 80, the roof holds everyone standing for the vows but seats only 70, so dinner moves elsewhere, as it did here, or the list shrinks.
Because the Greenhouse is climate controlled, a cold or wet October evening can stay on the roof rather than move downstairs. For an open roof, ask about September and early October first, since July and August run hot. Nine Orchard publishes no lead times or weekday rates, so ask in writing how far ahead autumn dates book and what a Sunday to Thursday date does to the minimum.
Nine Orchard doesn't publish buyout terms, and a whole-hotel buyout would take in every guest room, far more than 80 guests fill. If full privacy decides it, ask first whether the hotel will close to the public for a wedding. Otherwise a private room is the route, quoted with a food and drink minimum: the spend you guarantee whether or not guests use it.
Email events@nineorchard.com and ask for every answer as a figure or a time:
The minimum: For a buyout, a floor and a private room, on a weekend and on a weeknight.
What goes on top: Service charge, tax, gratuity, staffing and security, each as its own line.
Outside suppliers: Whether an outside caterer, a halal or kosher caterer or your own bar team can come in, and the fee.
The rooftop cut-off: Last call and the music cut-off.
The weather call: The rain plan, who makes the call and by what time.
Privacy: Whether the space closes to other guests. A workable arrangement is a named door list held by one person, a private route in and a contract clause barring staff and suppliers from posting.
Guest room holds: The hotel's own rooms are the natural base, so ask how many it will hold, at what rate, whether parents can share a floor and when unclaimed rooms go back on sale. For overflow, The Bowery Hotel, where Harding was photographed before the ceremony, is at 335 The Bowery.
For scale before you enquire, The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study puts the average New York City wedding at US$88,000 for ceremony and reception, against US$34,200 nationally. It spans every size and style, so read it for scale only. Before the first deposit, read wedding insurance for an overseas wedding.
Book the licence through Project Cupid, in person or by video, as the City Clerk takes no walk-ins. You both attend with valid ID (any country's passport is accepted, an expired one is not), pay US$35 by card or money order, then wait 24 hours (NYC311). Fees change, so confirm when you book. A judge can waive the wait, at no fee.
Video appointments are only for couples physically in New York State and in the same place, per the City Clerk FAQ, so you can't take one from home before you fly. Book a weekday at least two days before the ceremony, and if a friend is officiating, have them apply for theirs after you hold yours. The officiant has 5 business days to return the signed licence, so agree who follows it up.
For use outside the US, order the extended certificate, US$35 for the first copy. The County Clerk then authenticates the signature for US$3, and the New York Department of State adds the apostille for US$10 (City Clerk). If Nevada is also on your list, getting married in Vegas follows a different process.
A Saturday wedding with guests on long-haul flights could run like this:
Wednesday, the wedding party and parents land, with nothing planned.
Thursday, collect your marriage licence, then a quiet dinner.
Friday, welcome drinks, as Lee and Harding held at Bemelmans.
Saturday, the ceremony, dinner and the late bar.
Sunday, a late breakfast before guests scatter.
For a Tuesday wedding like Lee's, collect the licence on the Thursday or Friday before, since Monday falls inside the two-day gap. After a wedding at home, a dinner for 40 needs only two nights: land and rest, then dine on the second evening. Lee's weekend ran from The Carlyle on East 76th Street down to Orchard Street and Chinatown, so moving 80 people takes cars in waves and one named person at each handover.
Lee and Harding's late party left the roof for a Chinatown bar. Ask your hotel for the roof's cut-off, then book a bar with a reserved space and a fixed close-out time. Tuxedo Hospitality, which runs Chinese Tuxedo and Opera House, hosts events from dinners for 10 to parties of 300 and lists weddings among them.
These are the parts that change with your passport and your family.
Australian passports travel on the Visa Waiver Program with an approved ESTA, which covers stays of 90 days or less and usually lasts two years (CBP). An ESTA lets you board but doesn't guarantee entry: Smartraveller notes officers may ask the purpose of your visit and where you'll stay, and may inspect phones. Bring home the extended certificate with its apostille, and ask your state's births, deaths and marriages registry how it treats a New York certificate, including any name change, before you fly.
A 5pm October ceremony in New York is 8am the next day in Sydney, so a breakfast livestream reaches family at home, and a lunch in Sydney a few weeks later lets the people who couldn't fly toast you in person. Steven Khalil appears on our list of Australian custom designers; ask any designer for the final fitting date and how the gown travels. P Johnson fits suits in Sydney and Melbourne and has a showroom at 138 Spring Street in SoHo.
If you marry in the UAE first, New York is a dinner and needs no licence, so two nights and the Blue Room cover close family. If you marry in New York, the UAE isn't a party to the Apostille Convention, so an apostille alone won't clear the certificate. Confirm with the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs how it must be attested before you fly.
Brief the hotel in writing on halal sourcing, an alcohol-free table, a private room for changing, a quiet room for prayer near the dining room and timings around Friday prayers. The UAE isn't on the Visa Waiver Program list, so guests on Emirati passports, or any other passport not listed, need a US visa. New York is eight hours behind Dubai until 1 November and nine after, so a 7pm dinner in Manhattan is 3am at home. The dirham is pegged to the US dollar at 3.6725, so a dollar quote keeps its dirham value from signing to the final payment.
British citizens travel on the Visa Waiver Program with an ESTA. New York is five hours behind London, four in the week after British clocks change in late October. For City Hall and a dinner of 30 to 50, set the first drinks for the hour after your appointment, so the guests who can't come inside have somewhere to be. Paris or the Cotswolds keep London's travel short, but for a list split between London and Australia or the US, New York asks both sides to fly.
A marriage that was legal where it took place is recognised in the UK, and Kensington and Chelsea's register office advises buying several copies of the foreign certificate, because replacements can be hard to get later. Order them as extended certificates with apostilles before you fly home. Quotes arrive in US dollars, so set your pound budget from written quotes and the rate on the day each payment falls due.
A New York marriage needs no recognition step at home, which leaves three checks for the local half of the couple:
If your own clergy or a friend is officiating, confirm their registration with the Clerk's own verification form.
If your partner is Australian or British, order the extended certificate with its apostille for them to take home; the Australia and UK notes above cover what happens next.
Family on Australian or British passports need an approved ESTA before they board; the Australia note sets out what to expect at entry.
Wedded Concierge for destination weddings covers the parts of this plan that cross borders: guest travel and accommodation for the long-haul side, currency and international payments when a US deposit falls due, and honeymoon planning.
A hotel's events team runs its own rooms, and Lee's weekend used four venues across Manhattan. For a couple marrying at home in New York, the Local Wedding and Celebration Concierge handles venue sourcing from a vetted network, vendor curation and negotiation, the timeline, budget and logistics, and event-week support.
Written by
Content and Creative Manager
Joseph Joshua is the SEO & Content Manager at Wedded Wonderland, bringing an editorial and search strategy perspective to the publication’s coverage of luxury weddings, destination celebrations and bridal lifestyle. His approach to content centres on helping readers move from inspiration to informed decisions, with attention to the design, craftsmanship and personal details that give a celebration its character.
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