The Sanctuary Roosevelt Island

What a unique and cute church. I had the privilege of photographing my friends Bram and Esther's wedding there on a wintry January afternoon. The church was transformed into a space that fit their wedding just perfectly. Even on a colder January saturday, we still had plenty of spaces to create some magic. I can't imagine just how beautiful this venue must be during the spring, summer and fall!

Was the DJ here a few weeks ago and I wanted to share how awesome of an experience I had at this event space! The entire staff are a dream team. Mack the security guard was super friendly and helpful as well as Tye who is a real team player went the extra mile to help. Katie who was managing the event was a superstar and a pleasure to work with. Bartenders made excellent drinks and were a pleasure to deal with. and of course, Frank who has incredible energy tied the knot with it all to make it an incredible night for everyone! Thank you all so much and keep up the superb work! Hope to work with you all again in the future! - DJ Baturo

The best. The absolute best. Frank, Alfonso and the entire staff are fantastic. The venue is gorgeous and spacious, the views of NYC are spectacular, the food and drinks are delicious and the whole team at The Sanctuary are eager to help you have the best time, whatever the occasion. Cannot connot cannot recommend this venue enough.

Dear Frank, Gene, and Alfonso, We wanted to take a moment to express our gratitude for a spectacular evening held on November 9th. Your venue was a perfect place for us to relax and mingle with elegance and comfort. We cannot stop talking about the food you served, the open bar accommodation and the staff who took care of us. The professionalism and courtesy provided made this a night to remember. Everyone had a wonderful time setting the stage for a great conference. We appreciate your hard work and dedication in making this such a memorable occasion. We hope that you found the event to be a valuable opportunity to showcase your products and services to a wider audience. Thank you again for your support. We look forward to working with you in the future. Kind regards, Dr. Kenneth Simpson and Team Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

My wedding reception here was the most beautiful event, and the team at The Sanctuary, through their beautiful setting, delicious catering and professionalism and insistence on making everything perfect on our special day. The views, the service, the beauty of the restored church cannot be beat. I honestly believe that God sent me this venue to work with because it was HEAVEN SENT! I loved everything about our wedding reception. Brides, look no further.

If you are looking for a place for your next event, look no further. Frank, Alfonso, Kat, and the rest of their team were absolutely exceptional in making sure our fall wedding was spectacular. The Sanctuary checks all the boxes that were important to us when planning our wedding. Being located in NYC was important to us as we had guests traveling from all around. It was important we had a central NYC location rather than a NJ/Catskills located weddings where you need to drive 2-3 from the city. More importantly, being located in the city means you will have access to the elite vendors that work in NYC. You will find many vendors will not travel outside of NYC. For the few that do, vendors will charge a significant traveling fee if you choose a location not in NYC. The venue has many things that we were looking for, dedicated parking, city views, huuuge outdoor space, a great indoor space, and a gigantic bridal suite. It even has 2 beautiful bars! You also get a lot of time when renting the space. Compared to other venues where you may only get 4-8 hours which includes set up, the actual event, and clean up + breakdown. I cannot stress enough how important the time factor is when planning your event. Speaking of the service. it was impeccable. We were super stressed on our wedding day, but Alfonso, Kat, and team made sure everything went smoothly. Honestly I could not say enough about their hospitality. Highly suggest that while this venue is up for grabs, you book now. You won't regret it and you'll make some great memories!

Save yourself the money and the heartbreak, and book someone else for your wedding. The entire experience felt scammy, as they offered us a discount and a bunch of extras when we booked to take a less than ideal date, and then tried to get out of providing good customer service after the final payment. Their communication became poor the closer we got to the wedding - at one point, our DJ had to reach out to the venue on our behalf, as they had stopped answering completely. Clearly the communication between the two owners, Frank and Alfonso, was not great either, as Alfonso took over and the promises Frank made to get us to book were no longer a given, especially when it came to money. We had to remind him and fight with him over things we were told would be part of our wedding when we booked, and some of them were not delivered (or ever able to be delivered, and should never have been promised to us by Frank). The pier advertised for an outdoor ceremony is not their property, but NYS, and therefore wasn’t available to us for our wedding because it was under construction. They never told us that - I had to reach out and ask when I began seeing a different ceremony spot on their instagram. Be aware: it doesn’t seem like the new ceremony spot is their property either. The arch had to be set up inside the venue, then the staff would move it to the new pier shortly before the wedding. They didn’t secure it when they moved it, and our arch broke prior to our ceremony. Frank and Alfonso promised one of them would be the included day of coordinator. Neither of them showed up for the wedding, nor did they have the decency to tell us they couldn’t make it. After I sent two emails following our wedding, we were told we did have a day of coordinator. It was the chef, who let us in the morning, and gave us our cake at the end of the night, and whom we never saw or spoke to otherwise. This was particularly frustrating, as I had asked at one point via an email [that they ignored] about speaking to the day of coordinator ahead of the wedding, and an included day of coordinator was a main reason we booked them. They also: left other wedding decor out during our wedding, packed up our decor for the lounge before the cocktail hour even started, didn’t make our signature cocktail [one of the upsells they included during our tour], and used someone’s fourieth birthday napkins during cocktail hour despite us bringing custom cocktail napkin. The firepit was another main reason we booked, as we wanted an outdoor wedding, and they told us it would be included free of charge, both during our tour by Frank and again reconfirmed by Alfonso during during our final walk through in October. Not only was it not included, THERE WAS NO FIREPIT ON PREMISE. The outdoor heaters weren’t lit by the staff, and when my dad tried to light them, they had no propane, so they weren’t even prepared for guests to utilize their advertised outdoor space. The food was horrendous, overcooked and cold, a total 180 from our incredible tasting back after we booked. The other cocktails were prebatched and gross. And the real kicker for the amount of money they charge: water was not included or served during dinner like it was during the tasting. You had to get up and serve yourself water out of a plastic jug and tiny little cup a la an office. The entire experience felt like a bait and switch, where they promised us the world to get us to book and then provided us as little as they could get away day of. I highly recommend you avoid this venue if you want to save yourself the stress and the tears for cheap plastic decor and poor service, and just spend the money elsewhere.