Daily News from New York, New York • 149

it ir. the reception. A typical fee is S1.000 for the four-ear train. For details, contact Dennis Wendling at the Transit Authority (212-330-3148). Jones Beach.

Is it possible to get married at Jones Beach? "Anything is possible at Jones Beach." replies a weary beach spokeswoman. The five-mile stretch cf shoreline is open from dawn to dusk, and you can feed your guests at the beach's Boardwalk Restaurant. The only cost is the $l-per-car admission fee and a $1 toll. You need a permit, however, which you get by contacting Frank Kellar, operations chief, Jones Beach State Park, Wantagh, N.Y. 11793 (516-785-1600).

Madison Square Garden. Not for paupers but it can be done. The tab for an event at the Felt Forum is $7,500. For the main arena? Don't ask. If you must, contact Al Green, the Garden's booking manager (212-563-8000).

Brooklyn Heights Esplanade. Weddings can be held without charge in any of the city's public parks, but the esplanade, with the Manhattan skyline in the background, is a particularly smashing location. Pick an off-peak time, be willing to forfeit a little privacy, and, in the words of a Parks Department spokesman. "Don't kick up a rumpus." You don't need formal By CONSTANCE ROSENBLUM WEDDING in the subway? Some people 0 wouldn't even ride the thing, let alone get married aboard it. What if you got mugged during the "I Besides, it probably isn't even allowed.

Well, as it turns out. you can get married in the subway, in specially scrubbed, mugger-free cars provided by the New York City Transit Authority. And the subway isn't the city's only off-beat place to tie the knot. New York is bursting with unusual sites for holding the ceremony and entertaining your friends afterwards. They range from the sublimely free, like Jones Beach, to the ridiculously expensive, like Madison Square Garden.

But they all have one thing in common: they'll get your marriage off to a rousing start. The subway. Take the A train or any other train, and recite your vows as you rattle along the tracks. Your options: a single car attached to an existing train, or your own four-car special, which will ride the rails during the ceremony, then pull over at the Transit Authority's Downtown Brooklyn exhibit area for 3 permission, but call the department's Brooklvn Borough Office first (212 965-6511) to make sure rio other events conflict. Fulton Ferry Cafe.

For years. Brooklyn residents have been salivating in anticipation of the opening of a restaurant-cafe aboard a barge anchored at Fulton Ferry, just under the Brooklyn Bridge. The cafe is scheduled to open this month, and people are already calling to arrange weddings. There'll be chairs from Paris, pastry from Dumas, and an outdoor cafe complete with trees and umbrellas. For details, call the cafe at 212-522-5200.

Empire State Building. Just last week, a young lady from Allentown. held a marriage ceremony on the building's observation deck. She was a Big Apple fan, she explained in her request, and she wanted to prove it by getting married 86 stories above Fifth Ave. If you're planning a tiny ceremony, you might get permission, too.

especially if your wedding will precede the summer mob scene" There's no charge for the ceremony, and you could hold a reception at one of the building's many restaurants. For details, contact William Suchanek, observatory director, at 212-736-3100. Minskoff Theatre. If the thought of marching down the aisle doesn't turn y3u on. consider riding down an escalator.

You can. if you get married at the Minskoff Theatre. Broadway and 45th which rents its enormous glassed-in lobby, complete with escalators, for private functions. No weddings during plays. The fee for renting the space for an event is $1,000.

Extras are extra. For details, contact theater manager Donald Antonelli at 212-869-0550. Richmondtown Restoration. What could be more romantic: a ceremony set against a historic village, complete with 17th century buildings and its own mill pond? Small weddings are preferred: a fee is involved, and requests are evaluated individually, but it's worth checking. Contact Raymond Fingado, Staten Island Historical Society, Richmondtown.

Staten Island (212-351-1611). Your Own Block. Why not get married during your block association's next street fair? It can be done, says the city's Office of Service Coordination, 51 Chambers St. (212-566-6034). the place to go for the street closing permit you need.

Circle Line. For fees staring at a mere SI. 275. you can charter one of eight Circle Liners (capacity 450 to 575) and mark your wedding with a cruise from the Statue of Liberty to the George Washington Bridge. Boats are available evenings only, and this summer's weekends are already booked.

But weekday nights are still available, and there are no annoying tourist spiels. (No food, either, unless you arrange for it separately and pay a clean-up fee. i For details, contact Rosalie at the Circle Line office. Pier 83, W. 43rd St.

New York (Bronx) Botanical Garden. A wedding on Daffodil Hill? It's yours, for just SI a guest (minimum cost S25). You can also hold a ceremony in the fir tree grove or the flowery front mall. A reception could be held at the nearby Snuff Mill Restaurant. For the permit vou need, call the garden at 212-220-8762 (Though weddings aren't permitted at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, for S28 you can have your wedding photographs taken there.

For an appointment, call 212-622-4433.) Feathers in the Park. If the 1964 World's Fair was your idea of a good time, consider a wedding at Feathers in the Park, a restaurant atop the Flushing Meadow Park heliport left over from that event. Feathers offers a landscaped terrace, an indoor penthouse seating 1.200. Continental cuisine, and a 500-person chapel. For details, contact the banquet manager at 212-592-5000.

Cabaret. The luxury yacht Cabaret, closest U.S. equivalent to the French Bateau Mouche. usually bobs at anchor off the Morton St. pier.

But you can take her for a nuptial cruise for S2.000. The boat operates vear-round. holds 250 passengers, and offers gourmet c-ookins. For details, call World Yacht Enterprises at 212-246-4811. Staten Island Ferry.

If you're really flush, plunk down at least $1.300 -and rent a Staten Island Ferry. There are tons of regulations, plus hefty insurance fees, but you and up to 1.499 friends get a full crew and a leisurely trip to the George Washington Bridge and back. Catering is extra, and rush hours, predictably, are out. For details, call Liz Cerasoli at the city's Marine and Aviation Department (212-566-6615). South Street Seaport.

Picture a sunrise ceremony on the tip of an East River pier, with the slap of waves for music and the Brooklyn Bridge for a backdrop. That's what you get when you get married at the Seaport. You can't bring a piano, but you could import a string quartet. For less than 100 people, there's no charge; for more, fees start at $50. The restaurant ship Robert Fulton is closed for repairs, but you can snack at the Seaport's fish bar or head for a nearby seafood restaurant.

For details, call David Bath at the Seaport (212-766-9020). P.S. Can you get married at The Cloisters? We asked. You can't. We wish you could.

krTljtfiVi''ttii 1 iWmfU'ini" Mm nil mm i iiimmiiii i iiiimi na nm iWiiiiMri News photo by Jim Garrett.