Wedding
Venues
A few favorites from the venues I photograph across New Jersey, Long Island, and New York.
A few of my
favorite venues.
A handful of favorites I’ve written full guides for — the rooms, the light, and where the timeline tends to run tight. These are nowhere near all the venues I’ve photographed across New Jersey, Long Island, New York, and beyond, so if yours isn’t listed, just ask — chances are I know it.
New Jersey
Park Château
A chapel, formal gardens, and a grand ballroom — three completely different looks without leaving the property.
Crystal Plaza
The ballroom, the atrium, and the gardens — plus the circular vault door, one of my favorite portrait frames anywhere.
The Rockleigh
Gardens, chapels, and grand ballrooms, with a garden fountain that makes for a striking veil portrait.
Estate at Florentine Gardens
Gardens, a gazebo, and a ballroom — and grounds that hold up beautifully after dark.
Crystal Point Yacht Club
Waterfront ceremonies, with open sky and water to work with for portraits.
Crystal Springs Resort
Four properties across the Sussex highlands — mountain vistas, quarry cliffs, and the biggest sunsets in New Jersey.
Skylands Manor
A Tudor Revival castle inside the New Jersey Botanical Garden, with a hundred acres of formal gardens around it.
Long Island
The Mansion at Glen Cove
The grand staircase, the gardens, and the grounds, on Long Island’s Gold Coast.
Watermill Caterers
Gardens, chapels, and ballrooms — a lot of ceremony and portrait options under one roof.
Stonebridge Country Club
A gazebo ceremony and the Grand Ballroom, with the golf course grounds for portraits.
Larkfield
Gardens, a gazebo, and ballrooms, close enough to the North Shore for a portrait detour.
Gatsby On The Ocean
Beachside weddings at Jones Beach — sand, sky, and the best sunset light of any venue on this list.
Water’s Edge
Harbor views, a gazebo garden, and a window-lined ballroom on the North Shore.
The Inn at New Hyde Park
Seven distinct rooms, private garden courtyards, and a koi pond bridge on the Nassau border.
Majestic Gardens
Six acres of English gardens and Mediterranean fountains on the North Shore — one wedding at a time.
New York
Staten Island
How to judge a venue
for photographs.
Six things I look at on any walkthrough — useful whether or not your venue is on this page.
Follow the light
Ask what time your ceremony starts and where the sun will be. A west-facing garden at 4pm in June is a very different photograph from the same garden at 6pm. Venues rarely think about this; it is the first thing I look at.
Count your backdrops
You want three or four genuinely different looks — not one pretty spot photographed from four angles. A staircase, a garden, a dark room, and an exterior will carry a whole gallery. One manicured lawn will not.
Walk the distances
How far is getting-ready from the ceremony? Ceremony from portraits? Portraits from the reception room? Every transition costs ten to fifteen minutes you will not get back, and those minutes come straight out of your portrait time.
Look hard at the getting-ready rooms
This is the most overlooked room in every venue tour. You want a window, room to move, and somewhere to put the bags. A windowless suite in the basement shapes the first two hours of your gallery.
Ask what the rain plan actually looks like
Every venue has one. Ask to see the room, not the floor plan — and ask whether there is anywhere covered outdoors. A tented terrace and a fluorescent-lit function room are both technically rain plans.
Ask how long you have after the ceremony
Especially for a church or an off-site ceremony. If the room turns over immediately, your family photos have nowhere to happen.
Once you’ve chosen, the next question is usually how much coverage the day needs. I broke that down in How Many Hours of Coverage Do I Need? and, for church ceremonies, in Why Book an Extra Hour After the Church.
Know your venue?
Let’s talk dates.
George photographs one wedding per day. Send your date and venue and he’ll confirm availability.
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