Category

Wedding Venues

Category

In order to make a wedding special, you have to choose a few details along the way.  

What is the big deal about a venue anyway?  Here’s a look as some very important aspects of choosing your wedding venue in order to make the day go by seamlessly.

Weddings at Hotel Morgan

Does the venue fit the theme of your wedding?

Everyone nowadays wants to make their wedding personalized.  Will the venue you are considering allow you to decorate it, or add your own unique mark to it?

Stonewall Resort Weddings

Will the venue accommodate all the guests you are planning to attend?  Make sure there will be plenty of space for all your guests!

Weddings at Waterfront Place Wedding Venue

Will the wedding venue accommodate the reception?  Will there be room enough for dancing, and space enough for your guests to be entertained.

Is your venue all inclusive or can you choose your own caterer?  

Weddings at Benton Grove Bed and Banquet
Weddings at High Gate Carriage House

You may have a special caterer who is known for outstanding smoked meat.  Can you personalize your wedding by being able to choose your vendors?

Will you venue allow you to bring a photographer of your choosing?

Weddings at Oglebay Park Wedding Venue

There are some venues who will not allow you to bring your own photographer.  Many times the photographers the venues offer are family members providing substandard photography.  This is a once in a life time day.  By the end, all you will have left is your wonderful relationship and your portraits.  Portraits are treasured works of art to be viewed for a lifetime.   Make sure you can have the freedom to hire who you want for your wedding.

Does the venue have beautiful landscaping to capture outdoor photos?

Weddings at Snowshoe Resort Wedding Venue

If you have hired a professional photographer, but the venue you are getting married in is a metal pole building with parking lot all around it, the photos you will be able to take is limited unless you are able to drive somewhere.  If you are getting married in a venue such as this, take a day before and drive around.  Look for beautiful grass, mountains, lakes or flowers.  Speak with your photographer beforehand.  He may have photographed another wedding there and can give you ideas where you might be able to drive after the wedding to take portraits outside.

Recently we photographed a wedding in a metal pole building surrounded by cars and a parking lot. There was little to no beautiful landscaping. The bride was not interested in driving to another location in order to capture scenic portraits of her and her new husband. After her wedding, she regretted not having those scenic portraits that we are known for capturing. We offered to go on location elsewhere on another day. This may be something to consider during wedding planning if your venue is not beautiful or photographable on the outside.

Does the venue have back up options if you have bad weather?

Weddings at Alpine Lake Resort Wedding Venue

Everyone loves an outdoor wedding.  But with the outdoors, have a backup plan in case it rains.  Make sure your venue has space where the ceremony and reception can be indoors in case of rain.

Does the venue have adequate parking?

Weddings at Nemacolin Wedding Venue

Your guests will arrive in a multitude of cars.  Make sure they will have a place to park.  

Does the venue offer rooms for your guests or are there rooms nearby where your guests can stay?

Will your venue allow you time to decorate or are there hidden charges for that?

Weddings at Lambert’s Winery
Weddings at The Historic Summit Inn

Ask your venue what are all the charges?  

Many venues will charge extra for you to come the night before in order to decorate.  They will charge you an extra day.

Weddings at The Barn At York Hill

Does the venue have adequate bathroom facilities and are the bathrooms accessible to the handicap?

There are some venues that require you to purchase your own portable bathrooms.  Make sure you have a place for your guests and your handicap guests.  Some venues have bathrooms with stairs making it impossible for the handicap or elderly to climb. Many barn venues that have grown in popularity recently, have no accommodations for bathrooms. Either that, or the bathrooms are not handicapped accessible.

Weddings at Glade Springs

Below is a list of wedding venues with which we have enjoyed working with to create the most seamless weddings and happy brides.

Stonewall Resort

Alpine Lake Resort

Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place

Wisp Resort

Snowshoe Mountain Resort

Lambert’s Winery

Oglebay Resort

Lakeview Golf Resort

Clarion Hotel Morgan

Harrison County Parks and Recreation Center

Falcon Center at Fairmont State University

Benton Grove Bed and Banquet

Crystalline Events Venue

Canaan Valley Resort

Bridgeport Conference Center at Charles Pointe

Adventures On The Gorge

The Historic Summit Inn

Edgewood Country Club

Bell Meadows Golf Club

4 T Arena

MeadowView Weddings & Events

Glade Springs

Oak Lodge

The Barn At York Hill

High Gate Carriage House

About Tim Ray Photography

Tim Ray has been in the wedding photography business for 28 years.  His studio is located n Fairmont, West Virginia.  He has photographed over 1000 weddings in West Virginia and the surrounding states not missing a single one for any reason.  He has photographed for various publications, websites, and groups.  He would love to show you his studio in Fairmont, WV and walk you through his albums, canvases and other print photography products.  He can also provide more information on our Why Hire Tim Ray Photography page.

Contact us for more information!

Why Hire Tim Ray Photography to Photograph My Event?

CLICK HERE TO SAVE $500 OFF ANY WEDDING COLLECTION!


Wedding Venues We Love!

The Barn at York Hill is a privately owned wedding venue located outside of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, is a historic property pre-dating the Revolutionary War, and listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.  

Beautiful Landscaping.

Surrounding The Barn at York Hill is picturesque lush apple orchards and a vineyard.  

Convenient Location.

The Barn At York Hill is conveniently located less than 90 minutes from Washington D.C. and Baltimore, Maryland.

About Tim Ray Photography

Tim Ray has been in the wedding photography business for 28 years.  His studio is located n Fairmont, West Virginia.  He has photographed over 1000 weddings in West Virginia and the surrounding states not missing a single one for any reason.  He has photographed for various publications, websites, and groups.  He would love to show you his studio in Fairmont, WV and walk you through his albums, canvases and other print photography products.  He can also provide more information on our Why Hire Tim Ray Photography page.

Contact us for more information!

Wedding Venues We Love!

Oak Lodge is a Laurel Highlands, Pennsylvania wedding venue bed and breakfast.  It is located in Stahlstown, Pennsylvania. On the estate deep in the beauty of the laurel highlands far from any distractions and feeling of seclusion and peacefulness, is a main lodge, beautifully kept grounds, a rustic log church for wedding ceremonies, a main lodge, tavern and courtyard for spacious wedding ceremonies, a beautiful outdoor dance floor for outdoor dancing, intimate yet large enough for a large wedding.

Oak Lodge Wedding first touch
ROak Lodge Wedding

Rustic Destination Wedding

On the estate of Oak Lodge, sits a beautifully picturesque log church. Rustic yet modern, with lights streaming in from stained glass windows, the branches of lush trees, creates a marvelous space for a fairy tale wedding and portraits to be prized life long. All around the lodge, is numerous locations for beautiful wedding photography, lakes, mountains, trees, and lovely landscaping.

Oak Lodge Wedding

Mountain Escape.

Oak Lodge offers many wedding and elopement packages customized to make your dream of a fairy tale wedding a reality.  Outside of the log church, is a tavern beautifully suited for the wedding reception with an outdoor dance floor lit by celebratory lights for night time dancing.

Oak Lodge Wedding Reception
Weddings at Oak Lodge

Marvelous Amenities

Oak Lodge has many amenities including a three acre pond for fishing, miles and miles of hiking and biking trails, indoor heated pool, indoor spa with a mountain view, and 800 acres of forest.

Weddings at Oak Lodge

Oak Lodge has a beautifully rustic wood hewn church chapel adorned by lovely landscaping. On the estate is a beautiful pond surrounded by barns. This venue is a peaceful rustic and quiet get away.

Rugged Beauty.

Weddings at Oak Lodge

After the wedding is over, the dress stored to show your children someday, the tux returned, the cake eaten, you have several things to treasure: your relationship with your husband, beautiful rings, and a collections of portraits that you will hang on the wall of your home, display in a wedding album, use as conversation pieces when friends and family come to visit, and show your children. Choose a photographer that will capture the most important day of your life artistically, and beautifully. When you hire a photographer, ask to see whole weddings he has photographed. It’s easy to get one portrait out of 500 to look beautiful. But see if all the portraits on one wedding are well posed, well lit, artfully captured. Not all photographers are the same. Choose quality over quantity.

About Tim Ray Photography

Tim Ray has been in the wedding photography business for 28 years.  His studio is located n Fairmont, West Virginia.  He has photographed over 1000 weddings in West Virginia and the surrounding states not missing a single one for any reason.  He has photographed for various publications, websites, and groups.  He would love to show you his studio in Fairmont, WV and walk you through his albums, canvases and other print photography products.  He can also provide more information on our Why Hire Tim Ray Photography page.

Contact us for more information! We would love to speak with you about your wedding plans today. Call us at 304-363-8395.