Going to the Chapel......

This is the second in a series of blog posts about locations for your ceremony.

Your church may be a large part of your life. You go there for solace, friendship, comraderie.
Your faith is a part of who you are, you couldn't imagine getting married anywhere else!
Or perhaps your family has a long history at a particular place of worship and you want to continue that tradition.
Whatever the reason, and whatever the season, sometimes a church is just the right place to be.

Some of the local churches that we've been to include:

St. Mary's in Fishkill.

 This view is from the front of the church, there is a beautiful garden in the front with memorial bricks.

 This view of the altar area before the ceremony shows the clean, uncluttered lines of the church, with a glimpse of the choir loft at upper right.

 Stained glass in this church is a beautiful touch.

 A view from the back of the church during the ceremony. There is a center aisle, plus two side aisles, this helps with being an unobtrusive photographer during the ceremony.

The choir loft enables us to get views that you just can't get on the floor of the church.

The next house of worship that we'll visit is the United Methodist Church in Red Hook:

 Exterior with a beautiful steeple and door details.

 Entrance (with a ramp to make it easy to walk in while you're dressed in along gown - no tripping).

 Beautiful stained glass windows

 View from the back before the guests arrived. This church actually sloped down from the back to front (like a movie theater). This makes it much easier for your guests to observe the entire ceremony and makes it easier for the photographer too! No center aisle in this church, 2 side aisles do the job here.

Th entrance to the church opens directly onto one of the side aisles.

Our next church is Our Lady of the Rosary in Poughkeepsie. St Peter's in Hyde Park is the parish. This beautiful stone chapel on the former Hudson Valley Psychiatric Center grounds has been completely restored.

 The landscaping surrounding this church is unique, large trees, gardens and private worship areas abound.

 The completely renovated and restored stone chapel has amazing architectural details, stained glass and marble appointments.

 The reveal of the bride and groom offers an opportunity for tossing rice over the happy couple to wish them well in their new life.

 Some of the landscape just naturally makes for a beautiful photograph. The lovely curved bench perhaps....

Or this private nook.


Our last church is Mt Carmel in Poughkeepsie:
This brick church in the traditionally Little Italy section of Poughkeepsie has a river view and can easily be seem from the Walkway Over the Hudson. The cross on the top of the steeple glows in the sunlight.

 Interior views show the gorgeous stained glass and truly stunning detail.

 The choir loft gives the bride and groom a "birds eye view" of their ceremony.

I hope that this pictorial essay on churches gives you ideas for your own wedding (or even a friend's wedding). If you have questions or comments, please let me know.

Next up: Ceremony and receptions at the same venue!

Where o where should we go? Where o where should we be?

As you plan your wedding, one of the first things that comes up is, "Where are doing this?" and the answer depends on you, your finace, and your families. No one place fits everyone's idea of the perfect locale. Churches are lovely for weddings. You don't have to worry about rain or other bad weather, and you don't have to rent chairs. Most churches prefer that you be a parishioner in order to use the church, and if that's part of your life, then no worries! But what if you want the church, but are coming in from out of town? Or just don't have a regular house of worship? Are you an alumni from a local college? Alums are often permitted to use the on-campus chapel for a small donation (or even no donation).
Two other alternatives that I've noticed recently are Celebration Wedding Chapel
This refurbished church in Kingston may be the perfect place for you. Open to all, the interior is bright and clean, and it's location in the historic Rondout section of Kingston means that you can also go to the waterfront for pictures very easily.
The other is Crispell Memorial French Church
This reconstructed French church has limited capacity, but may suit your needs better than a large venue. Located in the Huguenot District in New Paltz, you can have lovely old stone house backdrops for pictures.
Looking for other spaces and places? See our Frog Hollow Photography page, click Weddings and then click the Links tab for some of our favorite places. Or check back on this blog, I'll be talking about other types of venues for Ceremonies and Receptions  soon!

Sometimes you need a product photo....

Jeff has been fleshing out a website for our friends Paul and Janet at Hillside Gardens Florist in Poughkeepsie. (see them here Hillside Gardens).
So we went out last week while he talked to them about fine tuning and I went around their lovely gift shop and picked some great items to focus on. Right now it's all about Easter.

They also have beutiful wind chimes by Majestic Spirits that are made in the USA. Other beautiful ornaments. Some amazing orchids, hydrangea, and cut flowers in the cooler.
See the full album on our Facebook page here .
I'd love to do photos in other shops in the area. Reasonable rates! Give me a call if you think your business could benefit from this.

Have you tried Pinterest yet?

I asked myself, what's this Pinterest thing? What does it do? How can it help me?
Well, after joining and looking around, I find it to be incredibly helpful for a lot of different aspects of my life.
I can keep track of Wedding Photography that I like from other people's weddings (whether it's a fellow photog or a bride who's posted her images).

I can keep track of ideas that I see for my son's upcoming wedding
 Wedding Ideas-Patrick & Elena

Wedding Cake Ideas for my sister who does custom cakes out of her home.

Even Recipes, Jewelry, Places I Want To Go, Places I've Been To...
My Boards

It links back to the source, so it's like a scrapbook, or even a memo book of the things you want to remember without going crazy making bookmarks.

You can repin things you like from someone else's board to your board. Like their pins, comments on pins. You can follow people who are your friends, or follow people whore boards or pins you like, and they can follow you.

It's a whole new social network. :)
And I'm really enjoying exploring it!

Marcy & Nate, a December wedding

December is a lovely month, it's all about getting ready for Christmas, decorations, the tree, the cookies, the food (at least at our house that's what it's like).
This year we even had something extra special....a wedding to photograph!
Marcy and Nate came to us in October, very excited about their upcoming December wedding. There had been some paperwork that needed to come through, it took a long time, but it happened and they wrote their names in the book at Holy Trinity Church in Poughkeepsie and then it was set.
We got there a little early to take the establishing shots of the church and interior with no people milling about. It's such a quiet and serene time. We were also lucky enough to run into the florist as he was dropping off the bouquets, bouts, and corsages. Incredibly beautiful! The Greenhouse at Rhinebeck

The combination of parrot tulips, roses, fiddleheads, dusty miller, and cedar berries and greens was incredible! Like seeing all the seasons in a bouquet! These were very large bouquets that had ribbon wrapped around the stems and fastened with pearl headed pins.
The bride and groom arrived for their family and formal pictures. And their families followed closely behind.

The ceremony was very traditional Catholic and this church is very beautiful, the stained glass is worth a second look.

The bride and groom kissed.....

And then we all went over to the Reception.
This was a small group, family and close friends. Marcy and Nate chose a beautiful space, it's called Canvas and is located right next door to Artist's Palette on Main St. in Poughkeepsie. It will be a wine and tapas bar shortly, but for this event it was catering space, and Artist's Palette was the caterer.
If you're looking for a venue for an under 80 person event , this may be the place for you.

The reception flowers were also by The Greenhouse at Rhinebeck

This was not your traditional wedding reception, there was a cocktail hour/social time, toasts, dinner and cake, but no dancing or band. It suited the bride and groom perfectly as there was ample opportunity to mingle and talk with all the really important people in their lives.

Gluten free wedding cake by  Caffe Aurora  in Poughkeepsie.

The bride and groom departed on a wedding trip to NYC, I hope that they had a fabulous time!
We had a wonderful time with Marcy and Nate and their families!