The State That Surprises Everyone
People hear “New Jersey wedding” and think highways and strip malls. What they should be thinking about is Cape May, one of the most beautiful Victorian seaside towns on the East Coast. Horse country in Hunterdon and Somerset counties, where private estates sit on hundreds of acres with nothing but open sky and rolling fields. The Jersey Shore in all its genuine, unpretentious glory. A state that is, quietly, one of the most diverse and beautiful places to get married in the entire Northeast.
I have been shooting weddings in New Jersey for twenty-five years. I also live here now, which means I have strong feelings about NJ Transit and love absolutely everything else about this state.
Less Hectic Than the City
Shooting in New Jersey feels different from shooting in New York City. The pace is slower. You are not competing with tourists for space on a bridge or timing portraits around rush hour traffic. There is room to breathe, literally. A ceremony on a farm in Bedminster with nothing but open fields around you, or a reception at Bonnet Island with the bay on one side and the Atlantic on the other, has a quality a Manhattan ballroom cannot replicate.
That does not make it less beautiful. It makes it different. And for a lot of couples, different is exactly right.
The New Jersey Venues I Know Best
Pleasantdale Chateau
757 Eagle Rock Avenue, West Orange. I have photographed here six times, and I live about ten minutes away, which I know isn’t a normal thing to lead with.
Charles Walter Nichols built it in the early 20th century, Norman and Tudor, the kind of stonework nobody commissions anymore. Forty acres. The Grand Ballroom holds 400 under hand-painted murals, and it still feels like a room rather than a hall, because the architecture is doing the work.
What I love here is the drama. Not darkness exactly, but depth. The Conservatory, the grand staircase with its red carpet and sweeping curves, the ballroom in the evening when the chandeliers take over. And the indoor pool, with its domed ceiling and skylights, is the only pool I have seen at a wedding venue that looks like it was cast rather than built.
Outside, a stone bridge crosses a pond, and on a foggy morning, it is the image people remember. Some of my favorite pictures here were made on days the forecast ruined. Rain is not the backup plan at Pleasantdale.
Read more in my Pleasantdale Chateau wedding venue guide.
Crystal Plaza
305 West Northfield Road, Livingston. Stanford White built it as a private residence in the late 1800s, the same architect responsible for the original Madison Square Garden and the arch at Washington Square. The Janoff family has owned it for four generations. One event at a time, which is not a small thing.
The Grand Ballroom is 5,000 square feet with more than thirty crystal chandeliers, a gold-detailed ceiling, and a round marble dance floor. A Juliet balcony above the room gives you an angle most ballrooms cannot. The Atrium has a fifty-foot skylight, so ceremonies in there get natural light no ballroom setup can fake.
The Penthouse is 3,000 square feet with a salon, manicure stations, a lounge, and a bar. And there is a sub-level called the Vault with a golf simulator, a barbershop, a punching bag, and cigar ventilation, which is the strangest amenity list of any venue in the state and I mean that fondly.
Kosher and glatt-kosher through dedicated on-site kitchens, which matters and is rare here.
Read more in my Crystal Plaza wedding post.
The Estate at Florentine Gardens
97 Rivervale Road, River Vale, in Bergen County. Founded by Thomas Daidone, still family-owned, four acres, one wedding a day.
I have shot here many times, and it is one of the more straightforward venues in the state, which I mean as a compliment. The light in the Grand Ballroom is good. Twenty-five-foot ceilings, crystal chandeliers, floor-to-ceiling windows that work during the day and look out onto the lit garden at night. Up to 360 guests.
The wrought iron staircase under the chandelier in the Georgian lobby is one of the iconic portrait locations in New Jersey, and it earns it. Outside, you get brick pathways, columns, vines, and a veranda for ceremonies that photograph well in every season.
One wedding per day means the day never feels crowded, and the staff knows what they are doing. Some venues you have to work around. This is not one of them.
Read more in my Estate at Florentine Gardens venue guide.
The Park Savoy Estate
236 Ridgedale Avenue, Florham Park. An 1870 mansion on a former dairy farm that was a Prohibition speakeasy, then a nightclub, then a country club, and was renovated in 2011 into a wedding venue. Charles Lindbergh drank here. That is not a marketing detail somebody invented later.
The ballroom has a 19th-century Carrara marble fireplace, coffered ceilings, columns, and French doors, with antique furnishings and oil paintings throughout the interiors. Outside, there are waterfalls, a reflecting pond, a wrought-iron gazebo, and a lake in the distance, with the adjoining golf course giving you rolling hills for ceremonies.
Two getting-ready suites with completely different characters: one with chandeliers and millwork, and one with dark paneling and exposed brick. One wedding a day, up to 400 guests.
They offer a private cocktail hour where the couple steps away alone after the ceremony, then rejoins everyone. I recommend it to every couple who books here. Take the twenty minutes.
Read more in my Park Savoy wedding post.
Stone House at Stirling Ridge
50 Stirling Road, Warren. The only Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired wedding venue in New Jersey, and that is not a stretch of a description. Steel, wood, stone, and glass on ten acres of Watchung Mountain land, with the architecture pulling the outside in from every angle.
Two completely separate event spaces on opposite sides of the property, which means genuine dual exclusivity rather than the kind where you can hear the other party. The Grand Ballroom has sixteen-foot ceilings, slate floors, and glass walls that open onto private gardens and fire pits, and can accommodate up to 325 guests. The Lodge is mid-century modern and industrial, with a twenty-foot stone fireplace, brick, wrought-iron chandeliers, and an angled ceiling.
Executive Chef David Drake runs the kitchen, and the food matches the building.
Read more in my Stone House at Stirling Ridge venue guide.
The Madison Hotel
One Convent Road, Morristown. Eighty-five years of weddings, 186 guest rooms, and NJ Transit Convent Station directly behind the hotel, which is an hour from Penn Station.
The Conservatory is why you book it. A glass-enclosed greenhouse filled with seasonal flowers and greenery, and one of the most naturally beautiful ceremony rooms in the state. It also quietly saves you money, because the venue’s own plants are already doing what your florist would otherwise be asked to do. The Glynallynn Ballroom handles the reception at 4,000 square feet with arched mirrors, gilded columns, and crystal chandeliers.
I shot a February wedding here that started under a bright sky and ended in a snowstorm, and the couple went outside for night portraits in it. Those are still some of my favorite winter pictures.
Read more in my Madison Hotel wedding post.
Rock Island Lake Club
485 Glen Road, Sparta, in the mountains of northwestern New Jersey. A private eleven-acre lake with two islands, one wedding a day, up to 200 guests.
Ceremonies happen at the water’s edge under a natural birchwood arch. The grand ballroom has a twenty-foot barrel ceiling, inlaid Brazilian hardwood floors with built-in uplighting, and floor-to-ceiling windows onto the lake. A rowboat is available for portraits, which sounds like a gimmick until you use it.
In autumn, when the foliage comes off the water, this is one of the most beautiful venues I shoot in the state.
The getting-ready spaces are worth mentioning because they are so different from each other. The Balcony Suite overlooks the lake. The Lakeside Lounge has video games, a popcorn machine, and shuffleboard.
Read more in my Rock Island Lake Club wedding post.
Crossed Keys Estate
289 Pequest Road, Andover. Thirty-plus acres, family-owned by the Rodriguezes since 1999, one wedding a day, an hour from the city. It photographs like the European countryside and I am not sure how they manage that in Sussex County.
Ceremonies happen in the English Garden, an eighteenth-century-style formal garden where the hedges and blooms do enough that you barely need ceremony florals. Cocktail hour is in the Conservatory, glass-enclosed with circular chandeliers and folding doors onto the courtyard. Then the Farmhouse for the reception, with forty-foot gambrel ceilings, dark beams, and a private balcony suite above the floor.
An enclosed passage connects the Conservatory to the Farmhouse, so nobody gets rained on between courses.
Catering, florals, and coordination are all in-house. The 1790s Playhouse is the main getting-ready suite.
Read more in my Crossed Keys Inn wedding post.
Liberty House
Inside Liberty State Park, Jersey City. The view from here is the best view of the Manhattan skyline anywhere, and I am not hedging on that. The ceremony lawn has the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island directly behind the couple, which is a backdrop you cannot rent, build, or fake.
The Grand Ballroom is on the second floor with 35-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows facing the city. At dusk, when the skyline starts to light up through those windows, the room does something no decorator could arrange. The Liberty Room downstairs is a different animal entirely, with glass walls opening onto fire pits, gardens, cabanas, and an oversized chess set.
The food is genuinely excellent, which matters more on the day than couples expect. Same kitchen as Maddy Rose. I have photographed three weddings here across more than a decade, and I took my family there for dinner after Christmas because I like it that much.
Read more in my Liberty House wedding post.
Park Chateau Estate & Gardens
415 New Road, East Brunswick. French chateau-inspired, grand, and completely unapologetic about it. This one is not for everybody, and I would rather say that up front than pretend otherwise. If you want industrial, rustic, or minimal, keep looking. If you want formality and drama in central New Jersey, this is the one.
The getting-ready suite is among the best prep spaces I work in anywhere in the state. Enormous, high ceilings, large windows, and enough room that nobody is climbing over anybody. The dress hangs well in there, which sounds small until you have worked somewhere it doesn’t.
The grand staircase is the shot everyone takes here, and I take it too. It is familiar because it works. There is also an on-site chapel with a stone facade, which means the whole day happens on one property.
Everything is in-house, which is a real practical advantage. And since it is one of the most-booked venues in the state, ask any photographer you are considering to show you their Park Chateau work specifically rather than their portfolio generally.
Read more in my Park Chateau wedding post.
Ashford Estate
121 Conover Road, Allentown, in Monmouth County. Thirty acres, a barn from the 1800s, a ballroom for 275, and more portrait locations on one property than most venues manage.
The thing I keep coming back to is Suite 9. Getting-ready rooms are usually a compromise, and this one is not. Enormous windows, real light all morning, and it works as a backdrop rather than just a place to stand. There is also an actual salon on the ground floor, which is a small thing that changes the shape of a morning.
Outside, you have the gazebo and the ruins for first looks, a tree-lined driveway that frames itself, and an outdoor swing. I shot here several times before I finally got a couple on that swing at golden hour, which tells you how much else there is to get to first.
Merri-Makers is the exclusive caterer, and they coordinate the day, which is worth mentioning because good coordination is what protects portrait time.
Read more in my Ashford Estate wedding post.
Shadowbrook at Shrewsbury
1 Obre Place, Shrewsbury, Monmouth County. A 1907 Georgian mansion on 18 secluded acres, 25 minutes from Manhattan, with a $30 million ballroom renovation finished in 2019.
Most venues are either genuinely historic or impressively renovated. Shadowbrook is both, and they sit side by side. Cocktail hour happens in the original mansion around a Newport-inspired fireplace and feels like being inside a Gilded Age house. Then the reception opens into a 30-foot ballroom with dueling grand staircases, crystal chandeliers, and a Big Swing band stage. Up to 600 guests.
The getting-ready suite is two adjoining bedrooms from the original mansion rather than a purpose-built prep room, and they photograph completely differently.
I shot a February wedding here, and the warmth of those original rooms against the cold outside was remarkable. This venue gets better in winter, which is rare enough to say out loud.
Read more in my Shadowbrook at Shrewsbury wedding post.
Windows on the Water at Frogbridge
7 Yellow Meeting House Road, Millstone Township, in Monmouth County horse country. Eighty-six acres, a seven-acre lake, country lanes, and a two-tiered waterside patio.
The willow tree by the lake is the whole thing. Couples marry on a wooden platform over the water with the willow above them, and during an afternoon ceremony the sun sets behind them in a way I have not seen replicated anywhere.
Cocktail hour is indoor-outdoor with lake views and fountains, and it flows into the 4,000-square-foot reception tent without a hard break, so the outside stays part of the evening.
Read more in my Windows on the Water at Frogbridge wedding post.
The Nassau Inn
Ten Palmer Square, Princeton. A historic inn on Palmer Square with Princeton University a few minutes’ walk away, which is the actual draw.
I photographed a late-winter wedding here where the campus was quiet, the light was brilliant and cold, and we had the kind of timeline photographers dream about. Getting ready at the inn, long walks across campus, nothing rushed. The reception ended in a shower of sparklers.
If you are marrying here, build in time for the campus. Nassau Hall, the Gothic archways, Cannon Green, the tree-lined walks. It is one of the best portrait environments in the state and it is right outside the door.
Read more in my Nassau Inn wedding post.
Mallard Island Yacht Club
1450 NJ-72, Manahawkin, sitting in Barnegat Bay with water on most sides. Merri-Makers runs it, up to 250 in the ballroom, ten guest rooms on the property.
The Boathouse Chapel is the reason to book it. Floor-to-ceiling windows with bay views on every side, a stacked stone fireplace, and water light coming through during a ceremony that you cannot get in a ballroom. The Grand Ballroom has a Tiffany blue coffered ceiling I haven’t seen anywhere else on the Shore, and some guest rooms have small balconies opening over the dance floor, which is strange and useful during a reception.
The penthouse suite takes the entire fourth floor. Three thousand square feet, in-suite salon, light from every direction. The shower is large enough to hold an event in, and I am not sure that was intentional.
One practical thing. The sun sets across Route 72 rather than over the water, so golden hour here requires knowing where to stand. I know where to stand.
Read more in my Mallard Island Yacht Club wedding post.
Bonnet Island Estate
Manahawkin, on the water.
I love this place. It is genuinely charming, the light is beautiful, and the landscaping is darling. That word gets overused, and it is the right one here.
You can have the ceremony and reception on the same property, but the two spaces feel completely different, which is rarer than it sounds. The getting-ready locations are great. And I just freaking love being near the water.
Ocean Place Resort and Spa
Long Branch, on the Atlantic, an hour from the city by car or NJ Transit. Two oceanfront ballrooms, five semi-private beaches, 45,000 square feet indoors and 55,000 outdoors.
I started my career photographing beach weddings on the Florida coast, and every wedding at the ocean reminds me why I got into this.
Ocean Place is also one of the most experienced Jersey Shore venues for South Asian weddings. They coordinate full multi-day weekends including Haldi, baraat, and sangeet for up to 650 guests, and outside caterers are welcome with access to a private kitchen, which is the part that actually matters.
Beach ceremonies require a permit from the City of Long Branch. The venue handles it.
Read more in my Ocean Place Resort and Spa wedding post.
Congress Hall
251 Beach Avenue, Cape May. Butter-yellow Victorian facade, a three-story white pillared veranda, and a Grand Lawn running toward the ocean. Over a hundred years of weddings, part of Cape Resorts.
Most Jersey Shore venues sell you the beach and treat the building as somewhere to eat afterward. Congress Hall works the other way. The building is the reason you book it. The Grand Ballroom has blush-pink walls and crystal chandeliers and can accommodate up to 225 guests. The Grand Lawn puts that yellow facade behind the couple with the Atlantic beyond it.
Then there is all of Cape May outside, with Victorian streets, the Washington Street Mall, and portraits that have nothing to do with sand. You can shoot an entire day here without setting foot on the beach. The beach is still there if you want it.
One thing worth knowing: you do not have to decide on the ceremony location until noon on the wedding day. That is genuine flexibility, and very few venues offer it.
Read more in my Congress Hall Cape May wedding post.
The Merion
1301 Route 130 South, Cinnaminson. Sixty-plus years in South Jersey, four ballrooms, 75 to 600 guests, all-inclusive packages. I have photographed three weddings here and it delivers exactly what it promises, which is worth more than it sounds.
The Palazzo Ballroom is the flagship with twenty-three-foot ceilings, Corinthian marble columns around the perimeter, and a granite dance floor. The Skylight Ballroom has a forty-foot glass dome over the dance floor, natural light by day and stars at night. The grand spiral staircase is the portrait location.
Each ballroom has its own cocktail room, restrooms, and getting-ready suite, which lets them run more than one wedding without it feeling like they are.
Read more in my Merion wedding post.
Other New Jersey Venues Worth Knowing
I have not photographed at all of these. I know them the way any photographer working this state for twenty-five years knows them, and I would happily work at any of them. If you are considering one and want my take, ask.
North Jersey
The Legacy Castle — 141 Route 23 South, Pompton Plains. Seventeen acres of freshwater lakes with swans on them, a main lobby with a 55-foot ceiling and dual floating staircases, and multiple ballrooms. It is the most maximal venue in the state, and it commits completely.
The Venetian — 546 River Drive, Garfield. Marble columns, chandeliers, and a dramatic spiral staircase. Old-world Italian, grand ballrooms, and one of the most-booked venues in North Jersey.
Nanina’s in the Park — 540 Mill Street, Belleville. Italianate architecture, formal gardens, a romantic pergola, and space for up to 400 guests. Same ownership group as Park Chateau and the Park Savoy.
The Manor — 111 Prospect Avenue, West Orange. Formal gardens, multiple ballrooms, and a long-standing reputation in Essex County. Five minutes from Pleasantdale.
Mayfair Farms — 481 Eagle Rock Avenue, West Orange. Another Eagle Rock Avenue property, gardens and ballrooms, a West Orange institution.
The Brownstone — 351 West Broadway, Paterson. Grand, ornate, and thoroughly North Jersey.
Ridgewood Country Club — 96 West Midland Avenue, Paramus. A private club with a traditional clubhouse and golf course grounds.
Tides Estate — 1245 Belmont Avenue, North Haledon. Gardens, bold architecture, and a lot of outdoor space.
Park Avenue Club — 184 Park Avenue, Florham Park. A private club with a formal, understated character.
The Grove — 2 Ridgedale Avenue, Cedar Grove. Large ballrooms and a full-service operation.
Skylands Manor — 5 Morris Road, Ringwood. A Tudor manor house inside the New Jersey State Botanical Garden. One of the most genuinely historic settings in the state.
Perona Farms — 350 Andover-Sparta Road, Andover. Family-owned since 1917 across five generations, with three separate venues on fifty-plus acres: the Barn, the Refinery, and the Reserve. On-site greenhouse feeding the kitchen. Up to 300 guests.
Bear Brook Valley — 40 Bear Brook Road, Fredon. Sussex County, rustic-elegant, one wedding at a time.
North Shore House — 20 Lakeside Boulevard, Budd Lake. Lakefront with upscale interiors.
The Ryland Inn — 115 Old Highway 28, Whitehouse Station. A restored 18th-century inn in Hunterdon County with a Coach House and formal gardens. Up to 225 guests.
Olde Mill Inn — 225 Route 202, Basking Ridge. A colonial inn with the Grain House restaurant on the property.
The Grand Chateau — 1571 Route 22, Mountainside. Ballrooms, formal gardens, on-site dining.
Hudson House — 2 Chapel Avenue, Jersey City. Modern, glass, and skyline views from a different angle than Liberty House. Governors Island and Brooklyn are in the frame here.
Battello — 502 Washington Boulevard, Jersey City. Waterfront in Newport with Manhattan directly across the Hudson.
Maritime Parc — 84 Audrey Zapp Drive, Jersey City. Also in Liberty State Park, modern and glass-forward.
Westmount Country Club — 728 Rifle Camp Road, Woodland Park. Multiple ballrooms, well-established South Asian wedding programming, and a hilltop position.
The Legacy at Mansion Ridge and the surrounding Highlands venues are worth a look if you want mountains rather than ballrooms.
Central Jersey
The Palace at Somerset Park — 333 Davidson Avenue, Somerset. A Palladian-style mansion with two ballrooms, 24-foot ceilings, crystal chandeliers, outdoor terraces, and landscaped gardens. I photographed at Somerset Park once and would go back.
Grounds for Sculpture — 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton. Forty-two acres of sculpture and landscaped gardens. I have shot an engagement session here, and it is one of the most unusual portrait environments in the state. Weddings happen at Rat’s Restaurant on the property.
Jasna Polana — 4519 Province Line Road, Princeton. A former Johnson estate turned private golf club, and one of the more refined properties in Central Jersey.
The Heldrich — 10 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick. A modern hotel with ballrooms, within walking distance of the Rutgers campus.
Morven Museum and Garden — 55 Stockton Street, Princeton. Five acres in the middle of Princeton, a stately house and formal gardens.
The Farmhouse at the Grand Colonial — 86 Route 173, Hampton. Hunterdon County, restored, with a barn.
The Estate at Farrington Lake — 837 Farrington Avenue, East Brunswick. Lakeside, and a few minutes from Park Chateau.
The Addison Park — 1000 Route 9 North, Aberdeen. Large, modern ballrooms.
Clarks Landing — 847 Arnold Avenue, Point Pleasant. Waterfront on the Manasquan River.
The Shore and South Jersey
The Asbury Hotel — 210 Fifth Avenue, Asbury Park. Rooftop, industrial, and completely unlike everything else on this list. Asbury Park itself is one of the better portrait towns in the state.
The Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel — 1401 Ocean Avenue, Asbury Park. Beachfront and historic.
Spring Lake Bath and Tennis Club — 200 Ocean Avenue, Spring Lake. Directly on the ocean in one of the prettiest towns on the Shore.
McLoone’s Pier House — 1 Ocean Avenue, Long Branch. Oceanfront, casual, and a few minutes from Ocean Place.
The Breakers on the Ocean — 1507 Ocean Avenue, Spring Lake. Victorian and beachfront.
The Grand Hotel and the other Cape May properties are worth considering if you love that town as much as I do. Congress Hall is the one I know best, but Cape May itself does most of the work.
Renault Winery — 72 North Bremen Avenue, Egg Harbor City. One of the oldest wineries in the country, with a golf course and inn on the property.
Bonnet Island Estate, Mallard Island Yacht Club, and Windows on the Water are covered above, and all three are worth the drive.
Frequently Asked Questions: New Jersey Wedding Photography
Do you travel throughout New Jersey for weddings?
Yes. I shoot across the entire state, from Cape May to the New York border. I also live here, so most of it is a short drive, not a trip.
What are the best wedding venues in New Jersey?
It depends entirely on what you want. Pleasantdale Chateau for drama and depth. Liberty House for the Manhattan skyline. Crystal Plaza for Gilded Age grandeur. Ashford Estate for portrait variety. Mallard Island and Bonnet Island for the water. Congress Hall for Victorian Cape May. Rock Island for a lake in the mountains. Park Chateau if you want formality and do not want to apologize for it.
Which New Jersey venues have you photographed most?
Pleasantdale Chateau six times. The Estate at Florentine Gardens five. Crystal Plaza and the Park Savoy four each. The Merion, Mallard Island, Congress Hall, Liberty House, and Park Chateau three each. I have photographed sixty-nine weddings in New Jersey across twenty-seven venues.
What is the best time of year for a New Jersey wedding?
Fall, and it is not close. Horse country and the Shore in October are as good as anywhere I photograph. Spring is lush. Summer at the Shore is exactly what you think it is. And winter works better here than people expect, particularly at Shadowbrook and the Madison Hotel, where the interiors get better as it gets colder.
Is Cape May a good place to get married?
One of the best in the state. The Victorian architecture, the beach, the light off the water, the pace of the town. Congress Hall gives you a building worth photographing and a whole town outside it. Cape May is criminally underrated as a wedding destination.
Do you shoot at private estates in New Jersey?
Yes. Some of my favorite New Jersey weddings have been at private properties in Hunterdon and Somerset counties, and in tents in backyards in Colts Neck. If your wedding is at a private home, I am very comfortable with that.
Do you photograph South Asian and Indian weddings in New Jersey?
Yes. Ocean Place and Westmount both have well-developed programs for multi-day celebrations, and I have photographed Indian weddings at Pleasantdale, Crystal Plaza, Westmount, the Merion, the Palace at Somerset Park, and in backyard tents in Colts Neck. My Indian wedding photographer in New Jersey post covers how I approach those weekends.
Do you photograph elopements and micro-weddings in New Jersey?
Yes. Private properties, the beach at Cape May, the parks and gardens throughout the state. My NYC elopement post shows how I approach intimate work, and the same applies here.
What makes New Jersey different from getting married in New York City?
Less hectic. More space. More sky. You are not competing with tourists or timing portraits around rush hour. NYC has energy and iconic backdrops. New Jersey has room to breathe and venues that are not fighting the city for attention.
My venue is not on this list. Do you still shoot there?
Yes. This list is long, and it is not complete. Tell me where you are getting married and we will talk about it.
If your wedding is in New Jersey
I have been photographing weddings in this state for twenty-five years, and I live here now. Tell me where you are getting married and what you are planning!
