Wedding Photographers & Videographers at Trough Creek State Park, James Creek

A wedding at Trough Creek State Park puts you beside moving water. Great Trough Creek has cut a gorge through Terrace Mountain here before it empties into Raystown Lake, and the park office says Pavilion/Area Number 1, right beside the creek, is a very popular spot for weddings. For your wedding photos and video, that means the sound of the creek and green slopes all around you, a long way from a plain banquet room. The park sits near James Creek in Huntingdon County, with Rothrock State Forest and the lake on its borders.

You can hold a wedding ceremony at the pavilion area, and the park says a reservation there includes plenty of parking and that the facilities at Area 1 are accessible. Hiking trails lead to Balanced Rock and Rainbow Falls if the two of you want to walk somewhere wilder for pictures, so ask the park office which spots work for your group and how far they are. A wedding videographer will want to hear the creek at the spot where you stand, since running water can be lovely in a film and loud next to a microphone.

Every wedding in a Pennsylvania state park needs approval from the park office ahead of time, and there is a small fee for the paperwork plus a separate pavilion rental. Talk with the office about your photographer, videographer and caterer too. Guests can't toss rice or birdseed or release doves or butterflies, and bubbles need written permission. The park is open from sunrise to sunset.

• Call the park office early to get your wedding day approved and reserve Area 1.
• Visit at the hour of your ceremony to see the light along the creek.
• Ask the park about photo and video guidelines and which trails suit a wedding party.

A little about Trough Creek State Park

Trough Creek State Park covers 541 acres. A Civilian Conservation Corps company arrived in 1933, planting trees and building roads and trails, and the park opened in 1936.