Wedding Photographers & Videographers at Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village, Avella

A wedding at Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village in Avella feels a world away from a hotel ballroom. The museum sits among rolling hills in Washington County, about an hour's drive from downtown Pittsburgh, on a campus of more than 200 acres. For your photographer and videographer, that means old buildings, open country and a timber-frame pavilion with a stone fireplace.

Your wedding ceremony can take place in the Fairview Church, which is included with every wedding booking for a 30-minute ceremony and seats about 120 guests. Other spots on the grounds can be considered case by case. Meadowcroft suggests choosing two places to reserve for wedding photos before or after the ceremony, and you can pick them together on a tour. With a full-facility evening rental, you and your guests can also explore the historic villages and exhibits for the first two hours.

The wedding reception happens at the Robert Barensfeld Center. The Great Room has a wood-burning fireplace and its own patio, and seats about 120 at tables, or about 90 once a dance floor goes in. Next door, the open-air Cindrich Pavilion seats about 120, and by combining the two you can host up to 240 guests. A fire in the Great Room's fireplace (the museum can add an attendant) and the first dance there both give your wedding video a warm, rustic look. Meadowcroft has an open vendor policy, so you can bring any licensed and insured caterer, and alcohol is served only by a licensed caterer or a RAMP-certified bartender. There's no dedicated getting-ready suite, but the conference room can be reserved as a private space. On your wedding day, evening rentals run from 4 to 10 p.m., and a large parking lot sits in front of the visitor center.

• Call the visitor center to book a tour and hold a date for two weeks.
• Walk the grounds with your photographer and choose your two picture spots.
• Ask about photo and video guidelines and the décor rules (no glitter or confetti, candles in votives).

A little about Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village

Meadowcroft is a National Historic Landmark run by the Heinz History Center. Its rock overhang, the Rockshelter, was used for shelter about 19,000 years ago, and its villages show rural life over the past 500 years, including a 19th-century village with a church, a one-room schoolhouse and a blacksmith shop.