Stilwell Photography & Films

Best of Weddings (5x).

NY, NJ, CT, PA

About this vendor

Stilwell Photography & Films is a premier Photography and Wedding Films Studio in New York's Hudson Valley. If you're looking for your Wedding Photography and Cinema to be creative, timeless, and romantic, we are the studio for you. It is our aim to create captivating imagery of your event that captures the emotions of you, with your family and friends as you come together for this amazing day. The photographs and films of your day will preserve your day for you, forever, serving as vivid reminders of how you felt every step of the way. Once all is said and done, and the day is over, all you have is your wedding photography and films, and each other. Your wedding film will be expertly hand crafted to be a true reflection of who you are as a couple. We take extreme pride in our work & love to create timeless films celebrating one of the most joyous occasions in life. Our impact on your wedding day is minimal and no direction is given to capture the beautiful imagery we achieve. Using camera systems that produce stunning image quality and editing techniques that truly evoke the emotion of the wedding day, you will receive an unparalleled visual experience, nothing short of spectacular!

Details

Business Attributes

Veteran-owned Business
Woman-owned Business

Photo Shoot Types

Boudoir
Bridal Portraits
Engagement

Photo & Video

Digital Files
Drone
Online Proofing
Photo
Printed Enlargements
Second Shooter Available

Photo & Video Styles

Artistic
Classic
Documentary
Lifestyle
Modern
Vintage

Wedding Activities

Getting Engaged
Rehearsals & Parties
After Party
Wedding
After Party

Awards and Affiliations

5-Time 'Best of Weddings'

2024.2022.2021.+2 more.

Hall of Fame

Earned by winning 'Best of Weddings' four or more times.

out of 5.0

66 reviews

Search reviews

Katie K

I'm long overdue in expressing how wonderful it was to work with Alisa on my June 2024 wedding! We began working together a year and a half prior to my wedding date and continued u...

ntil 6 months after when we finalized the printed albums. Throughout the entire time, Alisa was so thoughtful, patient and available to address any issues or questions. The photos are beautiful and we love all of the video produced by James. Everything was delivered timely and to perfection. Highly recommend!

Marisa P

We cannot say enough amazing things about our photography and videography team, Alisa and James, along with their incredible second shooters. From start to finish, the experience w...

as seamless, thoughtful, and completely stress-free.   Alisa was our primary point of contact and made the entire photo and video planning process so easy. From our very first phone call, we knew she would be such an important part of our wedding day. Her approach is incredibly intentional, and it was clear right away that she truly cares about documenting meaningful moments in a way that feels authentic and natural.   We officially met Alisa at our engagement session, which was not only a wonderful way to capture that special time in our lives, but also the perfect opportunity to get comfortable working together and break the ice before the big day. That session made such a difference in helping us feel relaxed and confident going into the wedding.   Leading up to the wedding, Alisa guided us through a thoroughly detailed timeline that thoughtfully accounted for all the little moments we hoped to capture throughout the day. She also provided an example shot list and lay-flat list, which made us feel incredibly organized and confident that nothing would be missed.   On the wedding day, Alisa, James, and their entire team truly brought our vision to life. Our preview photos came out AMAZING, and we truly cannot wait to see the full album. James made the videography portion feel so natural and effortless, capturing all of the important details and moments without ever feeling intrusive.   The entire team made the photo and video process feel seamless and genuinely enjoyable from start to finish. If you’re looking for a photography and videography team in or around the Hudson Valley, that is professional, thoughtful, organized, and incredibly talented, we cannot recommend Alisa and James enough. They were an absolute dream to work with and played such a meaningful role in our wedding day.

Justine B

Stilwell came recommended to us from multiple friends for our wedding. Alisa was warm and made us feel very comfortable and at ease from the very first meeting. We first met her fo...

r our engagement shoot and we were nervous, but she had us relaxed and having fun within the first few photos. She was very helpful in creating the timeline for the wedding day and planning the shot list. We got to work with her brother James as the videographer on wedding day, and he is just as much of a pleasure to work with. Both James and Alisa helped to make our day run smooth and on time, and made it stress free. We haven’t received our photos/video just yet, but if they are anything like our engagement photos, we will be ecstatic!

Emily C

Alisa and James went above and beyond as our photographer and videographer! They answered every single question leading up to the day and made the process incredibly seamless. They...

also were super responsive before and after our wedding. True professionals and would recommend to anyone!!

Morgan S

Alisa was so great to work with during the wedding process! We were able to book our engagement photo session, wedding photo and videography as a package deal. Alisa, along with Ja...

mes and Nicole were so warm and friendly on our wedding day, providing such good direction on how to take the best photos with our wedding party. She definitely put me at ease and provided feedback and ideas to capture such great moments.

Jordan S

Stillwell Photography was the absolute greatest for our wedding day! Alisa and Theresa were amazing and made Jordan, me and our whole wedding party feel so comfortable and relaxed ...

when doing our photos throughout the day. We felt like we had known them forever and had so much fun working with them. From the time the pictures started in the morning for getting ready with my bridesmaids, to doing the family photos and bridal portraits, everyone felt relaxed and were having the best time. Alisa knew all the best spots at our venue for our first look pictures and made the day so special! We hope to work with her again in the future. Thank you for capturing all of the special moments of our wedding day!

Beth C

We couldn’t say enough good things about Alisa, James and their team who captured our September 2024 wedding. From our first zoom meeting I knew they were the team we wanted to cap...

ture our wedding day. Alisa met with us several times before the big day to make sure she had everything set to make the day go by smoothly and that’s exactly how it went. We had the perfect mixture of posed shots, candids, and all the details. Once our set shots were done you couldn’t even tell they were there taking candids/details until we looked back at the album and saw all they had captured. We truly could not thank them enough for capturing everything from getting ready to night photos! We can relive our special day through these photos and can’t wait to get our video back! We highly recommend 10/10

Tori B

We got our photography and videography through Stilwell! From the beginning, Alisa has been phenomenal! She has been timely answering emails, setting up calls and appointments and ...

answering ALL of my questions every step of the way! When we booked with them, we also booked her for our engagement photos and she was extremely helpful with locations for our engagement shoot. We were blown away by those photos and used them for our save the dates! Day of, my husband got a a photographer and videographer and same with me. The crew with my husband, they were very attentive both where he got ready and throughout the afternoon. They built a rapport with our 4 year old nephew to make him feel more comfortable throughout the day. My niece was very hard to break but Alisa made sure to snap pictures whenever we could with her to make her feel included as well. Our wedding party was on the larger side and Alisa did so well at posing and they were all so patient with us, especially when it came to getting younger family members to look at the camera. Alisa was on board with me doing multiple first looks and rolled with me “Icing” our groomsmen for our first look! My husband and I did a first look and private vows and they were so patient with us and let us have our moment without making it feel like we were being recorded and photographed. We didn’t have many requests for photos when we made the timeline but any time we flagged them down for photos they were extremely attentive to us and rolled with any punch we threw. From start to finish we couldn’t ask for a better crew to capture our special day! We cannot wait to see our gallery and film from our wedding!

Jane W

We loved working with James. He was kind, patient, and made the day seamless. We cant wait to see the final video.

Christine R

From the very beginning, Stilwell, Photography and Films was very professional. Before the wedding, any question that I had was answered via email within hours. They created a time...

line for the day of the wedding, so that was one less thing that I needed to worry about. The day of, they were so professional and our pictures and video turned out amazing. They were so great, that you didn’t even know they were there! (And we mean that in the best way possible.) the turnaround time for us to get our pictures and video back was so quick and we will have those memories to last a lifetime. We highly recommend Stilwell Photography and Films to anyone for their wedding! -Christine and Kevin Stevens

Kristina M

Alisa was a pleasure to work with! My pictures came out beautiful for my wedding. I’m so appreciative that she was affordable, easy to work with, and responsive with any emails or ...

questions I had for her. 100% recommend her.

Alexandra A

We booked James to do the video for our wedding and it was the best and by far the easiest wedding decision we ever made. His work is phenomenal. During the event, you hardly could...

tell his team was there and they captured everything down to the little details. I cannot recommend him enough. His work is absolutely stunning and something I will cherish forever. Don’t skip on a videographer for your wedding and certainly book James to capture your day.

Jenn B

James and his team were so helpful from the start about the videography experience. From the first meeting, James did a great job of breaking down his packages and showing wonderfu...

l samples of what we could expect from him. It was so helpful to see the product rather than just hear about it. James was kind and professional with checking in leading up to the wedding day and always showed enthusiasm for his work. On the day of the wedding, James was punctual, directive, and ready to work - he is very knowledgable and experienced, doing a lot of work behind the scenes. We had a wonderful experience with James and his second videographer Gabriella and would certainly recommend them to create a beautiful film for your wedding day!!

Nicole A

Alisa is an amazing photographer! From the engagement shoot to our wedding day she was professional, kind, helpful, and easy to work with. Alisa made myself and my husband feel ver...

y comfortable. The photos came out beautiful and natural. I would definitely recommend using her as a photographer!

Olivia B

We are so thankful we booked James to create our wedding film. We had decided to forgo many typical wedding traditions (speeches, etc) and were worried we wouldn't have enough to c...

reate a video. Lucky for us, James blew us away with his talent. From the moment we spoke to James over the phone, we had full confidence he could capture all the moments most important to us. He communicated with us regularly and ensured he had all the details of our wedding day. Once we received our video, we both had tears and could not stop watching it. All the little details he caught from the morning to the reception were incredible. As anyone can attest, your wedding day goes by so quickly and you often miss moments that you wish you could have soaked in. Watching our video allowed us to see all the details we had worked so hard on and the sweet moments between our guests we didn't catch. Being able to re-watch our first look, vows, dance and the memories with our guests, is so special. We highly recommend them for your big day!

Taylor M

We went back and forth if we wanted a videographer for our big day. After our first zoom call consultation with James we were sold. He was professional and we knew we needed Stilwe...

ll photography and films to be apart of our day! We cannot wait to see how final video as there is no doubt it’s going to be everything we wanted!

Alexa A

Working with Alisa and James at Stilwell Photography & Films was a wonderful experience. They assisted my now husband and I in the most thoughtful ways and captured beautiful memor...

ies that will last us a lifetime! They were incredibly professional and provided us with our wedding photos and video as soon as possible while communicating with us the entire time. Thank you again for everything!

Chrystalla K

Alisa was amazing to work with throughout our wedding experience from finding a location for our engagements photos all the way up until the end of our wedding night where she was ...

still capturing every moment. She made us feel comfortable every step of the way with multiple phone conversations about what our top priority shots would be. She has a great eye and we actually love the pictures we happened to come up with on the spot more than those pre-planned! We were so excited to receive the private portal in a timely manner to share along with family friends! There was so much variety in the pictures taken and so much attention to detail. Love looking back at these and reliving the day!

Barbara V

Alisa and James are absolutely amazing. They were there every step of the way from our first meeting to receiving our album. They are beyond professional and organized. Communicati...

on was always spot on no matter how many times I reached out and they never made me feel like a bother. I’m so grateful to have so many wonderful photos and video of our day. We honestly could not have done it without them. If you’re wondering if you should book with them, do it. You will not regret it!

Rebecca M

I’m so glad I chose Stilwell photography! From the very beginning she was kind, warm and friendly. I never felt like it was a business transaction, she wanted to make sure I was ha...

ppy. The pictures are beautiful. Her work is beautiful. Would definitely recommend

Danyela B

Alisa and James were fantastic! They were able to capture every detail and moment on our special day. They were extremely professional and personable. Their work is exceptional all...

around. We can't thank them enough for giving us these pictures and videos that will last us a lifetime!

Rebecca M

I’m so glad I chose Stilwell photography! From the very beginning she was kind, warm and friendly. I never felt like it was a business transaction, she wanted to make sure I was h...

appy. The pictures are beautiful. Her work is beautiful. Would definitely recommend

Melinda G

Alisa and James are absolutely amazing. They were there every step of the way from our first meeting to receiving our album. They are beyond professional and organized. Communicati...

Olivia S

We're lucky and had the opportunity to work with Alisa and James twice, for our home wedding (due to COVID) and our "big" wedding. And if we had a 3rd wedding I would book them ag...

ain! Not only are they incredibly professional, patient and organized to ensure things are running smoothly but they're just such wonderful people that you want to be around. They know how to make you feel calm, comfortable and natural. Alisa has a great vision and an incredible focus on detail, which made for truly beautiful photos. Thank you Alisa, James and team for everything!

Kristie S

Alisa, James, & their team are AMAZING! When we first met with Alisa, we knew we had to look no further. Alisa is personable and one of the kindest people I’ve ever met! She is so ...

professional and always emailed, called, or texted back in a timely manner! We booked Alisa in 2018 for our supposed to be 2020 wedding. After finally meeting Alisa in person in 2019, I felt like I’ve known her my whole life as one of my good friends! She made our engagement shoot so easy and truly calmed every one of my nerves. This is what I love most about Alisa. She always looks at the positive and this was what we needed most throughout postponing our wedding. Alisa is supportive and constantly reassured us that everything was going to work out perfectly! Of course she was right! When our wedding day finally came this past September, I felt such relief seeing Alisa! Her, James, and their team were prompt and ready! Throughout the entire wedding, you didn’t even notice that they were there! I am obsessed with our pictures! They are so beautiful and we could never thank Alisa and her team for how much we appreciate them! We know how wonderful & talented James is and cannot wait to see our video next! Basically, don’t look any further! If you want dedication, professionalism, kindness, and so much more book with Alisa & James now!!

Kelly S

Alisa and James were so wonderful on our wedding day! They arrived early, collaborated with each other to ensure a smooth day and kept us all right on schedule! We loved having bot...

h the photographer and videographer from the same company and would recommend them in a heartbeat. We also really appreciated the calmness of both Alisa and James, as well as their two other workers. Can't wait to see our photos and videos :)

Jessica M

Alisa and her assistant Teresa were amazing. They were so easy to work with and adapted to the many changes we had due to covid. We are amazed by our photos: our family cannot beli...

eve how many great photos we have. Both of them truly captured our personalities and wishes. For a couple photos, our family thought they were out of magazines. Special thanks to Alisa for making sure all of our moments were captured! - Philip and Jess October 24, 2020.

Meghan M

Alisa & Alison were amazing in capturing out Wedding! We just had it this past Saturday May 8 and I am already so so excited for our pictures. We used Alisa to capture our engageme...

nt pictures in May 2019 and they were stunning. Unfortunately we had to move our first look and ceremony inside due to rain all morning, and Alisa knew how much I wanted outdoor pictures. She is so good at capturing unique areas that make it look fantastic, and the sky cleared up and we got some amazing outdoor pictures. She was a pleasure to work with and a great presence on Wedding day. I can't wait to see how the pictures turned out!

Kristen J

AMAZING. When we got engaged and first started searching for artists that would be able to beautifully capture the most important day of our lives, it seemed impossible. I searche...

d for hours upon hours to find a team with the professionalism and talent I was looking for. When I finally came across Stilwell and browsed their gallery and videos, I knew that this was what I was looking for without even meeting them. Then when we did meet with Alisa and James, it just clicked. They were so professional, yet warm and welcoming, and walked us through every possible option that we didn't even know to think about. We had to postpone our wedding due to covid, and Stilwell was there every step of the way providing support and guidance. They went above and beyond to work with us in order to give us exactly the package we wanted for our wedding day. When we were finally able to have our special day, they made us feel completely comfortable and captured the most special moments. We just recently received our photo album and wedding video and.....WOW. The way that Alisa captured every special moment, and the moments that without a talented eye would have been missed, was just incredible. Our wedding video is everything I could have hoped for and perfectly and tastefully captured our entire day. (It also helps that background music James chooses is ALWAYS beautiful to set the tone). I could NOT be happier with choosing the Stilwell team for our wedding. I am so eternally grateful to have these beautiful pieces to look back on for the rest of our lives. If you are looking for a team who is warm, talented, professional, and will take your wedding to the next level, look no further.

Jenna D

James was amazing and his work truly speaks for itself! We just received our cinematic wedding video and it is a work of art. Not only is James incredibly talented, but he is also...

incredibly kind. He was super flexible with us as we were impacted by COVID and worked to ensure he could still film our micro-wedding. The video is so special and something we will treasure forever. Watching it helped us re-live our day - and even experience some small details that we missed. He is super discreet and I honestly didn't even notice the cameras he set up for our ceremony and found myself wondering how he got certain shots. If you are questioning whether you should get video of your wedding, I would highly recommend it as it is such a special way to memorialize your day. And you should absolutely work with James! I am a perfectionist and had literally 0 feedback upon receiving our video - he is that good! We look forward to working with him again when we have our reception post-COVID.

Stella K

I could not have envisioned a more perfect wedding film! You guys are amazing. We cannot thank you enough for capturing our special day so beautifully. Highly recommend!

Ashley F

I’m going to start off by saying.. there’s no need to read any further, just go ahead and book this videographer - end of story. Like all brides I did a TON of research and fell i...

n love with Stilwell. Working with James and his team was a breeze. They responded quickly to all my bridezilla emails and assured me everything would be perfect . And it was. After watching our short film, we are truly blown away by the amount of love James was able to capture. I felt as though he and his team were right there for all those special moments you want to remember forever , without sticking a camera in your face .. which was super important to us. I never felt as though we were “on camera” nor were we encouraged to do any of those phony poses you see EVERYWHERE. James went with the flow and encouraged us to be ourselves. (Poor James 😃) long story short, if you’re looking for a work of magic , then Stilwell are the people for you. You will not be disappointed. I can assure you of that.

Brighid K

Words cannot fully express how happy I am that we went with Alisa. I was first drawn to her work when researching different photographers. Her work truly showed special moments c...

aptured. Even the typical posed pictures let the couples personality and happiness shine through. We first spoke on the phone and she really did a great job of listening to what I was looking for and asking thoughtful questions to get a better sense of me needs. Her packages are very reasonably priced and she was extremely responsive through the whole process. She even provided a time line for pictures a week before that helped with the planning. On the day of the wedding I ened up arriving about 15 minutes late to the venue.very stressed Most of the wedding party was already there. Alisa helped calm me down keep things running smoothly. One thing that was really important to me was that I wanted to get the bulk of the pictures out of the way before the ceremony so I could enjoy the reception. Alisa was really good about setting up a great first look and thr working with the venue staff to corral the family and wedding party. She was great about working with last minute changes during the day. She kept us on and ahead of schedule all day. We took a few post ceremony pictures because the light at sunset was perfect. After that she circulated among the guests and got some amazing shots of my family and friends. Alisa was so friendly and easy to work with. She got out pictures back to us in just over 4 weeks and I couldn't be happier with how they came out. I recommend her to anyone who wants a beautiful record of their wedding day.

Danielle L

James did an excellent job on our videos for our wedding! He listened to my ideas, and turned the most memorable moments of our special day into a beautiful film! I also appreciate...

d how he followed a time line, and worked so kindly with my photographer. He got amazing coverage and was never in anyone’s face. He communicates quickly through email which was nice to know I could contact him at anytime and get a reply within a day. I would highly recommend James if you are looking for a videographer for any special occasion or wedding!

Ashley F

Thank you SO SO SO much. We are IN LOVE with the video & have gotten so many complements from our friends and family already. I’ve only watched it a couple of hundred times since y...

esterday

Danielle L

Thank you so much for everything! This was the best way to end our honeymoon!!! We love it so much! We will cherish forever! Thanks again! -Danielle & Anthony

Christie B

We are at a loss of words... oh my goodness. You did SUCH a fabulous job. We just looked at them all, can't wait to sit and look at them 500 hundred more times. We are just so in l...

ove with these pictures. As for the film - Thank you so much. Your work is incredible. I could watch it all day long. I appreciate everything. It really has all come together so beautifully.

Daniela D

Thank you so much James for such an amazing film! You captured such amazing moments for us and we couldn’t thank you enough for how beautiful this came out! We are so excited for o...

ur feature film! These photos are absolutely amazing and beautiful! We are just in awe with all of them and we are going to have such a hard time picking out which photos we love the best! Lol Thank you so much again!

Colleen C

The video is AWESOME!! We absolutely love it! Thank you for your talented hard work.

Deanna B

Thank you Alisa for being so kind and patient with us all. Like all weddings it was crazy and chaotic but Alisa kept us together and as focused as we could possibly be to get thing...

s done. Looking fwd to our beautiful photos and video!!

Brianna T

We had our wedding videography done by Alisa Stilwell Photography & Films and are so happy with the whole experience! I was nervous about having a camera in my face and having to g...

o through posed motions throughout the wedding day but it was nothing like that!! James & his team told us to go about the day as if they were not even there which was such a relief! James was incredible at capturing subtle movements and special moments during the wedding day. We have received our highlight and short film and I can’t believe how beautifully everything came out. Our friends, family, and especially WE love the film. Looking forward to remembering these moments with a video down the road!

Maria R

Alisa & James are the DREAM team! We are so happy to have booked Alisa Stilwell Photography and Films for our wedding. Alisa and Rachel were our wonderful photographers and James a...

nd Zack were our videographers. They were extremely professional and patient and knew exactly how to interpret our vision. We are thrilled for this team and would recommend them to anyone looking for a special team to capture their day. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Deanne B

Thank you Alisa for being so kind and patient with us all. Like all weddings it was crazy and chaotic but Alisa kept us together and as focused as we could possibly be to get thing...

s done. Looking fwd to our beautiful photos and video!!

Amanda L

Our wedding was on 4/26/19. Words cannot describe how awesome Alisa was! She was friendly and definitely passionate about her work. She also helped me to remain calm when it starte...

d thundering and lightening. She had kind words to say and help me remember that the weather wasn’t important. I cannot day enough positive things about Alisa! From meeting her over a year ago in her studio to our gorgeous engagement photos to having her capture the best day of our lives. She was incredible! I am so looking forward to seeing the pictures.

Dan M

We were both extremely pleased with Stilwell Photography! Alisa is very personable and easy to work with. Her packages are very inclusive and produced a lifetime keepsake we will c...

herish forever. She was very attentive to our needs and was always in constant communication with us, leading up to our big day and even after. We would highly recommend her company and services.

Jenna M

I loved every second of my experience with Stilwell, our wedding video is everything we could dream of more. I couldn’t recommend James and team enough. ❤️

Meg S

Ahhhhhh it is amazing!!! thank you, thank you, thank you! We had the best day ever and really appreciate your amazing work, both on the day of and in the editing process.

Kelsey H

Stilwell Photography & Films captured incredible, beautiful and memorable photos from our wedding day. Once we received our photos our guests were amazed at the clear, crisp and be...

autifully edited images (as were we)! Alisa was so sweet and was always easy to contact with updates on what photos we wanted, timeline, etc. What was really impressive was that I never felt like cameras were all around, yet we got incredible photos from every single part of the day/night, which I feel is so important when selecting a photographer. They offer multiple packages, which is very helpful. James is a remarkable videographer and what he creates is such a wonderful recap of your wedding day (we watch our short/full video often and each time we get to relieve the best day of our lives). Our friends have hired Stilwell Photography & Films for their weddings because they loved our photos/video so much, which makes our hearts happy! My husband and I would highly recommend-you won’t regret it :)

Amanda P

LOVE LOVE LOVE every second of my preview and the 4 min short video. I didn't think I would have enough footage to make a good film, but they pulled it all together so beautifully....

I can't wait for my longer film to be complete. Everyone I share it with gets as choked up as I did watching it the first time!

Victoria C

Working in the "wedding industry" I see a ton of wedding photographers pretty regularly and Alisa and her team are the best. They pay attention to detail and make everything stress...

free for your big day. I recommend them to everyone!

Contact

15 James P. Kelly Way, Suite C, Middletown, NY | NY, NJ, CT, PA