Wedding photography and film · Binghamton, New York
DoubleTree by Hilton Binghamton Wedding Photography & Films
The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Binghamton stands at 225 Water Street in downtown Binghamton, with guest rooms and ballrooms in the same building. BlackTie Brothers has photographed and filmed here across multiple wedding celebrations since 2022, including a Nikkah, a Walima and the ballroom day of a multi-day Pakistani Muslim wedding. This guide shows what those days looked like, from the windows upstairs to the send-off at the front doors, and shares what we have learned about light, timing and moving around the hotel. It is our guide, written from our own work. It is not the hotel’s website.
A downtown hotel with a ballroom
City views upstairs,
chandeliers in the ballroom.
The hotel’s own events page describes a garden terrace, a grand ballroom with high ceilings and chandeliers, and a junior ballroom with a private balcony, and says its wedding packages include a coordinator. It is a full-service hotel in the middle of downtown, a short drive from Vestal, Johnson City and Endicott, so out-of-town guests can sleep where the party is.
For photographs, three things matter here. The guest rooms have wide windows that look over downtown rooftops to the hills, and that window light is the best natural light we have found in the building. The ballroom is the opposite: coffered ceilings, crystal chandeliers, patterned carpet and, in our photographs, almost no daylight, so it looks the way your decor and lighting make it look. And because the rooms and the ballroom share a building, nobody spends an hour of the wedding day in a car.
We lean into both. Upstairs we work by the window and let the rest of the room go dark. In the ballroom we bring our own lighting and shape it around the stage, the head table and the dance floor, so skin tones stay true next to red drapes or pink uplighting.
Photographs from the DoubleTree
Real celebrations,
room by room.
Every photograph in this section was made by our team. Most come from two Pakistani Muslim weddings: Jia and Rizwan’s Nikkah in November 2024 and Maheen’s wedding celebration in October 2022. One is from a groom who got ready here before a wedding elsewhere in the area, and it is labelled that way. Where a frame was made outside the hotel, the caption says so. Tap any photograph to see it larger.
Getting ready upstairs
Jia and Rizwan both got ready in guest rooms before their Nikkah. The rooms are quiet and fairly dark, with one big source of light, which is exactly what a portrait wants.
Jia and Rizwan’s Nikkah in the ballroom
Their Nikkah was held in one of the hotel’s ballrooms in November 2024, in front of a stage dressed in ivory and pink. We photographed and filmed it, and came back in January 2025 for their Walima, a separate celebration at the same address.
Maheen’s wedding celebration
In October 2022 we photographed and filmed a multi-day Pakistani Muslim wedding for Maheen and her family. The day shown here is the one at the DoubleTree: portraits on the downtown streets, the groom’s arrival at the front doors after dark, and a red and gold stage in the ballroom. The other days of the wedding took place at other locations and are not shown on this page.
These are a small selection. If you are planning a wedding at the DoubleTree and would like to see a complete gallery, ask us and we will share one privately.
Films
The same rooms,
in motion.
Photographs hold the day still. Film keeps the sound of the room. Jia and Rizwan’s wedding film was shot almost entirely at the hotel: getting ready upstairs, the walk in, the Nikkah and the cake. It also includes a few short portraits outdoors at night.
Wedding film · Jia & Rizwan · November 2024 · 5 min 45 s. Plays here on the page with sound once you press play. Prefer YouTube? Watch Jia and Rizwan’s film there.
Maheen’s three-day wedding film
This film covers all three days of Maheen’s wedding, so it moves between locations. The DoubleTree scenes are the groom’s arrival under the lights at the entrance, the red and gold stage in the ballroom and the portraits downtown. The barn, the tent and the fireworks belong to the other days, at other places.
Wedding film · Maheen’s celebration · October 2022 · 6 min 18 s. Several locations, including the DoubleTree. Watch Maheen’s film on YouTube.
Planning photography and film
What we would tell
a friend getting married here.
These are our recommendations, drawn from the weddings above. Rooms, access, timing and policies belong to the hotel, so where something is theirs to decide we have written it as a question to ask.
The ballroom is yours to light. Plan for it.
In our photographs the ballroom has chandeliers, recessed lights and almost no daylight, so the look of the room comes from your decor and lighting. Deep pink or red uplighting looks great to the eye and can turn skin the same color in a photograph. We bring our own lights and balance for faces, and it helps to know your colors ahead of time. Ask your decorator and DJ what they are bringing, and ask the hotel when the room will be set so we can photograph it empty.
Use the window, and ask about your room early.
The best portrait light we have found is upstairs at the window. Jia and Rizwan both got ready in guest rooms, and those window portraits are some of our favorites from their day. Hair, makeup and a full wedding outfit take longer than anyone expects. Ask the hotel what time you can get into your room and whether earlier access is possible, and keep the corner by the window clear of bags.
Tell us about the entrance before the day.
At Maheen’s celebration the groom arrived at the front doors after dark with a dhol player, a crowd and a car dressed in red ribbon, and the night ended with a send-off from the same doors. Moments like that happen once and move fast. Tell us the plan and we will have someone inside the doors and someone outside. Ask the hotel where cars can stop, whether drums and music are fine at the entrance and how long the drive can be held.
Questions worth asking the hotel
- Which ballroom are we in, and when will it be set and open for photographs?
- What time can each of us get into our rooms, and is earlier access possible?
- If the ceremony and the reception share a room, how long does the changeover take and where do guests wait?
- Is the garden terrace available on our date, and what happens if the weather turns?
- What are the room block terms and cut-off dates for our guests?
- Where can a car stop at the entrance for an arrival or a send-off, and are drums, sparklers or cold sparks allowed?
- Is there a private room near the ballroom for prayer, touch-ups or a quiet few minutes?
- Where and when can our decorator and other vendors load in?
Photography and film on the same day: we plan one timeline for both teams and split up for the moments that happen in two places at once, like two people getting ready on different floors. At the ceremony we work from opposite sides so neither of us ends up in the other’s frame.
DoubleTree Binghamton wedding questions
A few things couples ask.
Have you photographed weddings at the DoubleTree in Binghamton before?
Yes, several times. We photographed and filmed the ballroom day of Maheen's multi-day wedding in October 2022, Jia and Rizwan's Nikkah in November 2024 and their Walima in January 2025, and we were back for a reception in July 2026. We have also photographed couples getting ready here before weddings held elsewhere in the area. The photographs on this page come from the galleries that are finished and that we have gone through frame by frame.
Do you photograph and film Pakistani and Muslim weddings?
Yes. We have photographed and filmed several South Asian weddings over the years, including the two Pakistani Muslim weddings on this page and Bonita and Saagar's ceremony at Locust Hill Country Club in Rochester. Between the two weddings shown here we covered a Nikkah, a Walima and a celebration that ran over several days. Every family does things a little differently, so we ask instead of assuming: which events you are having, who belongs in the formal photographs, what should stay private and what you are happy to share.
Watch Bonita and Saagar’s film from Locust Hill Country Club on YouTube.
Where do you take portraits at the DoubleTree?
So far: by the guest room windows, on the stage and in the ballroom before guests come in, at the front entrance after dark, and out on the downtown streets. The hotel also lists a garden terrace. We have not photographed there yet, so ask the hotel whether it is open on your date and we will happily take a look.
Hotel ballrooms can be dark. How do you light ours?
We bring our own lighting and keep it out of your guests' way. We light for faces first, then let the chandeliers and your uplighting fill in the room around them, so the photographs still look like your reception did. If your DJ or decorator is bringing strong colored light, tell us the colors and we will plan around them.
Can we get ready at the DoubleTree if our ceremony is somewhere else?
Yes, and couples do. We have photographed getting ready and a welcome evening here for weddings whose ceremony and reception were elsewhere in the Binghamton area. Build the drive into the timeline and send us both addresses, so the first photographs at the ceremony are not rushed.
Is this the hotel's official wedding page?
No. This is an independent guide written by BlackTie Brothers from our own work at the hotel. For packages, pricing, capacities, menus, room blocks and availability, go to the DoubleTree's events team through the hotel's own website. We are glad to tell you what we have seen, but their answers are the ones that count.
How do we check your availability for our date?
Send us your date, your ceremony time and whether you are thinking photography, film or both, using the Check Your Date button. We will tell you if we are free and suggest coverage that fits how your day is laid out at the hotel.
Planning a wedding at the DoubleTree?
Tell us your date
and how the day is laid out.
Share your events, your ceremony time, where you are getting ready and whether you want photography, film or both. We will confirm availability and recommend coverage. BlackTie Brothers is a national wedding photography and film company with artists in New York, Florida and Hawaii, and Binghamton is part of our regular New York work.