A winter wedding at The Thayer Hotel

The morning of February first started at just under ten degrees, with more than two feet of snow covering the Hudson Highlands from the storms earlier that week. Jessie and Josh stood in the lobby of The Thayer Hotel, ready for the portraits we had planned to take outside. She wore a dress with floral lace embroidery and sleeves and a white fur shawl folded over her arm, and he was in his Army dress uniform.

Photo by Matthew Rigby Photography

How Jessie and Josh found The Thayer Hotel

Jessie and Josh had a clear picture of what they wanted from the moment we first talked at The Thayer Hotel wedding expo in 2025. Over the course of several planning calls their vision really came into focus: a day that felt formal and traditional, with photographs that were crisp, clean, and shadowy. They wanted elegance, but they also wanted their families to feel relaxed in front of the camera rather than positioned in front of it.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Why The Thayer Hotel mattered to them

The Thayer Hotel was more than a venue for these two; the hotel’s historic architecture and proximity to the grounds held a lot of meaning. Josh was a West Point graduate, who now teaches computer science to cadets at the Academy. For Jessie, the building’s old-world character recalled a trip they had taken together to Switzerland, where they had spent time exploring castles in the mountains. Later in their relationship, Josh proposed at a Vermont Airbnb with snow falling outside and a fire going. Winter ran through everything in their relationship, and it made sense on their wedding day in February.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Getting ready

Prep in the morning was unhurried. I photographed details in the lobby while the light from the upper balcony windows came down in long, clean lines across the floor. Before the ceremony, Jessie had a first look with her father and brothers, while Josh braved the frigid air to take his family portraits on the patio that overlooks the Hudson River. They made a deliberate choice to avoid seeing each other until Jessie walked down the aisle, so my second photographer, assistant, and I helped coordinate the movements.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

The ceremony

Their ceremony was held in a room with floor-to-ceiling windows that gave views of the Hudson River stretching out into the distance in the soft winter light. At the front of the room stood a wooden arch that Jessie and Josh had designed and built themselves. Jessie’s brother officiated, and The Thayer’s team moved guests between spaces smoothly. My second photographer and assistant worked to coordinate family groupings and document unique angles of the ceremony.

Photo by Matthew Rigby Photography

Portraits at Trophy Point

Afterward, we drove through the guardhouse with Jessie, Josh, and their best friend to reach Trophy Point. There we did creative portraits in the snow, then continued to the library on the West Point campus. Jessie wore her fur shawl over the lace of her dress, and although it was cold enough to sting, they never complained. The photographs from Trophy Point have a quality that comes only from deep snow and clear winter light, and from two people in love who wanted their wedding gallery to authentically reflect their day, and were willing to brave the cold to make it happen. They wanted to highlight the beauty of West Point in the winter.

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

The reception

Back inside during the reception, Sweet Harmony performed a live rendition of “Now We Are Free” from Gladiator for Jessie and Josh’s choreographed first dance. Jessie and Josh hired me to create a documentary film of their first dance and toasts, and my team worked across film, audio, and photography to document those moments.

In their review, Jessie and Josh mentioned that guests had felt at ease throughout the day, never aware of the camera, which is what I work toward at every wedding, and what a day this thoughtful deserves.

Film by Matthew Rigby Photography

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

Vendor credits

• Venue: The Thayer Hotel
• Photo and film: Matthew Rigby Photography
• Hair and makeup: Michelle Royal at Royal Makeup and Hair
• Cake: O’Heavenly Cake
• Music: Sweet Harmony
• Officiant: Jessie’s brother

Photos by Matthew Rigby Photography

If you’re considering The Thayer Hotel

If you are planning a wedding at The Thayer Hotel and would like to talk about documenting your day, I would love to hear from you..

Photo by Matthew Rigby Photography