Nostalgic Adirondack Wedding at Otis Mountain

Ever since I moved to Burlington from my small college town in southern VT, I’ve been hearing about Otis Mountain Get Down. A beloved music festival that draws an audience from the northeast and beyond to camp and enjoy several days of music in Elizabethtown NY. While I find I’m always traveling the weekend of the fest, I was thrilled to photograph Sage & Andrew’s Adirondack wedding at Otis Mountain this past August.

Despite what a myriad of blogs and influencers might tell you, there is no single correct way to plan your wedding. There are only a series of guiding principles. Some are logistical and wise to heed, and some are rooted in experience that you need only listen to if they speak to you. Although it’s not always optional or optimal, choosing a wedding venue that holds memory and meaning for you only deepens the experience. Not only did Sage & Andrew meet at Otis Mountain, Sage’s family has been gathering there for years. Don’t get me wrong, Otis Mountain is absolutely gorgeous and the grounds of a music festival translate effortlessly to a wedding venue, but it’s the fact that this piece of land holds a greater legacy in the lives of the couple that made this Adirondack wedding day such an exceptional experience.

On a small platform before the peaks of the Adirondacks, Sage & Andrew shared vows before inviting guests down the hill to cocktail hour. Seeing friends and family from the northeast and beyond share food, speeches, and dances, it struck me that a music festival and Adirondack wedding day aren’t all that different. At the root of each is the intention of bringing many disparate points together to create something greater than ourselves and to join in something ancient. Whether that’s the language and energetic transference that is music or the very human practice of honoring love through ceremony, the emphasis of being with each other and with the land is central.

In a world that so often seems to miss the point, the pursuit of celebrating love and of experiencing music are two things our civilization has gotten deeply right. As always, it was such a gift to photograph this Adirondack wedding day. More of what I saw there below…