Nearly 11 years. That’s how long Ashley and Joe have known each other, and how long they’ve been best friends. And 8 of those years have been leading up to their unbelievably incredible mountaintop wedding at Sugarbush Resort in Vermont. Ashley and Joe met at freshman orientation at Boston University in summer of 2006. After being friends for 3 years, enjoying adventures and the snowboard and ski club together in college, they started dating in 2009. Fast forward to last summer when Joe proposed on the top of Mt. Mousilauke in New Hampshire when they were on a backpacking trip! After Joe proposed, they decided to camp out that night to enjoy the moment and pitched a tent off the trail a bit, to realize shortly after they were really only 500 ft from the road! Haha! But regardless, it sounds like the perfect proposal!!

We did their engagement session on the top of Bear Mountain this summer, and the wedding followed suit on top of the most spectacular mountain with the most incredible views on the most wonderful day.

I’m struggling as I sit here and try to put this incredible day into words. I mean, EVERY SINGLE DETAIL was executed perfectly, flawlessly, beautifully.

Since Sugarbush is about 5 hours away from Vernon, I went up on Friday morning to join the rest of the guests for a weekend celebration. I got there just in time to join in for the rehearsal, so after meeting and greeting the wedding party in the lobby of the hotel we all walked up to the chairlift and brought it up to the meadow where the ceremony would take place. Even during the rehearsal we were granted with the most beautiful weather you could imagine. It was warm and sunny, but due to a couple cold days leading up to the wedding weekend, all of the leaves had started to change in the area. We were blessed with not just amazing summer weather and temperatures of 80 degrees but we also got the incredible beauty of the fall foliage in Vermont. We truly had the best of both worlds!

The rehearsal was incredible and I don’t think I could picture a better ceremony location than a chairlift bringing you to a meadow overlooking a mountain range. After it was over, the wedding party and family went to the rehearsal dinner in the pub at the resort, and my second shooter, Brielle and I went to dinner and had amazing Thai food!

After we got back, we joined the wedding party, the bride and groom, their families and 175 guests for the welcome dinner that Joe’s parents were so incredible to throw for the happy couple. We played cornhole, ate way too much, and enjoyed some s’mores by the fire pit. Honestly if you know anything about me you know that fire pits some s’mores and mountains are three of my favorite things in the entire world so to have all three of those including an incredible couple and a wedding party full of past couples means that I was just about the happiest photographer in the world this weekend.

We headed to bed early in order to be fully rested for the big day. As soon as Brielle and I woke up there was a smile on my face. We went straight to the girls getting ready room which was a suite with the most incredible natural light. The flower girls had picked ferns, berries, and flowers for Ashley that morning and they also brought her a wedding slug (yes that’s spelled correctly- a real slug, slime and all! No doubt I’m sure that was her favorite wedding gift of all. And, in case you were wondering its name was Wetty because it was wet but they didn’t think that she should keep it because they thought that it should go back to be with his family. Melt me into a puddle why don’t ya!

I started with all the details and then after all of those were done, Ashley got in her dress, along with her maids of honor and her mom. From there she put her sneakers on, had a joyous first look with her dad, and hopped in my car to drive to the first look location which was a riverbed nearby where Joe would be waiting.

Ashley practically ran to the river, and was a bride after my own heart as she hopped down the muddy embankment, threw her dress in the dirt and ran towards her handsome groom. It was THE SWEETEST. Okay, so did you read what I just said? Riverbed. First look. Incredible Couple. Fall foliage. HEAVEN.

After the first look, we hiked (yes in a wedding dress) down a path that led to an INCREDIBLE gorge with waterfalls. Since it was such a nice day out, there were tons of people cliff jumping and swimming, so it took some strategic angles to get shots here. A couple people came and offered their congratulations, and offered Ashley and Joe some beer, which was happily accepted!

From there, we went back to the bridal suite where the girls were finishing their prep. We took some fun pictures with them, and once everyone was dressed we headed up to Gadd Peak, (the highest lift at Sugarbush) for wedding party pictures and some more Bride and Groom portraits!!! These were seriously INCREDIBLE.

The flower girls continued picking flowers for everyone (they were seriously good at their job haha!) and we were all just in awe of the beauty surrounding us. After we headed down, it was time to go up the next lift for the ceremony!

Ashley and Joe shared tearful vows (at least on Ashley’s part….and my part) and the sun shined on them, with 80 degrees beaming down and a blue sky above. It really was unbelievable, and Sugarbush said this was the warmest day on record they’ve had for that day!! SERIOUSLY!!!

After the ceremony, we took family formals looking up the mountain, and then took the lift back down for the most wonderful and delicious cocktail hour you can imagine. I gained at least three pounds at cocktail hour alone. Guests enjoyed food, fire and cornhole before being transitioned into the reception hall (which was beautiful decorated and had the most wonderful natural light and tall windows!)

The wedding party, and Ashley and Joe entered, followed by all the tearful special dances. You guys, I was basically a puddle the entire day! The party got started after dinner and the dance floor didn’t stop all night. We capped off with Don’t Stop Believin’ (best wedding ending song ever) and then the guests and everyone was brought outside for the grand finale.

YUP, FIREWORKS. LITERALLY A GRAND FINALE.

Everyone enjoyed a full on fireworks show over the mountain, and these are some of my favorite pictures of the night!

I can’t get over this entire day, I’ve been struggling all week putting this day into words, so I hope the pictures will do some talkin’ for me. A major thanks to my second shooter, Brielle, for making the long trip to shoot this day with me, and to their incredible Event Planner and Coordinator, Julia, for making the entire day go seamlessly.

Enjoy one of my favorite weddings to date!