The elopement that became something better than either version alone.
They wanted to elope.
Their family said no.
So they did the next best thing got married in the woods at Firelight Camps with a hidden waterfall, a pizza bar, a signature cocktail named after their cat, and their first kiss to The White Stripes.
This is the compromise that didn’t feel like one. This is what happens when two people who know exactly what they want refuse to lose the soul of it, even when they have to make room for other people.
I’ve photographed a lot of weddings where the couple wanted something small and wild and ended up in a ballroom. Jack and Madison never let that happen.
The Elopement That Wasn’t
There’s a specific kind of grief that happens when you picture your wedding one way and life hands you a different version.
Jack and Madison pictured the woods. The water. Just them.
What they got was still the woods. Still the water. Still mostly just them — with enough people around to keep the peace, and enough wilderness to keep the thing they actually wanted alive.
That’s the harder version to pull off. And the more interesting one to photograph.
Firelight Camps made it possible. Canvas tents on the grounds of La Tourelle, tucked into the trees outside Ithaca. No ballroom. No chandeliers. No venue coordinator in a headset reminding you that cocktail hour ends in twelve minutes.
The national park theme wasn’t a design choice. It was a statement. This is who we are. We’re not performing a wedding. We’re having one.
Autumn in the Finger Lakes does the rest. Peak October foliage in Ithaca isn’t a backdrop — it’s a presence. The light through those trees in fall has weight to it. It lands on people differently.
Starting in the Woods
They told me early: no getting ready photos.
I want to be honest about what that means for a photographer. Getting ready photos are easy. They’re predictable. You know where to stand, what to look for, how the light usually falls in a hotel room at 10am.
Skipping them entirely and starting with a first look in the forest? That’s a different kind of morning.
We started in the trees. Just Jack and Madison, the October light coming through the canopy, and the specific quiet that happens in the woods before a wedding when nobody’s arrived yet and nothing has started.
“This is my favorite part of a wedding — when people forget I’m there.”
That’s what the woods give you. No room to perform. Nowhere to look except at each other.
The foliage was at full peak. I’m not going to describe it as breathtaking. I’ll just say that when Madison turned around and Jack saw her for the first time, the color behind them was doing something that no florist could have planned.
Documentary photography works best when the location does half the work. The woods at Firelight Camps in October do more than half.
The Waterfall
This is the part I want to talk about directly.
I found them Buttermilk Falls.
There’s a trail accessible from Firelight Camps that leads to a waterfall most people — even people who’ve been to Ithaca a dozen times — don’t know about. I know it because I grew up here. I’ve been working in the Finger Lakes for fourteen years. I know the gorges, the trails, the light at different times of year, the spots that don’t show up on any venue guide.
When you hire a photographer who actually knows the land, you get access to the land.
Not just the venues. Not just the standard ceremony spots. The actual, specific places that exist here and nowhere else.
Jack and Madison did their private vow exchange at the waterfall. Just them. The water moving behind them, the fall color on the gorge walls, the sound of it loud enough that I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
I didn’t need to.
That’s what private vows are for. That moment wasn’t for me or the guests or the photographs. It was for them. My job was to be far enough away to let it be real and close enough to document that it happened.
I grew up here. I know where to take you.
If you’re planning a glamping waterfall wedding in Ithaca and you want something beyond the standard Firelight Camps ceremony setup — this is what fourteen years of knowing a place looks like in practice.
“She captured our wedding perfectly, and even recommended spots to do our vows.” — Madison
The Ceremony
In the trees. In the afternoon light.
No shoes required. No program required. The kind of ceremony where the officiant clearly knew them, not just their names.
Their dog did not attend. Some things are logistically complicated.
Their first kiss was to The White Stripes.
Let that sit for a second.
Not a string quartet arrangement. Not something soft and expected. The White Stripes. Because that’s who Jack and Madison are — and they never pretended otherwise, not for a single hour of this day.
That song choice tells you more about a couple than any questionnaire I send. It tells you they have taste, they have humor, and they are completely unbothered by what anyone else thinks a wedding is supposed to sound like.
The Party
Pizza bar. Vegan hors d’oeuvres. A signature cocktail named after their cat.
The national park theme ran through everything — the details, the florals, the energy of the whole evening. Autumn arrangements from Garden of Cyn in warm reds and burnt oranges. Floral lanterns carried by the bridesmaids. Madison in a Rue de Seine dress that looked like it was made for a forest. Jack in Onore Clothing — sharp enough to get married in, relaxed enough to actually move.
“A little imperfect. A little chaotic. Completely alive.”
That’s the only way I know how to describe what happens when two people who wanted an elopement throw a party instead and decide to actually enjoy it. There’s a looseness to it. A warmth. Nobody was performing.
They partied all night. Not because they had to. Because they wanted to.
That’s the difference.
There are couples who wanted to elope and couldn’t. Some of them spend their wedding day quietly mourning the version that didn’t happen.
Jack and Madison didn’t do that.
They held onto the waterfall. They held onto the woods. They held onto The White Stripes and the cat’s name on the cocktail menu and the private vows that nobody else heard. They gave their families a wedding and they gave themselves the thing they actually came for.
Firelight Camps is the venue that makes this compromise possible. Canvas tents in the trees, no ballroom energy, no pressure to be something you’re not.
And if you want the waterfall — the actual hidden waterfall in the gorge, the one that’s accessible from the trail, the one that most photographers don’t know exists — that’s what fourteen years in Ithaca looks like.
I know this land. I grew up here. I know where to take you.
If this is the kind of wedding you’re planning, I’d like to hear from you .
And if you want to see what Firelight Camps looks like when it’s raining and there are three generations of one family celebrating together, read Rolfe & Jessica’s wedding here .
Or if you’re still figuring out venues, the Finger Lakes wedding venue guide is a good place to start.
Ithaca Wedding Venue: firelightcamps.com
Floral: gardenofcyn.florist
Wedding Dress: ruedeseine.com
Groom Suit: onoreclothing.com
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