I once saw a bumper sticker that said “Ithaca, 10 square miles surrounded by reality.”
I think back then it was supposed to be a dig, however if you meet anyone from Ithaca they would probably agree. Mostly because sometimes Ithaca doesn’t feel real. Ithaca feels like this idyllic town filled with bike rides to the farmers market, the sound of live bands and people just being. Ithaca has a quirky charm to it with a side of progressive and eccentric flair that you don’t see in many other upstate New York towns.
The Ithaca Zen Center is a rural zen community that has both yoga classes and offers different wellness and holistic retreat getaways.
In walks this Ithaca yoga retreat wedding inquiry that had me so happy it was an automatic yes. Annie and Travis are indie folk artists who also run a farm in Ithaca. They wanted their wedding celebration to be different and I will say I have never experienced anything quite like their yoga wedding weekend.
For the first time in my very long career I didn’t direct or pose anything. Literally I said nothing. I just opened up the space to be present and shot in a reactive reportage style way. It was a completely different experience and I am forever changed.
The Night Before: A Women’s Circle Under the Moon
The night before we met at the Ithaca Zen Center and I followed the rest of the women into the yoga classroom where we sat around in a women’s circle.
We each took turns telling stories how we met the bride. It was such a beautiful thing witnessing these relationships and getting to know everyone’s stories before the wedding day even happened.
We strung flowers onto the lei that they were to use to wrap around themselves when they got married the next day. We blessed the “moon water” and shared about our connection to water.
I remember howling at the moon like wolves and hearing the guys howl back at their men’s fire on the other side of the pond.
For me this was a complete immersive weekend and I never felt more aligned.
The Wedding Day: Witnessing, Not Directing
The ceremony happened the way everything at the Zen Center seemed to happen — organically, unhurriedly, like it had always been planned this way even when nothing was planned at all.
Annie and Travis wrapped themselves in the lei we had strung together the night before, flowers grown on their own farm, hands they had put into the earth themselves. That detail mattered. You could feel it.
The lotus pond sat still behind them. The community gathered close — elders and children and merry-makers all mixed together the way weddings used to be before they became productions. Annie and Travis are the music, so the folk songs that moved through the ceremony weren’t hired entertainment. They were just two people doing what they do, surrounded by the people who know them best.
I said nothing the entire day.
Not a single direction. Not a repositioning. Not a “can you just turn slightly toward the light.” As a documentary wedding photographer working in Ithaca and across the Finger Lakes, I’ve always believed in following rather than staging — but this wedding made that belief physical. It got into my body. I just watched, and I followed, and I pressed the shutter when something true was happening.
Annie said it best when she first reached out: “More than anything, I appreciate the honesty that I feel through your photography practice.”
That honesty goes both ways. Annie and Travis gave me an honest day to photograph. No performance. No timeline anxiety. Just a community of people who loved each other, gathered on a piece of land that felt like it existed slightly outside of ordinary time.
Which, if you know Ithaca, tracks completely.
What They Said After
“We didn’t see her the entire day she’s super stealthy.”
That’s Travis, in their video review, and honestly it’s one of the best things anyone has ever said to me. My job is to disappear. The photographs should feel like they happened without a photographer in the room.
Annie put it this way:
“She wanted to capture authentic moments and candids and tell a story. And we happened to like that story because it was our wedding.”
“We happened to like that story because it was our wedding.”
I keep coming back to that line. Because that’s exactly what documentary wedding photography is supposed to do — return your own day back to you, truthfully, without the photographer’s fingerprints all over it.
And then this, which I will never stop being grateful to read:
“These are memories we are going to cherish the rest of our lives.”
That’s the whole thing. That’s why I do this work.
Why This Wedding Changed How I Photograph Everything
I’ve been doing this for 14 years. I’ve photographed hundreds of weddings across Ithaca, the Finger Lakes, and beyond. And I can tell you that Annie and Travis’s wedding at the Ithaca Zen Center sits in a category by itself.
Not because it was the most elaborate. Because it was the most honest.
As a documentary wedding photographer in Ithaca, I work with couples who want something different — couples who aren’t interested in the posed, the performative, or the perfectly curated. Couples who trust that if you just let a day unfold, the photographs will be better for it. Annie and Travis didn’t just trust that they built an entire weekend around it.
That bumper sticker I mentioned at the beginning? Ithaca, 10 square miles surrounded by reality. I understand it differently now. Ithaca is where I learned to stop directing and start witnessing. Where I stood at the edge of a lotus pond, said nothing, and took some of the most meaningful photographs of my career.
If you’re planning a non-traditional, intimate, or unconventional wedding in Ithaca, across the Finger Lakes, or anywhere that feels a little outside of ordinary I would love to talk. You can reach out here or explore my Finger Lakes venue guide if you’re still figuring out where to say your vows.
And if you want to see what documentary wedding photography looks like at another one of Ithaca’s most beautiful locations, take a look at this fall wedding at Treman Center.
Venue: Ithaca Zen Center, Ithaca, NY
Florals: Grown by Annie & Travis on their farm
A little something from the couple:
What about me or my work speaks to you?: I appreciate your ability to capture the subtlety and character of each person in your photographs. I also love the quirky, and unconventional eye that you bring to your portfolio collection! I’m not sure what your editing process is like, but all of your photos have this timeless quality to them — the colours feel vibrant, but subdued. More than anything, I appreciate the honesty that I feel through your photography practice.
What do your dream photographs look like? Whats the most important shot to you?: Lots of candid, connection photos – friends meeting each other, laughter, some of the tears, and heart-sharing! Photos by the lotus pond! Maybe some special photos with our beloved family & friends. Pictures of all the little kids that will be there, the elders, the merry-makers! Honestly, I just feel so excited to be able to look back on these photographs, and feel the potency of gathering these unbelievably special humans in one place.
Venue : http://Ithaca Zen Center.
Interested in seeing another Ithaca Wedding with a documentary approach? Click Here
