A Very Soggy Vermont Wedding

I heard somebody say Vermont was getting their 100 year rains. Somebody else mentioned they’ve averaged over an inch of rain a day all summer. I’ll be honest it is almost hard to even wrap my mind around what that feels like to walk on, in, through. I know this, I woke up this morning with sore calves from wading through the actual ground under my feet yesterday, my shoes soaked after taking them into the shower last night to try and get some of the mud off (I’m sure the hotel will love me for that), my suit rolled up and inside a plastic bag inside my suit case covered in mud and damp and… the biggest smile on my face. 

I’d been looking forward to this wedding for seven years.

And nothing was going to steal my joy. It’s been over a decade since I found myself connected to this family. Kelly and Tommy’s wedding at the Ocean House in Watch Hill, Rhode Island lead me down this path that has taken us all over the country with these people. The next stop was Killington, Vermont with Kelly’s sister Cait - who may be one of my favorite people in the world. We connected instantly as I did with Jason her husband at a farm venue tucked back in the mountains. Kelly’s wedding made it to the cover of New England Weddings Magazine and had people buzzing about the photos of the two of them wandering up the beach with Taylor Swift’s home in the background. Cait’s wedding remains the most shared wedding on social media we’ve ever had. I lost count at about a quarter of a million interactions on instagram but after it was shared by everybody from Martha Stewart to Ann Barge her wedding made it into the college course I was teaching about how significant a single viral moment can be for a small business. 

And then there was the wedding in Turks and Caicos.

Grace Bay was next. To be fair I’m actually skipping a few in here like Joel and Allison’s wedding in Sonoma California, Catherine and Matt in Connecticut, and the list goes on but while I still have you let’s just jump to Turks and Caicos. The most insanely beautiful wedding at the most pristine location and photos I still share regularly from a broken down pier just down the beach, a first look on an unmannicured beach with nobody else around, and finally maybe my most recognized photo ever. We went diving in the open ocean the day after the wedding with these two in their wedding clothes as a tropical storm rolled in behind us. The water was rough, the boat captain was totally uncomfortable with it and yet we pulled something off together that was truly special for Collin and Kristina (Jason’s brother). It was on that boat ride and really that whole trip that I had the chance to connect with the third Oberg sibling, Kristy.

Kristy is the wild child.

The rules are just different for her. I heard it in the speeches last night as we all sat under a tent somehow both perfectly beautifully designed and elegant and also ankle deep in mud and hay. Kristy beats to her own drum filled with joy and art and some how the most energy of anybody I know. It’s been 7 years since that boat ride but when the call came from Kristy and her amazing parents Jeff and Karen about this wedding they were planning outside of Burlington, Vermont I blacked out before I heard the next sentence “this one is going to be a little different”. I had already said yes and I wouldn’t change a thing… but it was different.

Ok, to be fair it wasn’t actually THAT different. It was a farm wedding, on a working farm, with a house built in the 1860’s. It was a ceremony in front of an elm tree that has incredible importance to the family and is actually tattooed on Silas’ back. It was a tented reception on the side of a beautiful ridge where the sun sets between green houses filled with tomatoes and drying garlic and who even knows what else. It was beautifully crafted speeches by both families while Memaw the 101 year old matriarch watched from the best seat in the house with a warm smile. It was a first dance shared not only with Kristy and Silas but Hooks their incredible 6 month old little baby who smiled and giggled through photos and never once let out a scream. It was the sound of mud beneath my every step, a shot of tequila with about 75 of their friends and families at once, a DJ that kept the dancefloor at capacity all night with barefoot dancers slipping across the wood and it was a very on brand last minute decision for these two to end their night jumping in their pool still in their wedding attire. (Take that Turks and Caicos)

This wedding was a Vermont dream come true.

It was the culmination of over a decade of my time with this family traveling and dancing and documenting not only some of the most important days in their lives but somehow also some of the most in my own. It was Kristy’s joy, her new father in law Sam’s unbridled laugh that echoes through this valley, her new mother in law’s calm smile and rough but still somehow soft hands, her two brothers and their wives dancing and laughing and celebrating, her parents filled with memories I’ve shared and millions I’ll never know about, her new husband leading and working tirelessly all day to make their farm, his farm, a place that would welcome friends and family in from all over the country to dance in this wild mud together, and finally me… Sitting in this hotel room just up the road with tired eyes, suit cases zipped behind me and a flight to catch from Boston back to Arkansas in just a few hours unwilling to let another moment go by without putting this all down in words.

I’m forever grateful.

For families like the Oberg’s who have not only taken me in but poured love and appreciation into me for my entire career. But also for families like the Doyle-Burr’s who make their homes feel like my own with little context to who I am or what I my vision for some of their biggest days are. My deepest hope is that I have the opportunity to document these stories with authenticity and honesty for years to come with no ego, no bias, and nothing standing in between me and the blessing it really is to call this work - work. If you’re ever near Burlington, Vermont take the short drive out to the Last Resort Farm. Wander in and say hello to a few of the most kind people I’ve ever met. Buy some berries, some tomatoes, some dried wild flowers some syrup and take a moment to just breath in the air these people call home and take a peek up on the hill behind the barn. It may be another 100 years until it’s as wet as it was on this day and unless we’re all as blessed as Memaw to stick around and see it I think it’s safe to say this was a once in a lifetime experience for anybody who had the blessing of being there.

In case you’re interested - here’s direct links to go relive the other two Oberg weddings I’ve shot!