Are there fees to get married on top of Whiteface Mountain? Whiteface charges a $500 fee to get married on top of the mountain. Both of our couples took a risk and avoided these fees by just showing up. If your wedding is bigger than just the two of you eloping, we advise to pay the fee and secure your date. Here is the website.

Where should we have our ceremony?  Once you get to the top of Whiteface Mountain you are going to need to decide pretty quickly where to have your ceremony. Sometimes the weather will decide for you and sometimes it will be based on how many people you have and where they can fit. Other times, you will decide based on the best light. Both of our clients gave us full permission to choose the location of where the ceremony should be held once we got to the top of the summit. We advised the couple’s where we thought it was best to shoot. As you can tell, both lighting situations were extremely different. Remember,  weather & light can change within in a matter of seconds on top of the Adirondack Mountains. Being spontaneous and flexible are helpful when getting married on top of a mountain or in any outdoor location for that matter.

What time should I have my ceremony at?  We recommend getting married 60-75 minutes before the top of the summit closes so you can make the best use of the pretty light up there. The top of the summit closes before sunset so be sure to check with the park rangers before to know what time it closes. One wedding we photographed started late due to family members arriving late. Because of this, there was a 10 minute ceremony and only about 10 minutes for portraits on the top of the mountain before they “kicked us off” the summit. We took the stairs down for a few extra minutes of portraits but the ranger followed us down so it made us a little anxious.

Will there be tourists in my photos?  The simple answer to this question is yes. Whiteface mountain is a destination open to the public. There will most likely be people on the summit regardless of weather. Even if there is zero visibility, there is usually a few tourists that can pop in and out of the fog and into your photos. One way to help this is to choose a weekday wedding over a weekend. Another way to help this is to get married in the shoulder season, vs the prime summer season. However, the weather is much colder on top of the mountain in the shoulder months. The best way to assure less people on a mountain is to choose to get married on a low visibility day because most tourists go for the view.