It’s always nice to revisit old haunts. Michael and Ivy’s Arnold Arboretum elopement gave me a chance to return to a place I grew up around and rework a familiar space into something more meaningful.
As a Boston elopement photographer, I’m always looking for ways to make photographs feel personal. I draw from the art I’ve seen, the places I’ve known, and the people in front of my camera. I’m not particularly interested in making the same photographs everyone else is making. I’d rather find something unexpected, even somewhere I know by heart.
When Michael and Ivy reached out about their elopement, I grew excited as soon as I learned they wanted to get married at the Arboretum. I grew up nearby and have a real fondness for the space. Coming back with a camera, and with two people about to get married, felt like an opportunity to see an old place in a new light.
We game-planned where might be best for the ceremony, as the Arboretum is bigger than it appears. Knowing it well, we eventually settled on the Rosaceous Collection.
I arrived early, accompanied by my old friend the Orange Line, and spent some time reading the light. It was going to be bright, so I decided to lean into a daylight-and-flash look. Rather than the warm, golden tones often associated with fall photography, I wanted something cooler, with a little more edge. I took inspiration from the art I’ve seen and the images I gravitate toward, letting those influences shape the way I approached the afternoon.
Then Michael and Ivy arrived, and we got to work.
We connected quickly over our shared love of travel, our particular tastes, and the winding paths that had brought them to this day. We all wanted something fun and a little different, which made it easy to experiment.
Green grass, open space, direct flash. No need to overcomplicate it.
We played around while waiting for their officiant, TJ, letting the setting and the light do their thing. I love when a session becomes a collaboration, when we're not simply moving from one pose to the next but figuring out what feels right as we go. For me, that's a big part of being a Boston couples photographer: knowing the city and its familiar corners, but never letting that familiarity dictate what the photographs have to look like.
When TJ arrived, the energy shifted.
Michael and Ivy exchanged personal vows, rings, hopes, and dreams. They started a little nervous and ended a little married. TJ was the perfect person to guide them through the ceremony, bringing a personal touch with individual vow sheets that we even found ways to incorporate into the photographs as we began to wrap up.
On our way out, we caught the first hints of fall color.
It felt fitting to finish in a place that already meant something to me, now with a new memory attached to it. I think that's one of the best things about photographing in Boston. The city is full of places we return to, but the people we're with can change how we see them. A familiar landscape doesn't have to produce familiar photographs.
