Tayler & Jake’s Salem, Massachusetts Engagement Session

Some couples want a giant wedding. Hundreds of people. A giant party. A year of planning. Seating charts that make you question every friendship you’ve ever had.

And then there are couples like Tayler and Jake.

They came up from Texas with a completely different plan: keep it simple, keep it private, and get married in a way that actually feels like them. No giant guest list. No wedding-day circus. Just the two of them, somewhere they really wanted to be.

And honestly? I’m here for it.

Before their elopement at Hammond Castle, we started with an engagement session at Green Lawn Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. Tayler had picked the location because it had pretty much everything we could want for a session: enormous old trees, a pond, historic gravestones, an old bridge, moss-covered stairs, cool street signs, and a gorgeous old cathedral.

Well… mostly everything.

The cathedral was unfortunately under construction when we arrived, which was a massive bummer because the outside was SO cool. Fieldstone, huge red doors, stained glass… basically everything I love photographing. Naturally, the one thing I was excited about was the one thing we couldn't use.

But that's photography. You roll with it.

So we started wandering.

And honestly, Green Lawn Cemetery was pretty damn cool.

We photographed them walking through the cemetery, hanging out amongst the old gravestones, and using all those giant trees and historic details as part of the session. There were sections with rows of veterans' graves, all uniform and simple, which created a really interesting backdrop. We found old street signs, little pockets of light, huge trees, and plenty of places where Taylor and Jake could just be together without the session feeling overly posed.

And these two were ridiculously easy to photograph.

They were comfortable with each other, goofy when they needed to be, affectionate without making it feel forced, and completely willing to just go with whatever weird thing I asked them to do. Basically, the exact kind of couple I love working with.

Eventually, after wandering around trying to find the thing, we made our way to the bridge and stairs we'd been looking for.

And OH MY GOD.

Moss-covered stone, old architecture, giant trees, and all the creepy-cool cemetery vibes. Exactly the kind of location that makes me very happy to be a photographer.

We finished their session there, and it ended up being one of those sessions where the location gave us so much to work with that we didn't need to overthink anything. We just walked, explored, talked, laughed, and stopped whenever I saw something I wanted to photograph.

Tayler and Jake originally met during their first month of college when their friend groups ended up meeting each other. Nothing overly dramatic or cinematic there, which I actually love. Sometimes you just meet someone, you click, and eventually you're standing on a rooftop under the stars while that person asks you to marry them.

Which is exactly how Jake proposed.

A rooftop. Under the stars. Just the two of them.

Pretty damn cute.

And now, a few days after this engagement session, I'll be photographing their actual wedding—or, more accurately, their true elopement at Hammond Castle.

Just Tayler and Jake.

No giant guest list. No room full of people waiting for the ceremony to end. No rushing around trying to make sure everyone else is having a good time.

Just them.

They'll get ready, get married, explore the castle, and spend the day together doing things their way. And I'll be there documenting the whole damn thing.

This is exactly why I love true elopements.

They're intentional. They're personal. And they don't have to look like anyone else's wedding.

I'm already ridiculously excited to see what we get at Hammond Castle.

But for now, here are Tayler and Jake wandering around a cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts, looking entirely too good amongst a bunch of gravestones.

I'd say that's a pretty solid way to start an engagement session.