Scott & James
The Barker House, Scituate, Massachusetts (Ceremony & Reception)
September 19th, 2025
I'm always amazed at the amount of pressure people put on themselves on a wedding day. Whether it's making sure your hair looks perfect or every little detail is lined up just right, you can see the subtle signs of nerves and anxiety in almost everyone if you know what you're looking for.
That's why it always makes me laugh when I have couples who look like completely different people before and after their wedding ceremony. The sheer amount of relief so many of the people I work with get once the “hard part” of their wedding day is over is downright adorable to me and of all the couples I worked with in 2025, I don't think this describes any pair better than Scott and James.
Scott and James said “I do” at the Barker House on a beautiful early fall afternoon in Scituate, Massachusetts and, apart from some pre-ceremony jitters, it was a day full of happy moments, lots of laughs and the kind of inside jokes that would make your momma blush.
In other words, it was everything you could ask for in a wedding … even if it did at times feel a bit stressful getting there.
My time with Scott and James started with dual groom prep sessions about a mile away from each other.
I kicked my coverage off with James as he and Scott felt his groom prep would likely be the easier of the two and when I arrived and saw how chill James was, I knew they were right.
James was waiting for me to arrive to finish getting dressed and launched right into it as soon as I pulled my camera out. What I really appreciated about his prep was how focused he was on just following directions and moving from spot to spot around the small but fairly quiet little cottage he rented for the day.
Scott's groom prep session was a much different vibe, mostly because the location he was getting ready in was much larger and had a ton more people finishing up along side him. Scott was also a bit more nervous than his counterpart but I like to imagine the nice view of the Massachusetts Bay helped put things in perspective as he was getting ready to go.
The first task on Scott and James' wedding day itinerary was a first look and the two chose to share this moment at the Scituate Lighthouse. I always like this location for a first look because the boardwalk is long and beautiful and really builds up the excitement for a couple that doesn't want to do the whole “Turn around to face your partner” thing.
I positioned James on the far end of the dock while we waited for Scott to arrive and once it was time to let them walk toward each other, their mutual smiles told me all I needed to know about this wedding day.
Scott and James chose to knock out a sizable chunk of their formal photos before their ceremony and, as is always the case as the Scituate Lighthouse, this proved easier said then done.
While I do love this location for its scenic beauty, it is a nightmare to light the boardwalk with the mid-afternoon sun beating down on you but I thought the photos of James, Scott and their closest people all came out great.
And once we got down to couples' portraits? It wouldn't have mattered where we shot these photos as these two were utterly adorable.
If I could have changed one thing about Scott and James' pre-wedding ceremony couple portraits, it would have been how I approached the timing of everything.
I couldn't see it at the time but the closer we got to their wedding ceremony start time, the more anxious both Scott and James got in front of the camera. Or maybe it was the stifling heat, which felt more like a mid summer day than an early fall one.
Either way, as adorable as the photos of Scott and James at the Lighthouse proper were, I left the spot feeling like we hadn't fully captured their true spirits quite yet ...
One of the nice things about the timing of James and Scott's wedding day was we had a nice buffer between the end of their formal photos and the start of their ceremony, which gave me time to get into the Barker House's reception ballroom and capture all the little details these two grooms created to accentuate their wedding day.
And what a collection of details it was.
Perhaps more than every other wedding I had in 2025, Scott and James made their reception ballroom their own with deeply personalized décor, like the photo centerpieces denoting the special places they'd been together, but they also kept the mood light with funny signage that showed off their personalities brilliant.
Turns out, that was just a sign of things to come once we headed outside to watch these two tie the knot.
One of the things I love about same sex weddings is figuring out how the couples will walk down the aisle. Unlike weddings with a “traditional” bride and groom, same sex couples tend to do their own thing when it comes to who is going to wait for whom to walk last.
I was glad to see James walk down the aisle first, though, because I was convinced he'd have the best reaction and I wasn't wrong. As Scott and his mom walked down the aisle, you could feel their friends and family members at the wedding all collectively say “Aww” when the big smile grew across James' face. I loved this moment and knew we were in for something special as these two became husband and husband.
Scott and James' wedding ceremony wasn't religious but in many ways felt old school and traditional in how it was handled. The two took their time really savoring the moment and letting their officiant talk about the power of love and how these two grooms have found it in one another.
Without a doubt, though, my favorite moment of this ceremony were the custom vows Scott and James made to one another. These two didn't hold back a single thing about what their love meant to them and, more importantly, what they were pledging moving forward.
I especially love a little vulgar “America's Top Model” inside joke James threw in his vows that broke Scott in a big way and made those who caught it gasp from its sheer brilliance. I caught it right away even though I don't watch that show and, yet, I still laughed about it for the rest of the night.
Following their first kiss and their official pronouncement as a married couple, Scott and James headed to their cocktail hour to mingle with guests and celebrate their milestone moment.
I loved seeing these two finally let their hair down, figuratively speaking, have a few drinks, literally speaking, and really let the nerves melt away.
It's partly why I felt so comfortable toward the end of cocktail hour asking if they wanted to get away for a few minutes for “sunset” photos even though there wasn't much of anything resembling a sunset to be had.
These few photos felt sooooooo much more like the Scott and James I saw at the ceremony vs. the one I photographed that was full of nerves at the Scituate Lighthouse and I was finally able to head inside their reception feeling good about what we'd captured.
Speaking of their reception, this was the point of James and Scott's wedding I was looking forward to the most. Not to stereotype but it's generally been my experience that same sex weddings have the BEST receptions because the people on hand are some of the most fun, accepting people you can meet and I knew from the moment Scott and James walked in hand in hand that this would be a fun night.
The pair kicked off their reception with a first dance set to “Twenty Years” by Bad Suns and what I loved the most about this dance was they didn't do anything crazy or special. They just held each other, looked in one another's eyes and savored every second together.
Following their first dance, Scott and James sat down for a great dinner before resuming the second half of their reception formalities. Up first were two touching and funny speeches by Scott's sister and James' brother.
After speeches, James and Scott each to the dance floor for a special mother-son dance with their moms and I loved both of these moments so very, very much. You could tell how close both grooms were to their moms and how much these dances meant to them without any of them saying a single word.
With formalities in the book, for the most part, it was time for Scott and James' dance floor to open up. I say for the most part because after a couple of songs, and when most of their guests were focused on the party, Scott and James did a low key cake cutting before rejoining their friends in celebration.
I didn't know what to expect from Scott and James' reception dance floor. I only knew that my time with them was coming to a close and hoped I'd be there long enough to get some great candids before I left.
Thankfully, the minute this dance floor opened up, the party jumped off and I knew right away we were good to go.
As my time with Scott and James wrapped up, I couldn't help but feel so thankful I get to see all kinds of love stories, with all kinds of couples, thanks to this lovely little thing we call wedding photography.
Even now, well over 425 weddings into my career, I'm always experiencing new moments and finding new things I love about love, like watching a pair like James and Scott come out of their shell over the course of a wedding day.
So, thanks Scott and James for trusting me to document your special day. I hope it was everything you dreamed of and more and wish you all the best on this new and exciting chapter of your lives together as husband and husband. :)
-Paul J. Spetrini
