Morgan and Loa are the absolute cutest high school sweethearts. We had planned a super cute formals shoot that was going to be in San Francisco, but then as a result of coronavirus and the entire city of San Francisco getting shut down, they decided, “What the heck! Let’s just elope!” on the day we had their formals scheduled!

These two lovebirds got married on an aunt’s property in Salt Lake City and Brachen was able to join me for this event as a tag team photography + videography duo. It’s always so fun to work together. You watch these brides and grooms express their love for each other and capture all these romantic sentiments in such a truly peaceful, awe-inspiring setting and you can’t help but be reminded of all the love you have for your own sweetheart, so I loved having Brach there.

Their wedding had a lot of typical traditions, like cake cutting and bouquet toss, as well as incorporated Tongan traditions like dances! There was a ton of family and friends, which was cool to see during the middle of a pandemic where we’re finally starting to ease back into larger groups. Everyone was super respectful of space and wore masks, only taking them off for pictures. Now that they’re married, Morgan + Loa have moved back to San Francisco, where Loa attends Stanford. Smartypants.

The coolest thing about this venue? There were swans everywhere. They just kept swooping in to join in the festivities. I’m pretty sure swans represent something special about love and marriage — I heard that somewhere. So I’m assuming it’s true, and that is pretty neat for these two!