We first met these two pre-COVID for their adventure engagement photos at Afton State Park (It even included fishing!). They were ahead of the game, already planning an intimate elopement in the Colorado mountains for their wedding day the following year. But their plans for a reception? It got pushed around with all the things we all went through in the last year plus, so they settled on having a wedding reception here in Stillwater, Minnesota, for those near and dear to their hearts right after their one year anniversary.

We first met Reed and Maranda a little over a year ago as their search for wedding photographers began for their wedding day at Historic John P. Furber Farms in Cottage Grove. We had fun chatting, and soon it was time to take their engagement photos, and I remember coming home and telling Mark that Reed and Maranda were the type of people we’d want to hang out with. Reed is out-going and fun, sharing his wealth of ecology if you step out into nature with him, whereas Maranda is supposedly more shy and has successfully completed nursing school. We have to say we didn’t see this shy side in Maranda on her wedding day but a confident RADIANT bride who was absolutely in love with the idea of forever marrying her man.

Challenging would be an understatement when you’re planning a wedding during a pandemic and you’re halfway across the country, and yet, Elizabeth and Robert did it! These native Minnesotans moved to Portland for Elizabeth’s dental school and so once they got engaged, they knew they had their work cut out for them in planning a wedding day back in Minnesota. Then came the mandates and impending unknowns, so they chose to switch things up and enjoy an intimate wedding at Robert’s family home in Finlayson. As they said in their own words, it wasn’t about being black tie, but having fun and showing it.

There is not much more adorable than watching two people in love becoming one on their wedding day while taking their wedding photos– seriously, the sweetest thing! We repeatedly leave weddings sooo beyond grateful that we get to be photographers to such amazing couples! Daniel and Anna had to prove to us that they can be even more adorable than “just” loving on each other on their big day, but also that they were loving becoming official aunts and uncles to their precious nieces and nephews. We watched them throughout the day as they patiently listened and answered numerous questions as they walked around the University of Minnesota’s Grace University Lutheran Church grounds, celebrated and cherished the little ones around them (especially when letting the flower girl try on Anna’s dress and hold her flowers), giggling when the ringbearer booked it multiple times out of the portraits when he felt he was done versus trying to force cooperation, and even sharing a bite of their cake cutting piece with the littlest niece when she walked up with mouth open wide. It goes to show that when you choose to spend the rest of your life with the one you love, you are also choosing to spend the rest of your life in relationship with their loved ones – and Daniel and Anna are ready to dote on the precious littles around them.

I watched a message this past week where the pastor talked about life is how we frame it, and we have to be intentional about what we frame. He had a beautiful picture of a sunset taken from an airplane window. In the bottom right corner were dark thunderous clouds, and the rest of the photo was beautiful oranges, yellows, and pinks of the sunsetting below. The idea is that, while we can’t change the scene of life, we can choose what we focus on. We can take our small frame and frame the dark thunderous clouds, making everything seem dark and discouraging, or we can move the frame within the same scene and focus on the breathtaking beauty of sunset. This is exactly what couples like Luke and Anna are doing. While COVID has made life in general challenging , especially when planning a wedding, they chose to focus on what is beautiful instead of the dark and gloomy corner.