Brandon + Shaena | Gilbert, Arizona | Morrison Ranch Wedding | Social Distance Wedding

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has affected nearly everyone in some shape or form. It has affected businesses, families, routines, jobs, weddings, EVERYTHING! Who would have thought that 2020 would go this way? With schools going online, families quarantined, temples being closed, and couples having to make the hard call on rescheduling or getting married without their families there. It’s been HARD for everyone! With all the fear and negativity going around this time, let me tell you this wedding was a BREATH of FRESH AIR! It was so nice being part of something JOYOUS after seeing so much fear everywhere.

These two have the sweetest story and hearing their story is so important to understanding just how special this wedding day was. I asked Shaena to write their story for me so you could hear their special story. And who doesn’t LOVE a love story?

“We were best friends right off the bat, at 5 years old. His family moved to Georgia and started coming to my church and we were always together. 5 years later, Brandon had a little crush on me and I wanted nothing to do with it but he never gave up. We started dating at 14 years old (against our parents wishes, of course) and talked all night long every single night. We dated for 3 years, we were basically inseparable and spent any chance we could together. But then he had to move to Arizona, we tried the long distance thing for about a week and realized it was incredibly hard for 2, 17 year olds to have a good relationship from across the country. So we ended things, but always stayed friends. Through all of our other relationships we were still good friends, leaning on each other during any hard times. I moved out to Utah for school and he was out their visiting some friends so we decided to meet up for lunch. We ended up being together everyday that trip.

And just 3 weeks later I was flying to Arizona to see him. We were much older and mature and able to handle long distance, even though we still hated it. Our love for each other was stronger then the distance. We spent the next couple months flying to see each other every month. We couldn’t go more then a couple weeks apart without going crazy. He came home with me for Christmas and my parents fell in love with the new man he had become, since they hadn’t seen him since he was 17. They saw the happiness he brought me, the love he had for me and how he’d fit right in our family. He proposed that trip, and of course I said YES. I had waited for that since I was 14 years old and was so happy it was here.

Through the chaos of COVID-19, our wedding plans didn’t stick. So we held a small ceremony with close family and friends to celebrate our love and finally marry my best friend. With very short notice, my parents drove all the way from Georgia to Arizona and made it just 2 hours before the wedding started. But we knew we couldn’t do it without them. It was a beautiful day, small and intimate and so so special. Getting married to my best friend was the best decision I’ve ever made.”