Fran & Sean's Boston Elopement at the Arnold Arboretum

As with most things these days, the prospect of getting married seems a rather uncertain and difficult thing to accomplish given the circumstances. Things that have taken years to solidify have changed seemingly overnight, planning sessions have been rendered nearly obsolete, and any event still held underneath the umbrella of the COVID crisis looks vastly different than it was supposed to. As wedding photographers it’s been hard to both know where the industry is going amidst all of these changes but also extremely difficult to watch all of our couples deal with the crushing reality of not marrying their person with all of their loved ones watching. Enter Fran and Sean. Originally set to be married on June 13th in rural southern Vermont, they made the decision to stay local and super intimate by having a ceremony with just one another (and us!) at the Arnold Arboretum near Boston. Packing just the wedding essentials (spare shoes, wedding rings, cards from family) into a backpack and trekking to a spot they’d visited the week prior, Fran and Sean got comfortable under a wonderful old tree in the ‘birches’ section of the park and picked a spot to read their vows and notes from loved ones to one another. I (Andy) clapped afterwards, the sole human witness to their ceremony, and we spent a little while traversing the footpaths and hills of the arboretum until just around noon that day. We can’t overstate how special this felt to us. The idea of staying committed to their wedding, regardless of scope, in the face of such climatic adversity says something unique about their love for one another. We felt humbled and honored to be there to document such a personal moment for these two and look forward to their bigger celebration next year in Vermont.