A couple from Minnesota who were shooting their wedding photos under the starry sky got more than they'd planned for when the northern lights put on an unforgettable show, making for a once-in-a-lifetime shot.
Kristen Johnson, 30, married Brandon Johnson, 29, in December 2022 at a Catholic church in St. Paul, Minnesota. The bride, a hospital program coordinator, and the groom, a sales representative manager, are currently living in their hometown of Cottage Grove.
Owing to the state’s winter weather, which forced numerous delays, the couple opted to get their photos taken in May.
“I was like, you know what, it’s not that big of a deal if we do it when it’s warmer, we don’t need the snow on the ground,” Ms. Johnson told The Epoch Times.
The newlyweds reconnected with their wedding photographer, Laura Landin, and took a series of sunset photos on a cliff beside Lake Superior, before breaking for dinner and waiting for nightfall for the starry backdrop they wanted. However, what they never expected was that the northern lights would put on a spectacular display.
“We went and had dinner in this small town, and when we came out of the restaurant there was a few people outside, looking off into the distance, and they were like, ‘We heard the northern lights are out, you should go!’” Ms. Johnson said, adding that it was a “little bit daunting” to have an audience for their photo shoot since so many people were present to watch the lights.
“We were on what’s called Black Sand Beach, and the sand is actually black,” she said. “We got part of the northern lights and the Milky Way. You see the black sand and it almost looks like you’re standing on water.”
Ms. Johnson believes they got “super lucky,” since the “absolutely beautiful” northern lights were out at that time.
“I’ve never seen them before, so I was feeling especially captivated,” she said.
Besides the more common greens and blues, the northern lights threw in some rare pinks, too.
“They were especially vibrant that night,” Ms. Johnson said. “We wanted to get a photo of just the Milky Way, and they were so bright that we had a hard time getting away from the northern lights so that we could get a picture without them!”
Ms. Johnson was “pretty sore” the day following the photo shoot, since she had to hold her heavy wedding dress in the same pose for a long time but adds that it was “obviously well worth it.”
Explaining the process of taking the picture, Ms. Johnson said: “So what [Ms. Landin] does is, she takes a picture with the flash on that captures you, and then [you have] to hold the pose for about two minutes, because then she takes a picture with the flash off so that she can get the night sky. She composites the picture with the flash onto the picture without the flash. ... It’s really quite a beautiful process.”
“I don’t know how I would have planned to be in the right place at the right time, with the right people and all the right gear, to make something like this happen,” she said.
Ms. Johnson told The Epoch Times that she and her husband are “so grateful” to have worked with Ms. Landin. “You know, we didn’t do much of the work; we kind of just stood there, but she really made it happen,” she said. “I think that our family not only appreciates the picture that was taken but the artist that helped make the picture come to life.”
According to Ms. Johnson, her husband feels their ethereal wedding photos are “the perfect justification of how special our love story is”—a love story that began in 2016 when the couple met at a barbecue in Cottage Grove when Mr. Johnson came home from college for the summer.
“There’s just something about Brandon,” his wife said. “He’s very charismatic ... He puts his complete energy into the conversation.”
The newlyweds place communication at the forefront of their relationship. “I think it’s different for everyone, but for me, I am a huge communicator,” Ms. Johnson said. “I think it’s really easy to sometimes tell people white lies to avoid confrontation. We focus on telling hard truths, and making sure that we’re always communicating with one another.”
Ms. Johnson believes, to keep the relationship fresh and fun, you must try to “find somebody who values and finds fun in the things that you like to do, and to have some commonalities.”
She advises younger generations to “close out the peanut gallery” on social media and be sure to focus on the loved one in front of them.
It’s special to have a beautiful photo in their hands, Ms. Johnson said, but it’s even more special to have shared a magical moment.
“It’s extremely important to make sure that you ... live for the moment that you are in [and] ... don’t make the moment about getting the photo,” she said.
