Meet the Newtons: Reese and Logan are Married!

Reese Olivia Willardson and Logan Clyde Newton were sealed for time and all eternity in the Los Angeles California temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on March 21, 2026. 

Their sealing was beautiful. Just after getting started, a temple worker came in and paused the sealer because two more attendees were arriving last minute.  A moment later, President Lloyd and Sister Camilla Newell of the California Los Angeles Mission stepped into the room. Reese and Logan both served with the Newell as their mission leaders. Mission presidents are held to an incredibly full schedule and Reese and Logan were honored to have them attend their wedding. The Spirit was already present, but could be felt through and abundance of reverence and love when the Newells entered the room. 

There were many Reese wept the most precious happy tears as Logan beamed at her with a look that testifies of their knowledge of how lucky they are to have each other to love. They will be so good to each other. Welcome to our family, Logan! We love you! 

Just a few snapshots we grabbed.  I’m sure I will post all the beautiful professional pictures Annika took when we get them in a couple weeks. But I couldn’t resist documenting this sacred and special experience while it was fresh. 

Sealing attendees were: the sealer, Reese and Logan, Aaron (witness), me, Brandon (witness) and Amy Newton, Amy’s sister and her friend, Brandon’s brother Robert and Isabell, Izzy Jo and Ethan, Logan’s sister Jodee and husband, sister Brandilyn and husband Paul, brother Skylar, and a couple Zach and Olivia Lister from the CLAM, who have married and are now expecting a baby! Also in attendance were the Newells, a local friend Don that Logan served closely with, Collin-one of the three Lofgran brothers that Logan grew up with, and his wife-Capri, Grandpa Rob Willardson, Aaron’s sister Jana and Scott Schauss, Sister Janae and husband Steve Low, Sister in law Ashley Willardson, Grandma and Grandpa Lynn and Hal Lawrence, my brother Mark and Melinda Lawrence, Kasey Meadows, Carly Pendleton, and Finley Shaw. 

 

Meet the Newtons: Jollibee, reception setup, ballers, and flowers

 The photos loaded in reverse order but done is better than perfect. Scroll to matching photos with paragraph numbers. 

1) After the beach, we ate dinner at Jollibee in downtown Los Angeles. This is about as LA as dinner gets. Reese describes Jollibee as, “Imagine Dons marries KFC, but make Filipino. Add like a dash of Buccees flare. Jollibee.” Buckets of chicken, Mac n cheese, brown sugar tapioca frozen coconut boba drinks, fries, and ….sweet spaghetti with like eggs on it? I don’t even know. Something for everyone. The chicken and boba were delish. And LA must be prepping for the Olympics already or something because downtown is looking way cleaned up. 

2) a gorgeous night in California. We drove through Koreatown to get to the Wiltshire building where the reception was. Ryan brought the hype with windows down and K-pop Golden and Gangnam Style. We were missing Q big time, but she would have been proud of the hype with the brides helper squad. 

3) the reception was held at the historic Wiltshire building.  This gorgeous building was built in the 1920s and is just incredible. Reese gave building tours during her time as a missionary and the bishop was happy to let her and Logan have their reception in the beautiful courtyard. 

When you walk in, you can smell that old church building smell and I swear the old art deco carpets and trim have a soul. The chapel has engraved pews and intricate doors, stained glass windows that are so beautiful, Carly commented, “I think if I attended church in this building, my testimony would be even stronger just by being in this room.” And all the people who attend there agreed. They said on Sundays, the members all sing hymns in their native languages all at the same time. It’s is a beautiful very loud blend of English, Spanish, Korean, Arabic, Turkish, Samonan, Tongan, and Mandarin. 

Photos don’t do it’s beauty justice. I loved sitting in this special place where Reese and Logan spent so many of their missions. 

4) and then there’s the cultural hall. A huge stage with a backstage, catwalk, and a full sized basketball court with classrooms and storage rooms, stained glass windows above, classrooms around the perimeter, each trimmed out with the same beautifully carved french doors. One look at the most opulent ball court these boys have ever seen, and operation reception set up was turned up to 11. They hauled in bins, set up tables and chairs, got on ladders to string lights, and assembled the hexagon cake backdrop in record time so they could hoop it up. Hoop they did. Corbin, Logan, Soren, cousin Jackson, and Ryan played pickup ball for a couple hours of pure joy. 

5) the rest of set up was pretty simple. We set out tablecloths and centerpieces, candles, tied bows on chairs, strung up some lights, assembled the cutest cupcake stand, and decorated the cake backdrop with florals and greenery. 

6) Flowers - Logan left with his family, Aaron left with Scott and put little kids to bed. I had a good hour with just Reese, talking and her saying what she wanted…which is not always easy for her to do. This was so nice. We finally got Reese to go shower and get ready for bed, and then Kasey, Carly and Ryan stayed up with me and prepped and sorted flower stems for me. We took over the Helper Suite  and Finley and Kristina and Annika talked and played music and just talked about life and memories and Quincy and moms and relationships and missions and sisters. I wish I had taken more photos of this evening. It was such a fun creative time for me as a mom to make pretty bouquets for my lovely girl Reese. I also loved this time to be with so many important friends of my family hanging around the kitchen island late into the night. Very true to Willardson Core. The peonies opened up throughout the following day and it just got more and more gorgeous. I made boutonnières in the car on the way to the temple in the morning. I know I could have delegated all of this to someone else, but a) I didn’t want to and b) Reese wanted me to do it. This was one thing I chose to do myself and I am really happy I did. I honestly don’t have many photos of all the gorgeous bouquets I made, but the connection and creative process that night was very fulfilling. Reese loved the felt the love, too. 

4) basketball 

5) Setup

I ordered a dozen round floor length pink toille tablecloths for guest seating and brown gingham ruffled tablecloths for cake and the bridal party. My sister Amy gave Reese pink sashes leftover from Parker’s wedding to tie on chair backs. The silk greenery was also borrowed from Amy. The hexagon backdrop brass candlesticks and amber bud vases were borrowed from Logan’s cousins. The wood discs were from our house. The photo frames are from Amazon and are two sides frames so we printed a photo of Reese and Logan at every age from 1-21 to go back to back on the tables. At the head table, Reese printed photos of her and Logan’s parents and grandparents on their wedding day as well. It was extra special to see my parents (who were also sealed in the LA temple dancing at the reception) in front of a photo of them at their own LA wedding 59 years ago, and Reese dancing with Aaron in front of a photo of him with me in the same dress. Reese is very sentimental and these little details were so sweet and very her. 

Kasey. I do not recommend doing life without her. 

I’m so close to my daughters. Reese is my day one bestie and Kasey gets it and supports it. Everything went so much more smoothly because she knew that my kids were top priority this weekend. It felt like people were asking me questions every 2 minutes, so she and Carly started predicting when Aaron or I needed a little focus time with one of our kids and helped free us up to make it happen. Mark and Melinda also jumped in by organizing all travel and transportation efforts for my parents, and Ashley did the same for Aaron’s dad, with John and Julia staying in Utah with Lynda. Reese gets decision fatigue easily and likes things simple. A lot of love for Reese went in to this weekend from our side to make sure she was never aware of anything not working out the way it’s supposed to. 

Reese wanted a picnic vibe for her decor. Gingham, pink florals, wood and wicker. I found a little wooden swing cake stand for the cupcakes, and these tiny wicker baskets for all the bouquets to go in after the photos at the temple. 

Decor was simple and easily transported in some Rubbermaid tote bins. Thanks to the many many hardworking hands, it went up relatively quickly. 

 

3) Wiltshire Building 

1) Jollibee 

Front Reese & Logan 

Back: Left-Izzy Jo and Ethan Middle- Logan’s parents, brother Skylar, and aunt and uncle right- Scott, Jana, Avery 

Mark, Melinda, Esme, cousin Zack’s wife Emma, Grammie, Grandpa. Back: Corbin, Soren, Jackson, Ryan

Not Shown: Kasey, Carly, Kristina, Annika, Finley, Logan’s sisters and their families 

2) a beautiful night in Koreatown 

Meet the Newtons: Playa del Rey

 Since Reese and Logan were both obedient missionaries, neither of them ever spent any time on the sand during their years of service in the CLAM. It was importantly to both of them, but especially my beach lover, Reese, that we have a half day dedicated to being at the beach with the people they love most. We blocked out all of Friday afternoon, picked up Togos, and hit Playa del Rey with anyone so was in town already.

This afternoon was special. I loved the mingling of the families and bridal party and  everyone as they got to know each other as they played on the beach and in the water. 

Carly clutched up big time and had packed her car with spike all, a giant cooler for drinks  and snacks, a wagon, frisbee, volleyball, and tons of sand toys for the kids. 

My brother mark rented a few chairs and an umbrella to keep my parents comfortable, and Logan’s dad got some boogie boards. Aaron and I bought a football and sunscreen and we were good to go! 

The great thing about bringing a photographer along for a destination wedding is not having to think about photos the entire weekend! Annika took a lot of these (basically any of the good photos are hers. I have no energy to photo edit right now, so mine are all the dark un edited ones mixed in). I just grabbed them from her Instagram stories I can’t wait to see the rest.

Ryan, Finley, Kristina

Soren, Ryan, Logan, Uncle Marker
 

Mark, cousin Jackson, Corbin, uncle Scott Schauss. A huge gathering of Newtons getting in the water behind them

Lady and Grandpa Lawrence 

Bear has no problem with how cold the pacific is! 

Sloane (who can always find a Shaw to cart her around), Finley, Kristina 

CLAM companions! Reese served with each of these wonderful, beautiful, women in the California Los Angeles Mission. Jazzy Siebert, Reese, Tisha Hearle, and Soyoung (Jenna) Jeon (who was also a bridesmaid). These girls are FUN. They laughed and danced and lived up their best lives together back in their mission. Reese was so happy they came. Tisha took a bus from Illinois to Utah and met Jazzy and Jenna for an epic road trip.  

Haga I call Playa del Rey “airport beach” because planes are taking off right over the water from LAX nearby. It’s not the cleanest of beaches (a little kelpy even at high tide) but definitely nicer than crusty Venice beach. Ryan got stung by a jellyfish or something…we think maybe it was a sharp piece of kelp. Mark and cousin Emma (who lives nearby) considered our location and suggested a rogue hypodermic needle 💀💀). The guys working at the beach front convenience mart gave me some antiseptic for Ryan said it’s the wrong time of year for jellies and it was likely a manta ray. They also were in a thick green smelling cloud, so I’m not sure how reliable their water safety and marine life knowledge was at the time.

The lifeguards were great and working overtime to keep people out of the riptide (haha shoutout to groomsmen Ethan who surfed out too far and ended up with a semi unnecessary rescue and “broke the game” lol) 

Really though, funny stories aside, it actually was a great stretch of beach, not crowded  with many people outside our own crowd, there was available parking, the weather was perfect perfect perfect, and the location was equidistant to where the Willardsons and Newtons were all staying, so overall a good choice. Aunt Jana  and cousin Avery Schauss combed the beach and found a lot of pretty shells. Cute Finley took an abalone home to paint an LA temple inside of for Reese to use as a ring tray on her nightstand. Aaron and I played, visited with everyone, sunbathed, and napped. 

Me with Aaron’s sister Jana 

Finley, Kristina, me, Corbin’s precious Nikes 💀

Ryan + Bear, presidents of the “we don’t need sunscreen” club. 

Reese with her nephew Ollie

Sand castle king. Bear does beach. Beach is bears job.

My besties. Everyone referred to them as the “wedding aunts”. They get an A+ at their job. None of the bridesmaids have been bridesmaids before, and these sisters set a perfect example of how to shower someone in love. And no one is more deserving of special attention than beautiful Reese. 

A perfect day. 

Willardsons love the beach. We’ve made it tradition to spend spring break on the pristine white sand in Destin, but there is something special about the west coast. Aaron and I are both California natives and we feel part of ourselves come to life every time we are near the wild beauty of the Pacific. One of my core memories as a mother is the first time I dipped Reese and Quincy’s little baby feet into the cold ocean. We had a dozen things to do, but pausing all the prep for 4-5 hours to relax and play together on beach was the best way to launch Reese and Logan’s life together. 

Meet the Newtons: Los Angeles Flower Market and a Mama date

 In spite of getting in so late from the airport, the girls were up and out the door to hit the downtown LA flower market at 7:30am. It opened at 4am, but we found plenty of gorgeous and affordable blooms. I did all the flowers for Reese’s wedding for under $150. This included stems for 30 bud vases on the tables, 8 bridesmaid bouquets, and Reese’s bouquet. I bought 5 dozen pink and white ranunculus, 2 types of eucalyptus, chamomile, incredible ruffled tulips 12 hydrangea stems, 3 boquets of lisianthus, pink rice flower, a pinky white anemone mix, pink spray roses, and 6 perfectly plump peonies that slowly opened throughout the day in her bouquet. It was probably overboard, but affordable enough that I didn’t care. Look at these blooms! Heavenly. We lived out our flower market dreams and I said yes to pretty much anything Reese said she thought was pretty that was in her color scheme. She had a vision for her bouquet and we made it happen. 

Aaron took the kids to Walmart. Kasey Carly Annika and Finley did a target run for a swimsuit for Annika and loaded up Carly’s car for the beach while Reese and I walked next door to the hotel and got pedicures and I had my nails painted. This was only an hour, but a really nice time to just be with Reese. Logan’s family picked up bridesmaid Kristina from the train station and allllll the people in town for the wedding headed to Playa del Rey for an afternoon at the beach. 

We found things that reminded Reese of Quincy everywhere, from Korean church billboards while driving downtown to the Korean newsprint that the flowers were wrapped in. Finley played Quincy songs in the car on the way there and we all played a fun guessing game called bandle on the way back.