Beneath a starry sky, Sosé Thomassian and Allen Yekikian held each other on their wedding night, arms looped around hips, eyes locked, for more than 20 minutes so the photographer could capture what would become their favorite wedding photo.
Back at the wedding reception in a lakeside Armenian town, the photographer showed off the shot and the crowd cooed.
The couple got their wedding, but there will be no first anniversary. About eight months after the wedding, on May 10, Thomassian and Yekikian died in a head-on car crash while on a weekend getaway in Georgia, Armenia's neighbor to the north.
He was 28, she was 30.
News of their deaths shocked the local Armenian community, prompting memorials, including a candlelight vigil at St. Mary's Armenian Apostolic Church in Glendale, YouTube tributes and obituaries in Armenian publications here and abroad.
"They were supposed to grow old together. They were supposed to have kids," said Arek Santikian, a friend of the couple. "They were supposed to teach their kids about what they did and how to live."