Meet the team

We're Randy
& Lily.

Husband-and-wife adventure elopement photographers, based in California, chasing love into wild places since 2017.

Our Story

Two cameras.
One first date.

Our first date was at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Irwindale. I had just started picking up photography, so I brought two cameras — one for me, one for Lily — and we spent the afternoon wandering the fairgrounds shooting everything we saw.

We hit it off. It turned out we both loved the same things: travel, long conversations, hiking, and being outside. As our relationship grew, so did our list of shared adventures — new national parks, new countries, new trails. And somewhere along the way, our photography grew with us.

It started as something we did for fun. It became the thing we do for a living.

We started out shooting traditional weddings in 2017. But when close friends who shared our love for travel started asking us to shoot their destination weddings, something clicked. Combining our photography with the life we were already living felt like the most obvious thing in the world.

In October 2020, we eloped ourselves — on top of Glacier Point in Yosemite, with 8 of our closest friends and family. That day taught us more about elopements than any wedding we've ever shot. We know exactly what this day feels like from the inside, because we've lived it.

These days, we travel with couples who want the same thing we wanted: something intimate, something adventurous, something that actually feels like them. That's the work we're here for.

What We Believe

Three things
we build everything around.

01
A good life is built around quality people, the outdoors, and work that matters.
02
The best elopements feel less like a production and more like a really good day with friends.
03
Some of the most beautiful moments happen when no one is posing.
By the Numbers

Nine years.
A lot of miles.

100+
Weddings
Captured
5
Countries
With Couples
9
Years
In Business
1
Very Good
Golden Retriever
The Rivas Team

The three of us
you'll get to know.

Booking Rivas means you're hiring a whole little team — and yes, sometimes that team includes a golden retriever.

Co-Founder
Randy
Lead Photographer & Filmmaker

19 years of tennis coaching taught me how to read people fast and put them at ease. I'm the guy who's easy to travel with for weeks — flexible, personable, and just as happy in a 5-star hotel as sleeping on the ground. I can talk to anyone about anything.

Co-Founder
Lily
Photographer, Filmmaker & Planner

Physician Assistant by weekday, photographer and meticulous planner by weekend. Lily's the detail person — the one who researches every location, anticipates every question, and genuinely cares about making your trip count.

Unofficial Mascot
Sunny
7-Year-Old Golden Retriever

Our golden retriever, world traveler, and occasional second assistant. She's been on shoots as far as Banff National Park. If you're dog people, just let us know — she'd love to come meet you too.

Our Approach

Show up as yourselves.

No stiff poses. No production-set energy. No "okay now look at each other and laugh naturally."

We direct just enough to help you feel comfortable in front of the camera — then we get out of the way. The best moments of your day aren't the ones you plan. They're the ones that happen when you forget we're even there.

Our job is to hold the space for those moments to happen, and to be ready when they do.

"
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately… to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.
— Henry David Thoreau
Ready When You Are

Let's tell your story.

If any of this sounds like your kind of people — we'd love to hear about your day. We only take 15 couples a year, and the best dates go fast.

Send an Inquiry →