This is the story of the time I got married in Tofino BC. It was a beautiful sunny spring day and we got married on the beach at Cox Bay.
Some of you may have already heard the news that my boyfriend and I tied the knot on Easter weekend in Tofino, B.C.
Some of you may not have.
I know I’ve barely talked about my boyfriend. Just once really, when I was provoked into blogging due to Snuggie-threat.
But the truth is, I wouldn’t have mentioned him at all unless it was serious and, well, it was.
Here’s some of the story of the time I got married, more to follow
But before you get all mad, thinking we kept you in the dark, you should also know we are both pretty tight-lipped about our plans and we are both kind of sort of the “low key” kind of people.
And all we wanted to do was elope, because getting a lot of attention is scary. Except I figured my sister would kill me (she would have) and maybe even my mom. So we thought about it a bit longer and decided what we would do is “destination” it a bit, but only a bit, and bring the whole family.
Since we’re low-key and shy and blah blah blah we decided it would be fun to theme-it-up, with a vintage/30s thing. A co-worker had the perfect dress for me (she got it for a steal at LW$79 marked down from $3,200 not a joke) and once I had it cleaned I nearly fell over at how gorgeous it was.
We bought a bunch of awesome hats at a vintage hat shoppe, found a couple at thrift shops, and also raided our parents coffers to have all sorts of interesting props. I also managed to find a hat, which I felt was perfect for the ceremony. And my mom sewed belts for us girls out of remnant fabric I found at a fabric store to tie everything together (pun intended).
Oh, and I wanted simple, antique-y flowers for my bouquet so my boyfriend made me one from hydrangeas.
Whoops. I’m getting ahead of the story.
The time I got married in Tofino BC
After we decided the location-ish (Vancouver Island, maybe Tofino), we hired a wedding planner. Suzanne from West Coast Weddings and Events. Right away she put me at ease. She was really professional and knew her stuff. Once I described what we were going for (low-key, simple, beach, family only) she put me in touch with exactly who we needed, recommended ideas and people for what we weren’t sure about, and basically was on-call for all my stressed-bride-to-be moments for the next few weeks as we planned for real a wedding, which up until we hired Suzanne, we weren’t planning at all.
Why Easter? Well, Suzanne was available. Plus everyone had a long weekend so they could make it. Makes sense, right? Right?
Anyway, the most important thing to us (after the props) was the photographer. Honestly we didn’t care if we couldn’t have a beach wedding, due to rain, or if the place we stayed was only OK instead of awesome. We didn’t even care if our meal was in-house or at a gorgeous restaurant. We wanted awesome—themed—photos. Thirties-style. And a rad photographer.
Suzanne recommended a few local photographers and Marnie Recker stood heads and tails above the rest. We loved her framing, use of light, and great ideas. It may seem strange, but we completely trusted her from the get-go, never doubting for an instant that we would love, love, love her photos.
And we so love, love, love our photos.
She ended up giving us over 400 images…way more than what we had agreed upon. We were so caught off-guard when she told us how many we were getting I don’t think either of us even said anything. Yikes! Really we’re thrilled! So cool! And we are working on our testimonials so we’ll make good.
Not only do we love, love, love the photos, but we had the best time with Marnie. We were comfortable the whole time and I wish she lived near me so we could be BFFs. Really!
The rest of the story of the Time I got Married
The day was so, so awesome and we got better weather than we could have hoped for—skies so clear-blue you’d think it was July, 15-degree (Celsius) weather with a quiet breeze, and a relatively empty beach for a near-private wedding.
We (not me, but everyone else probably) made a beautiful aisle with driftwood and shells, which were all just hanging around waiting for us to use them. And we brought in a decorated arch, which was a pretty nice addition to the scene, but also not needed. We were in the most gorgeous part of the world I have ever seen.
We took photos around Cox Bay, which is where the local minister Joan came out and performed a beautiful ceremony for us, and I can’t believe the range of scenery there was in a 10-minute walking radius. Sheesh. Ridiculous. I totally get why people go to Tofino and don’t go home.
A short engagement? Yeah, probably. A lucky strike? Most definitely. The best wedding ever? Heck yes! Our resort was B-E-A-utiful, our dinner was fabulous (best steak I’ve ever eaten), the weather was gorgeous and the setting could not be improved upon.
Oh, and I got a pretty awesome husband out of the deal!
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13 Responses
Thanks for sharing this Robyn. Your wedding was beautiful!!!
*tear* ugh, happy, HAPPY tears 🙂 xxoo
Thanks for sharing! I was wondering if/when you would.
I had already contacted Kortney and proposed we take hold of the next months polls so that you had to tell us about the guy… or at least just the wedding!
So so so happy over here. I can’t say anything other than it looks perfect. All of it.
Oh my goodness! Congratulations Robyn!!!
I will admit I was shocked to hear it- because I mostly keep up with you on your blog, and you have hardly even mentioned you were seeing anyone! However, I think you went about things perfectly. If I were to do it over again, I would do it much like you did – small with only the closest people there. A good photographer. Yup, you nailed it. And you look beautiful. And your pictures look great. I think the most important part of hiring a photographer is finding someone you trust and then letting them do their thing. Congrats again. (are you at least going to tell us his name???)
What wonderful photographs. Amazing! Youll never ever regret your decision to hire someone that amazing. That’s one thing that I hear the most that people regret: Hiring someone who was cheap despite not really liking their photos.