Crystal and Morgan’s Vancouver Island wedding morning was grey and the rain was pouring down hard. We had all been watching the weather for awhile, and we knew that it might happen.
Expand Post.
Archive for 'Vancouver Island / Victoria Wedding Photography'
I’ve been looking forward to sharing Kara and Kris’ wedding with you for awhile! It was great to have the opportunity to photograph this wonderful bride and groom. Kara has been following our blog for awhile, and it was exciting and inspiring to work with someone whose style is so similar to our own! I was excited to see all her DIY details unfold throughout the day.
Expand Post.
It has been great getting to know Sanja & Chris ever since our engagement session back in November. They are two of the warmest people we’ve had the chance to meet! We were excited that their wedding day had finally arrived and on such a beautiful summer day at Brentwood College in Mill Bay, just north of Victoria, BC.
Chris and Sanja kept the laughs and smiles going all day and everyone had a great time. There were definitely some interesting stories told at the reception – “Sanja the Siberian” and “Chris’ Fishhook” just to name a few!
Sanja and Chris, we wish you all the best in your lives together!
Mike & Ashley Kitchen
SNAP Weddings, Victoria wedding photographer
Gavin and Kristy’s beautiful vintage western inspired wedding was held at the Cowichan Exhibition grounds in Duncan, B.C.
Mike and I had been looking forward to working with Kristy and Gavin ever since we first met them back last summer at our engagement session. Kristy and Gavin know how to laugh and have a good time, and we knew that we were in for a great day!
DIY (do it yourself) brides get ready to be inspired, because Kristy collected, painted and crafted all of the lovely details you see in the images below. Kristy even hand painted the moustache mug gifts to give to her bridesmaids for their morning coffee! Gavin works in forestry, and we love how they have tied this into the theme of the day.
The bridal party was transported in a ivory school bus, which has become a popular vehicle for SNAP couples! We love how Cooper, the couple’s Bernese Mountain Dog, was involved in the ceremony, and was able to get everyone to laugh. He is such a beautiful dog!
The whole day was creative and inspiring to photograph, and it was absolutely wonderful to have the opportunity to shoot a wedding for the first time in Duncan, where I grew up! Mike and I were excited to see that there are some wonderful wedding professionals here in the Cowichan Valley. I have listed some of the lovely vendors at the bottom of the post that were involved to make the day a great experience for everyone.
makeup – crave beauty boutique
flowers – leaf and petal
band – monkey wrench
ceremony & reception – cowichan exhibition grounds
Mike & Ashley Kitchen
SNAP Weddings, Duncan wedding photographer
-
-
Amazing pictures!!! You do fabulous work…it's been awesome getting to work with you
Thanks for the link!!xx Cort
What a great way to start the summer wedding season – A warm sunny day, some island hopping, and a great couple to share the day with! Amy and Aaron’s wedding took place at Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River, BC. The resort also has a second property a ten minute boat ride away called April’s Point on Quadra Island. Many of the formals were taken over on Quadra, with the bride catching a water taxi back over just in time to walk down the aisle!
It was a perfect day! My sister Amanda married her best friend Luke last Saturday, and we were surrounded by amazing family and friends on this perfectly sunny day.
Thanks to my husband Mike for snapping these photos of us girls enjoying our blackberry mojitos right before the ceremony!
The wedding was held at Pacific Shores Resort in Parksville, here on Vancouver Island. The resort is surrounded by flowering gardens, and a fantastic panoramic ocean view. Because most of the guests stayed at the resort, we had a great time mingling and hot tubbing all weekend long. Many of the guests received relaxing massages in-between the ceremony and reception, while others enjoyed having lunch on the front lawn just outside of my parents suite. I loved that all the guests got to relax and get to know each other better, and they didn’t even have to leave the resort.
The ceremony was held outside on a grassy lawn overlooking the ocean. The guests all sat on white wooden chairs, and the umbrellas that we had planned as backup “just in case” didn’t have to come out of the packaging. While the wedding party walked out to music that would build and become louder, everyone waited in anticipation to see the bride. Just as she appeared at the end of the aisle the music burst into a perfect dramatic chorus, and it was certainly enough to trigger tears from me and many of the guests. As I watched my sister and father come down the aisle, I couldn’t hold back the joy and tears. Amanda was so excited to see her husband to be. I could barely bring myself to look over at Luke, as he was beaming with joy and was trying his best not to tear up.
Married!
The new family!
Our mom and dad.
My sister and I have a mutual friend named Caryn Sturhahn who was responsible for making these creative floral arrangements. The night before the wedding she created bouquets and boutonniere’s from flowers she picked up at a local flower farm. Caryn has such a creative eye, I bet you wouldn’t believe that this was her first time making floral arrangements for a wedding? Although a lot of the flowers she used were found locally and even picked from our backyard, many were shipped in as per the brides wishes. The arrangements were a perfect combination of Caryn + Amanda’s vision for her wedding day.
I just have to share these photos of the other bridesmaids, they are all such beautiful people!
Thanks to my new brother-in-law for allowing me to take your place by the bride for a shot with my sister! He snapped up this great picture for us, which I will always treasure!
I thought that the groomsman looked absolutely fantastic! A very handsome group of guys.
Luke graduated from photography school at ACAD in Calgary, Alberta and had some very generous offers from a couple of the friends he made there to take the photos for the wedding. The very talented Ingra Marthe and Robyn Nowoczin photographed the entire day for us. I enjoyed very much trading in the role of wedding photographer to be the Matron of Honour, it was a very unique experience to see my sisters wedding with this perspective. As I mentioned in the last post, my hand was still glued to the camera most of the day, I just couldn’t resist capturing all of the pretty things going on around me.
A peek behind the scenes…
All of the photo locations that we shot at in between the ceremony and reception were found within just a few minutes of the resort. We went to Rathtrevor Beach, one our favorite places to go when we were kids. At this single location we found lush forest, over grown fields, and of course a beautiful stretch of beach.
My sister and I seem to have the same taste for cute photos, because when we spotted that there was an ice cream shop so close to the beach, we jumped on the opportunity for a cool break in the shade with colorful scoops of Island farms ice cream in waffle cones.
When we arrived back at the resort, the guests had all settled into the reception tent that had been set up right behind the ceremony area. Luke and Amanda had all kinds of fun ideas to make their reception unique. I loved this table seating chart that they put together, as well as this colorful guestbook idea. All of these messages will later be glued into a scrapbook.
Amanda and Luke – Mike and I are so proud of the two of you – everyone is excited to hear all about your honeymoon in Maui! We love you both very much!
~Ashley Kitchen
Bridal Gown : Ethos Bridal in Calgary
Groomsman Attire : RW & Co.
Bridesmaid Attire : Custom made by Marcie @ LeBlanc Boutique in Victoria
Footware: Aldo Shoes
Hair : [Bride + Matron of Honour] – Tigh Na Mara Resort & Spa
[Bridesmaids] – Louise Solbrekkan
Flowers : Caryn Sturhahn
Ceremony & Reception : Pacific Shores Resort & Spa
Photography: Robyn Nowoczin, and Ingra Marthe Skyberg
Cake: Thrifty Foods
Music: RSM Productions
-
They were AWESOME DJS, they kept smiling and laughing the whole time – fantastic
Thanks for the story Bethany!!
-
cute story about this wedding…
I was at a new friends house and I saw Mike's business card in the bathroom.
I was like ' i know them! – amazing photographers eh?! '
and then she said that she's never seen people party so hard then at this particular wedding. and they were sober. and they all went to church.
we both laughed.
she was the dj.
peace and love,
bethany
-
looks like you all had a fabulous day! Congrats Amanda and Luke, you look amazing
-
-
SOOO cute…..and so very photogenic! Congrats to your sister and family on the happy day!
My Sister got married this past weekend!!!
Alongside a large group of wonderful family and friends I had the pleasure of standing up for Amanda and her fantastic Groom as their Matron of Honour. It was exciting to be involved with a wedding in a different role than I usually play, but of course as I’m sure most of you expected, I still had the camera glued to my hand most of the day.
I want to gush about all the details and the gorgeous sunny setting that we had, but that will come in a few days!
For now, just a preview of the new couple.
-Ashley Kitchen
Last week Mike and I spent some time out on Vancouver Island catching up with family and friends. The British Columbia heat wave was at its peak, and we noticed temperatures as high as 43 degrees while we were there! We managed to cope with plenty of lovely chilled B.C wine, cool oysters, ocean front patios and beach days! There really wasn’t too much to complain about.
Mike and I love Vancouver Island, and we had been looking forward to Julie and Mike’s wedding for quite some time. Julie is a good friend of mine, and it was so amazing to see how beautiful she was and just how happy her new husband Mike makes her. The day was as perfect as a wedding day can be. It was so scenic and peaceful.
Here are some of our favorites from the day! All of our photo locations were found within minutes of the ceremony location. Yes, B.C really is that beautiful.
The ceremony took place in the backyard of her friends home in Sooke. The view of the Pacific was a breathtaking back drop, and the mist that had formed on the ocean made for some really interesting photos for us later in the day! There were freshly picked wild flowers and lavender everywhere, it was so very west coast!
There were three flower girls, and they were just so thrilled to be walking down that aisle.
The big moment…
First Kiss as Mr & Mrs.
Mike’s family has a long history on the island, and the reception hall was one that was used by his grandparents and their children (and their children) for many years! It was a hunting lodge in the woods that made for quite the fun reception.
Just after the cake had been caught, I found this little cutie drooling over the cupcakes. She was just memorized, she didn’t even notice me! They WERE delicious cupcakes!
As I get to know Mike, I realize that he has many charming qualities! Not only was Mike was responsible for some last minute (beautiful) landscaping on the ceremony property, but he also has quite the musical talent! Before the reception started to wind down he sang to his bride one of their favorite songs. It was the kind of performance that makes the hair on your arms stand up on end. I’m pretty sure he had every lady swooning by the end of the song! Simply incredible.
Congratulations Julie and Mike, we are so happy for both of you! Julie you have found yourself quite the guy, and Mike- Julie is one of the most amazing and rare gems that this world has to offer! I am sure that the future has a lot of great things in store for you both!
-
Wonderful pics. Such an honour that you guys wanted to get married at our place. Neat to think it will be part of everyone's memories of the occasion. Sweet!
Linda
-
ashley these are beautiful! I can't believe how time has flown by. Are we all married now? Crazy!
-
yea I love them, I like your detail pics, such cool colours. good stuff!
-
kWow, great pictures. Mike, and Ashley, you do such a great job.
And you are right, Vancouver Island, is the most beautiful place in Canada.
Hey
Congratulations on your upcoming wedding!
Actually – the wedding ceremony and reception was at Brentwood College in Mill Bay. We took a few photos at Barbs Garden which was absolutely beautiful! We could have shot there all day if we had more time, lots of fantastic photo spots. The owners were quite lovely to allow us shooting time there.
~Ashley Kitchen
Did they get married at Barbs garden in mill bay? I see a picture was taken there on the bridge– did they have the reception in toad hall? if so how was it? I am planning on getting married there in August!