Tofino, Chesterman Beach Wedding

Sometimes rain at a wedding is a good thing.

This hasn’t been the most sunny summer on Vancouver Island so I never know what to expect each weekend when a wedding comes up. Once you add in the unpredictability of a wedding on the West coast of Vancouver Island then really your guess is as good as mine. One thing is for sure… I never want it to rain, but on this day it rained and I was quite happy about it… in the end.

Adam, who is originally from Australia, spent some time working on the mountain during ski season and he eventually found his way to the beautiful West coast of Vancouver Island where he runs an immaculate B&B (more on that later). He met Katie online as she also had plans to move to the west coast and they obviously hit it off!

Their wish was for a fun and relaxed beach-feel wedding. With the help of wedding planner Sheila Orchiston from Rare Earth Weddings every last detail of their wedding was in order.

Luckily, more often than not, you get pretty nice light in Tofino since there is a haze that diffuses the light which can be seen in the ceremony photos. When this haze turns into West coast sideways rain it is not so nice. Luckily for us the rain held off for the ceremony, but started as soon as the ceremony ended.

I have had to deal with rain many times. I always pack 6 beautiful matching umbrellas and work with an assistant who can pack up her camera to help keep me and/or the bride and groom dry if we want to work around the rain. I didn’t feel this was an option on this day as I could tell the wedding party was cold, wet and ready to warm up. I was secretly mad at the rain for a moment because of how beautiful South Chesterman Beach is and how important it was to Adam and Katie to have a beach themed wedding. I knew I couldn’t photoshop a beach in for them if we chose to go somewhere else.

As I brainstormed with my assistant Kim, we decided that it would be best to go back to the B&B for photos if Adam and Katie were okay with this. When I threw the idea out there, Adam was especially ecstatic since he was the manager of the B&B. This was not some ordinary house turned into a makeshift B&B – this was the BriMar B&B, a carefully crafted West coast house with the sole intention of it being a B&B heaven. It’s stunning details inside and huge windows that look out to the surfers on South Chesterman Beach make spending a rainy day indoors perfect! It was a photographers paradise and I could only imagine what it must be like to stay there.

We spent about 60 minutes inside using the old fashion bathtub, classic windows and staircases. I was so happy that the rain had forced us in there. The best part of all was since Adam and Katie planned a solid window of time for photos, we still had time to hit the beach for 30 minutes afterwards when it cleared up.

Thank you rain!

ABOVE: The BriMar B&B.ABOVE: One extra little note… Adam and Katie are expecting and we made sure to incorporate her cute belly into a few shots.