You know an event that is accessed by seaplane is going to be a rustic adventure! Julia and Victor held their wedding (actually, the first of three wedding celebrations!) at the West Coast Wilderness Lodge in British Columbia. The gorgeous mountains, water, and forest surrounded them with natural beauty as they exchanged vows on a stunning deck at the lodge. This being the most intimate of their celebrations it was the perfect place for a group of just 30 guests to share the experience. Julia’s bouquet of purple anemones was a striking addition to their purple and green theme. Read more about their love story below! And thank you Modern Romance Productions for sharing this wedding! You can also watch their wedding video here.
From the Bride…
Before the Ring:
Vic and I met in Nishinomiya, Japan (a city in Kansai, btw Osaka and Kobe) in 2005. We’ve been together now for about 8 years, and actually met there as part of a university exchange program at Kwansei Gakuin University. We were both Canadians at the same “sister school” in Japan, although we were from different parts of Canada and attended different universities in Canada on opposite coasts of the country. He was a student from UBC, as he grew up here in BC, but I was born and raised in Ontario and was attending a school in New Brunswick from which I went on the exchange. Anyways, it was totally by chance that we met and fell in love in Japan, and continued our relationship when we returned to Canada, even though it meant doing a long-distance relationship for the final year of our undergrad degrees, before I decided to move out to BC upon graduation, so that we could be together.
The Proposal Story:
The proposal is kind of a funny story. You see, since we were together for such a long time before getting engaged or married, we had discussed it many times but we wanted to be financially stable first, with jobs and have a place of our own to call home. So, we bought a home together first, and then he knew I had a very specific idea of what I wanted for a wedding ring, and since I am a fine artist for a living, I actually designed my own engagement ring. Basically, I drew it up, and had my family jeweller in Ontario make it (Italian families tend to work with one jeweller for generations). My parents came out to BC for a visit from Ontario, and my Dad stealthily gave the ring to Vic to put into safekeeping and out of my sight until the time was right. Of course, I knew the entire time that it was hidden somewhere in our house. Anyways, it took him almost 2.5 months from that point until he finally found the right way and right time to propose…We went for a walk at UBC Japanese Gardens one day, and sat down by a really lovely koi pond. And then he opened up his knapsack and started pulling out photos of when we met in Japan, reminiscing about our first fond memories as a couple. I noticed his hands shaking, and that he was purposely distracting me to look at the photos and not at his fumbling hands, searching for the ring box in his bag. A minute later, he got on one knee, with tears in his eyes and a shaky voice, and he asked me to marry him. Of course, I said yes and started crying like a baby.
Wedding Day Inspiration:
In terms of inspiration, we both wanted something simple but classically elegant. He’s really fond of the eggplant purple color we chose to incorporate, and I thought it would work really well with the royal blue accents and bright green. Originally, we hoped to keep the whole wedding to a simple, small event here in BC and another small event in Ontario for my extended family, all of whom would not be able to attend out here. But, in the end, it somehow turned into 3 full-on receptions, a MUCH bigger wedding than we anticipated. Our event on the Sunshine Coast, at the West Coast Wilderness Lodge in Egmont was our smallest event of the 3. There were 30 people at the ceremony and reception, and although we ended up having 2 huge receptions after that day, the event at the lodge was the low-key and elegant event we had initially hoped to do. The weather was stunning, and my dress had the classic and timeless appeal I wanted – something I can look back on in photos 20 years from now and still think is beautiful. So, I’ll never have one of those “What was I thinking?!” moments. We really wanted to have a focus on nature, and since I grew up in Ontario, and my family had a cottage near Muskoka all while I was growing up, the lodge immediately resonated with me, like a place I could almost call a home away from home, and it just felt “right.” The food was fabulous, the staff was friendly, and the lodge itself was immaculate. It couldn’t have been more perfect as a venue choice.
Photography: Modern Romance Productions, Inc / Venue: West Coast Wilderness lodge / Flowers: Les Fleurs de Fi / Hair: Tara Porter of Hair Matters / Makeup: Christina Visser / Seaplane: Harbour Air / Wedding Commissioner: Andrew Barker, retired RCMP Chaplain / cake: Clayton’s Bakery