Helen & Skye were married in a place where a wander through the dappled light in the forest brought you to a big rock by a lake and where the clouds in the sky were mirrored in the water below. There were many beautiful things about their wedding that we have stored away in our hearts. During their ceremony, a passage from The Velveteen Rabbit was read and it was so lovely that we’re going to leave that for you, here, along with the photographs from their glorious weekend at camp.

“What is REAL?” asked the Rabbit one day… “Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?”

“Real isn’t how you are made,” said the Skin Horse. “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.”

“Does it hurt?” asked the Rabbit.

“Sometimes,” said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. “When you are Real you don’t mind being hurt.”

“Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,” he asked, “or bit by bit?”

“It doesn’t happen all at once,” said the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

“I suppose you are real?” said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.

“The Boy’s Uncle made me Real,” he said. “That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can’t become unreal again. It lasts for always.”

“Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. He didn’t mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn’t matter.”

The Evening Before

The Wedding Day

We also had the joy of creating one of our stop-motion films of Helen & Skye’s weekend:

A celebration under nature’s canopy: leaves and sun and clouds and stars.

A dog with a bowtie and a goofy smile.

An off-roading adventure to a secret spot for some photos in the wind.

A few sets of grandparents who dance together, hold each other tight, and breathe each other in the way a newlywed couple does.

Emma & Kolin’s wedding day in the Okanagan.

With their ceremony concluded, Megan, Tyler, Graeme, and I raced up the hills that surrounded a vineyard to enjoy last of the sun’s rays on their wedding day before it dipped below the mountains.

More to come from their magical celebration.

A crowd gathers on the porch of the lodge and looks towards the darkening sky: two planets are aligning. And in view of this natural wonder in the growing darkness, they party on.

We love photographing the celebrations that pull people away from the pace of city life and invite them to go on morning walks to the water’s edge, to put their cell phones away because the service is spotty, to bask in the glow of the late afternoon sun, to dance until all the stars come out or just sit with friends and chat over well made cocktails and craft beers and good wine because there’s nowhere they have to go and no rush to get there.

Arabelle & Leonard chose to celebrate their love in this way. It was marvelous.

Bodega Ridge on Galiano Island is one of our favourite wedding venues, ever. That’s saying a lot, because we have been to many places for weddings. If we’d known about this gem when we were married, you can bet we would have had our wedding celebrations here. The natural beauty here is next to none and Jesse, who runs the retreat is a top notch human being. If you’re looking for a no-stess weekend with your favourite people ever and a wedding day marked by beauty, connection, and amazing food, head there.

One frame from Sonia & Andy’s incredible Naramata wedding.