tourists in tofino

You just saw the wedding, now this blog features the trip to Tofino itself. We departed rather early on a Saturday afternoon worried about the long line ups that might await us since it was a long weekend. Upon arrival, we found out just how awesome getting a reservation was because there was no line up at all. Pretty much straight to the front of the line. It was nice being on the ferry again. The last time I rode on the BC Ferries was maybe 6 years ago! 

Less than 2 hours later we were on the road. It was such a beautiful drive. As we drove along, we found a spot that looked rather scenic and decided to stop for a bit and explore. The place was called Cathedral Grove, but we ended up walking in the wrong direction and instead found the houses along Cameron Lake. These houses were really cool because they were completely off the grid! It was also interesting in that no one was around at all. We walked around for about half an hour before heading off again. 

We drove for an hour or two more until we saw these interesting rock formations along a river. There were some people walking along the banks, so we decided to stop and explore for a bit as well. I've never seen anything like this before! After walking around this area for a little bit we headed off again, and this time didnt stop until we reached Tofino. At one point, for at least at hour we were truly in the middle of nowhere as not only did our cell phone reception die off; the radio stopped working as well! We arrived at the Spotted Bear in Tofino for an absolutely delicious dinner and settled down for the night. 

Saturday started with a tour of the Botanical Gardens and then we started shooting for the day. Of course we had to grab some Tacofino before the wedding!  The photos from the wedding can be seen here. After the wedding we returned to Crystal Cove to photograph the starry night. We stayed here until midnight, which by then the stars were starting to fade from the incoming clouds.

The last day started with breakfast at the Westside Grill; because fish n' chips for breakfast, why not? We then headed to the beautiful Cox Bay which is the most popular soft spot in town for some quick photos before heading back home. On the way back we stopped in Port Alberni for a quick lunch. We had such a great time in Tofino and hopefully we will be back again some time in the near future for another wedding!

tofino botanical gardens wedding

Break a leg. A phrase often said as a means to wish another luck has never rang more true at Kira and Ira's Tofino wedding. The couple first met three years ago on a romantic dinner at Nados Chicken. It was on that faithful day that a Facebook friendship started and following a healthy courtship that spanned various locations throughout western Canada that Kira and Ira became a couple.

Fast forward to late July, 2014; one month out from the wedding. In a freak accident, Ira had broken his leg in three places and was surely going to be on crutches for at least the next 6 weeks. 

As the excitement leading up to the wedding built, we were once again hit with another hurdle. Rain was in the forecast. On the day before we departed for Tofino, the weather wasn't looking good. It seemed that rain was imminent but it didn’t matter to me. I was on a mission to take the best wedding photos I have ever taken no matter what the circumstances. 

On the first night we were in Tofino, I remember waking up at around 1AM to the sound of pouring rain. The last thing I remember thinking about before falling asleep was sun. Think sun, sun happens. 

We woke up to sun. Glorious sun. Not cloud. Sun. Break a leg right? Luck was on our side. Nothing could go wrong as we were greeted to the most amazing day of events, and photography. 

I had never photographed or attended a wedding as unique as Kira and Ira's.  We started with the first look which was at Crystal cove. After giving the couple some time to themselves, we worked our way around the area for some portraits, taking advantage of our time together before we met with all of the guests. 

Situated at the Tofino Botanical Gardens the wedding started with a ceremony in the middle of the woods. Gathered were close friends and family with smiles that no weather could have phased. The short ceremony was filled with tears of joy, love and laughter, and soon enough, they were officially married. 

Now beings the celebration. Arranged was a three stage cocktail hour that brought the guests around the Botanical gardens, with each location greeting them with h’orderves and drinks. At each location we took the couple aside for a few minutes to capture the surrounding areas as it was important to the couple for the shots to feature the beauty of Tofino.

After the cocktail hour, we made our way onto the garden grounds in which a simply elegant family style dinner table setting was set up by the staff earlier. Much of the decor was actually made by Kira and her parents! The night progressed with games, delicious food and speeches that evoked both tears and laughter. In the midst of photographing the guests mingling and having a grand time, I took a look up and couldn't help but notice the the thousands of stars the scattered across the skies. I have never seen such a sight before, and honestly didn't not expect to see it then. The sun was more than what we could ask for; the stars was icing on the cake. 

I just wanted to finish with one more note. Kira loves cheese (hence her cheese-cake). She likes to say, think cheese, cheese happens, but leading up to her wedding she had changed that thought to, think sun, sun happens. She came up to me shortly before the night ended and said, did you see the skies?! Think stars. Stars happen. I know I mentioned above that I didn't expect things to turn out so perfectly, and its true; but the universe works in mysterious way. I purposely didn't bring an umbrella, and I also made sure to bring a tripod with the intent of shooting stars, despite seeing the weather forecast ahead of time. Making the best of what you have can turn out pleasantly well sometimes.

Break a leg!

Dress: David's Bridal

Suit: Moores

Kira’s Shoes: Aldo

Ear Rings: BHLDN

Hair & Makeup: Studio One 

Flowers: Crabapple Floral

Venue: Tofino Botanical Gardens

Wedding Planner: Rare Earth Weddings

book review: eat that frog!

“Eat That Frog” by Brian Tracey does not disappoint! The book is all about getting more done in less time, and throughout the book, Brian details into many methods that can be applied to your life to make it more efficient. As standard for Brian Tracy, he also goes into goal setting and the power of working from lists. 

The big takeaway from the book of course, comes from the title. Eat that frog basically stems from an analogy meaning to do the hardest thing first. If you’ve got something on your to do list that you’re just dreading and finding every which way to procrastinate against it; thats the thing you gotta do first. Once you get that out of the way, it’s smooth sailing. Work from hardest to easiest. As a society we often get stuck in the rut of just working on easy things that are often meaningless and never really get into doing what is most impactful and important in our lives. 

This brings me to the second biggest takeaway for me from this book and that is focusing your time and energy to activities that have high importance and impact. It is these activities that will make the greatest impact in your life if you can excel at them. It’s much like focusing on your strengths. For example, if you’re a freelance graphic designer, you should focus on your graphic design work and leave all the work with numbers to an accountant, because that is what they’re good at. 

Throughout the book, Brian Tracey also details into several chapters on how you can dramatically bring down your procrastination. I found this book to largely being about fine tuning your life. It’s not really a flip your life kind of book (though it can be!), but more of a lets work on the details kind of book. I highly recommend it!