Adventurous West Coast Tofino BC Elopement // Suzy + Rory

When Suzy and Rory contacted me two weeks before their wedding and told me that they planned to elope on a beach in Tofino with their dog, Flex, and that they wanted me to capture the day, which would include a morning dip in the ocean and coffee on the beach, I was all in.

Because of the pandemic, these two couldn’t travel back to their home country of Scotland to have the wedding they had been planning, but they didn’t want to wait, so they decided to marry in the most iconic spot on the West Coast.

Tofino is always a favourite location to shoot in, I love the wildness of the ocean and forests, and the sunsets there are unlike no other place.

I had recently found out that I was pregnant and did battle through some “morning” sickness the day of the wedding, but I was rewarded at the end of the session with a Tofino Licks Ice Cream (fulfills the pregnancy cravings so well!). It turns out that Suzy was actually pregnant on their wedding day as well, just about a week behind me, and we ended up being in prenatal zoom classes together! Since then, these two have welcomed beautiful Oaks into the world so needless to say the past year has been a bit of a whirlwind adventure in the best possible way!

We started the day off at the gorgeous Cedarwood Cove Cabin, where Suzy and Rory stayed. Their usual morning tradition of coffee together made for some cute shots and then we packed up coffee, dog, and surfboards and made our way down to the beach, where these brave souls plunged into the cold Tofino water! Talk about a morning wakeup. We headed back to the cabin so they could shower and change into their elopement outfits, and then they had a sweet ‘first look’ moment on the patio.

Suzy and Rory had gotten my info from some good friends of theirs, Geoff and Sheila, whose wedding I second shot at and who I also previously photographed in Iceland! Geoff and Sheila, along with baby Brooks were the elopement witnesses and it was so great to catch up with them :) The ceremony was a total tear jerker (pregnancy = extra hormones). Suzy and Rory had some beautifully written personal vows and I don’t think anyone had a dry eye after hearing them. Post ceremony drinks on the beach were a must and the group celebrated with a wee dram of Scotch Whisky of course (Brooks joined in with a sippy-cup of water).

The rest of the day was spent exploring some of the local beaches to take pictures, and then we capped everything off with an refreshing ice cream while Suzy and Rory video called their families back home.

It was a really weird year for me with many weddings being cancelled or postponed and most of the weddings that did move ahead were celebrations very similar to this one. It made me realize that no matter the size of the wedding that love always deserves to be celebrated. That running away and getting married on a beach with your person and your dog is a really amazing way to shine a spark of bright light in an otherwise challenging year. I hope that post pandemic I still get to be a part of these small, intimate weddings, because I adore capturing them!

Now bask in the glow of these two awesome humans, I bet you can’t help but smile along with them <3