When it happens to you…

Many of you have heard or met Ryan over the last while and have seen him mentioned a few times. He’s really been my rock the last while in life and came at the perfect time for this business. Of course the personal side is awesome but he really became a huge part of my life within the last year and that last year happened to be my first full time year of photography. Ryan has been there in so many ways, from looking after Farfel when I’m working, assisting me on weddings, taking an interest in the field and learning videography (that service is coming for 2017) and listening to every up and down that I have for this business. He also does that all for my personal life. He’s the level headed and sometimes more practical one of the two of us while still making me laugh more than anyone has in my life! I still remember when we first started getting close that we went to Playland and were standing in the line up for the coaster laughing our heads off about absolutely nothing! At that time I knew this guy would at least be around in my life for awhile. Now look!

In September every year I like to try and get away, even if it’s just a short little vacation. A lot of times I go with my mom but with Ryan around now and my parents loving their second home up in Kamloops, Ryan and I planned to go to the island for the week that my birthday was in. I love going away at this time as it’s almost the end of wedding season and the start of portrait season so it’s a nice little time to just get away and recharge before diving back into work for another stretch of craziness! Even before I was a photographer I always found it was the best time for me to get away and it worked well with my birthday! We had decided to go to the island since we had talked about getting married and thought it might be both a good time to take a look at “potential” places if/when it happened and I wanted to scout some locations in Ucluelet and Tofino if I got the chance to photograph there since I’ve only been once. The island is so important to me so I wanted to show him some of my favourite spots in Victoria. I took a few photos along the way on the trip, mostly the scenery and a few of us of course which is why I’m writing this post! I’ve also had a few people asking.

Anyway… We headed to the island and started there, of course Farfel was along for the ride.

Day 1 -One of the things we did in Victoria was actually stay in an Air BNB. If you’ve never done this it’s an excellent opportunity to save a few bucks while staying somewhere more like a home away from home. We actually stayed in a condo that was across the street from where I used to live!

We first headed to Dallas Road for Farfel to run free.

Then we went to Craigdarroch – Farfel and I decided to hang outside while Ryan went through it.

Then we headed back to the condo and walked downtown to wander a bit.

Where I got my nose pierced!! Say whaaat? Believe it or not this is new. Anyone I’ve mentioned this to in the last few weeks thinks I’ve always had it! Whaaat?

Then we met up with a few friends for a pre-birthday dinner! Thanks to Amanda and April for coming out. :)

Day 2 – We headed to the Royal BC Museum and I also took Ryan out to Hatley Castle – my favourite place and Esquimalt Lagoon and ended the day back at the condo just relaxing and making a homemade dinner!

Farfel at the condo.

Day 3 – My Birthday!! We left fairly early after cleaning up and I got a nice jumbo free starbucks :D Our plan for this day was to head up island and over to Ucluelet for the remainder of our trip. A stop in Nanaimo for a rest and we may have went into the Cabela’s – hence the new white hoody you’ll see. Then we were off again and made a stop in Coombs for the goats on the roof for Ryan. Next we hit the road again to head to Cathedral Grove – one of the most beautiful forests I’ve seen! Here is where I actually took a lot of pictures. Especially of Farfel, and us.

Okay Ryan took this one. He’s getting so good!

Then Ryan wanted me to find a “magical spot”. The light was all over and nothing seemed perfect. I didn’t really think too much about it to find a perfect spot, we had wanted some pics of the two of us and just had a tripod so it was a little more difficult. So his request for a good spot wasn’t exactly hard.

This is him trying out spots. He was very patient (it took me forever). Maybe I should have used this one. It was pretty good.

Eventually I settled on this one, especially as I was able to find a spot for my tripod. I finally got a little family photo of the three of us.

Farfel modelling.

Then! Ryan was like “is this a good spot” and I said it’s pretty good. So he started telling me all about how much he cares about me, and all that jazz. He gets pretty sappy a lot (seriously, he’s the sappy one in the relationship) so I was like oh no not again! This time was different!! He was EXTRA sappy, talking about his heart beating and something… Well let’s be honest, it’s a blur now, all I know is it made me a little weepy. I took this picture as he was getting SUPER crazy sappy…

THEN, after this moment he got down on one knee and proposed!!!!! I knew he was going to propose sometime soon and suspected it would be during this week but I HAD NO IDEA it was going to be at this point. Of course I got extremely weepy, it was epic. Also, I stopped taking pictures (obviously). I like how this is the last moment before he proposed as even though I’m a photographer it was never really something I wanted photographed. I’m actually a very shy person at times and I only like attention when I’ve prepared for it. To be honest even in this moment there was a few people about a hundred feet away and it made me feel so shy!!!!

Since we were still on the high of it all we wandered around a little more in the forest and laughed with each other, after phoning and texting people of course to let them know. Took a bunch of iphone selfies. Who do you think the first person I called was??? :)

Then we were on the road to Ucluelet to go stay at the Cabins at Terrace beach. We settled in and headed to Wikkinnish Inn for a super fancy dinner to celebrate our engagement AND my birthday of course. Can we not forget my birthday here!? ;)

We ended the night at Long Beach. Ryan took the photos of me.

Day 5 we spent exploring some of Ucluelet at the Cabins at Terrace Beach, including the awesome lighthouse trail.

That weeny <3

That guy <3

Those two <3

Then we dropped Farfel off at the cabin and headed to Tofino for lunch and a wander.

And another stop at long beach…

A good opportunity to show off this beauty…

It was Ryan’s first time in Tofino and Ucluelet so it was fun to show him around like we did in Victoria. It was a great time to relax and spend some good time together, especially being newly engaged!

Day 6: We headed back home with a little hike just outside Parksville

We have a lot more iPhone photos and an awesome video Ryan shot as well but I wanted to share a bit of the story and some of the photos on my camera. :)

Here’s one more of the sparkly!

And for those asking, I won’t be photographing my own wedding and I DO have someone in mind. Heheh. It sure is interesting being on the other side and planning my own wedding. Maybe we’ll share some details along the way. :) Thanks for all the love and best wishes we’ve already gotten from everyone, means the world we feel so supported and loved.