Amber's Wedding!

Another weekend over, and another wedding in the books. I know, it's actually absurd how many weddings Eric and I have had in the last month or so, but I have to say I really have no complaints. We are having a blast. I LOVE weddings, especially when I don't have to plan them! :) I'll get to the wedding from this past weekend eventually, but let's go back to my epic Pacific Northwest adventure. 

 

When I last left off, Eric and I were saying goodbye to Vancouver and it was time to head up the coast to Amber's wedding! As you may know, the wedding was up on the sunshine coast which is north of Vancouver. It's hard to explain and i'll probably do it wrong, but essentially the wedding was on an island. I am pretty sure it's really a peninsula but Amber told me there are really no words that go there, and I heard it referred to as "the island" several times, but it shouldn't be confused with Vancouver Island where Victoria is. In order to get there we had to take a car ferry. I was actually excited for the ferry ride especially after we already experienced one in Seattle so I knew kind of what to expect. I suppose it would get annoying waiting for the ferry if you do it often, but I liked how you could get out of your car, go to the bathrooms, get a snack and even access wireless internet while you wait. 

 

 

Of course, like everything in this area of North America, the ferry view was gorgeous. We were easily entertained just starring at it for the short 40 minute ride. Once we got over to the "island" we still had about 45 more minutes to drive, so we decided to stop for lunch on the way. Lisa recommended a place called The Wharf that she had lunch at the day before, so we went with her recommendation. Just for the record, Lisa is the only person I know who gives good recommendations/directions while on a trip, especially a trip that she is not driving. If it was me, I may have not even known the name of the place I ate, I *definitely* would not know how to get there, but Lisa did! Lunch was delicious and this was the view, clearly I have no complaints. 

 

Eventually we made it to the hotel, and checked in. While we were checking in, I said our name and they were like "oh yay, the anniversary couple!" I was like wait… what? They insisted that I mentioned it on the phone when I booked a room, but I was like… that really doesn't sound like something I would do ha, ha. Even when I try to get free stuff I am bad at actually telling people it's our honeymoon/anniversary etc. It turns out Eric's mom, working with Ash, figured out where we were staying and called ahead to get us champagne and breakfast. Totally did not see that coming! AND, look at the view from our cabin...

The resort itself was really beautiful and obviously you can tell the views are amazing. They are pretty much known for their special Tenthouse Suites, which I only peeked at but they looked amazing. They clearly don't pay as much attention to their cabins, but honestly the view was just as good so if you are looking to save some money and don't mind very small bathrooms and 70s decor, I kinda liked the cabin :) 

Oh, also I could SEE the ceremony from my cabin, which is a pretty amazing way to go to a wedding. Since my commute to the wedding involved about 15 steps, I arrived early to take some detail photos and get a good spot to be a pretend videographer. 

 

 

Since I had my camera video tapping the ceremony, I didn't get any photos but as you can see from the picture above, the ceremony was gorgeous. The weather was perfect, the view was perfect and of course Amber (and bridesmaid Lisa) looked gorgeous. I love short and super personal ceremonies like Amber had, and I especially loved that she had her aunt (I think it was aunt, maybe cousin ha) sing in the middle of it. That was a fun personal touch that I enjoyed. In a flash, the ceremony was over and we got in line for the cocktail hour. This is where the beginning of my downfall was at this wedding because I did not notice how heavy handed they were pouring the wine, I swear there were like 10 glasses for every 1…okay fine maybe 2-3 for every one, but seriously Rockwater, were you trying to kill me? haha. 

We took some cute pictures during cocktail hour of the bloggers: me + Anais + Lisa + Amber :) 

After cocktail hour we headed back down to the tent for dinner. Amber's little brother Logan was the MC while we were eating, so he had contests for us to see who would get to go up for dinner first. We had to guess what song he was playing, and it was actually pretty hard! Then, it was time for speeches. The best man and maid of honor gave a speech first, and Amber and Eric gave a thank you speech, then the microphone was open for anyone to go up. I should just say now that I would NEVER have let this fly at my wedding because something ridiculous would have been said, but everyone who got up and did a great job and it was really fun to hear lots of hilarious stories mostly about Amber. Some of the highlights were hearing about her 21st birthday and hearing how organized she is over and over haha. I might be biased but my FAVORITE part of the speeches was when Lisa got up to talk. She got big cheers from Anais and me when she said she was representing the blogging community, wahoo!

 

I did not know Lisa had a secret hidden talent for spontaneous public speaking, but she does! We also played some other games during dinner, one involving shoes and Amber and Eric having to guess who was more likely to do a variety of mostly embarrassing things. I have to say, I've never been to a wedding with games before and I kinda liked it. 

I got some cute photos of Amber and Eric during dinner too: 

 

 

 Plus, we took more of the bloggers: 

After dinner, things got more crazy when I ended up in a pink cowboy hat...

 and Amber ended up with cake across her face...

 

 There was also some cute dancing...

and cute crying...

and shocking events… (no idea what was shocking)

 

Of course, Eric had to shock the Canadians with at least one of his tricks (as Lisa calls them)

 

At midnight, we took a picture of Eric and I because it was officially our 2 year anniversary :) 

It was overall a wonderful night! I'm so happy we were able to make it up to this beautiful, beautiful spot to see Amber have such a happy happy day! Believe it or not, I'm not done recapping this amazing trip. I think my next post will be my last though, so stay tuned to hear how we spent our anniversary and our adventures on the 2 day trip home. 

What are some things you love about weddings? 

I love so many things: beautiful places, delicious cocktails, dancing, listening to sweet/funny speeches, and so much more. But the thing I love the most about weddings is spending time with friends/family and getting to see the bride and groom be very happy!