West Coast Ocean Side Styled Wedding at the Sooke Harbour House

Bride and bridesmaids in all in cream with pastel accents

It's always such great feeling do be doing style shoots. It's the freedom of being as creative as you wish to be, working along some other amazing people who you share your vision with and models who are just so sweet and easy going. In this epic wedding style shoot, we wanted to feature some of the best ocean front wedding venue as well as some beautiful feminine bridal styles and create different looks by changing the accessories, hair styles and makeup. Our goal was to create something very feminine and beautiful to inspired the lovely Vancouver Island future brides and give them some fresh yet natural ideas and make them discover stunning ocean side hotels and resorts. We spent an entire day shooting in 3 different location (Delta Victoria Ocean Pointe Resort and Spa, Oak Bay Beach Hotel, and Sooke harbour house) and getting the models hair and makeup and style ready. I could not have done this without the amazing team we had!

This part 1 of 3 blog was shot at the Sooke Harbour House.

Sooke Harbour House in the Spring

THE VENUE

This 28 rooms boutique Hotel was recently awarded by WeddingBells for being on the top 30 of the loveliest wedding venues in Canada. Less than an hour away from Victoria, located in the town of Sooke (where I lived for more than 6 years - such a beautiful part of the Island and a fun town with so much wildlife and nature things to do near by), the upscale harbourside inn is facing Sooke Basin, overlooking Whiffin Spit peninsula and the Olympic mountains. This beautiful little piece of paradise is just the perfect venue for a wedding! They have been hosting weddings for over 33 years they make it their goal to help you create a peaceful, unique and relaxing wedding, a magical occasion in which every detail is perfect. They help make the challenging process of planning a wedding effortless with the help of the sweet and lovely Gemma who is their wedding coordinator. Just to have her help you plan your wedding is a good enough reason to book your wedding at the Sooke House, she is so great and easy to work with!

Natural vintage and romantic bridesmaid's look at the Sooke Harbour House

THE STYLE

Romantic, vintage, dreamy and magical, this inspiration features a pastel palette, loose hair styles, roses, subtle gold, laces, water colours and gardens. It's a Champetre wedding the way you have always dreamed of it.

We decided to go with the bridal party only, all ladies for the models to create a more feminine and fun vibe as well as something different to inspire bride and bridesmaids. For the entire shoot (in the 3 different hotels-to come in other blog soon) we only used one dress for each models but turned them into different styles with different hairstyles and accessories to showcase the different styles that can be done with one dress. Bride and bridesmaids where dressed and accessorized all from stores in Victoria to keep it all local: (Blush Bridal Boutique and Violette ) Even our engagement rings were provided by a local artist that specializes in wedding and engagement rings made from recycled materiel (Emma Glover Design). Hair and makeup where done by two talented Victoria hair stylist an makeup artist that specialize in wedding (Conscious Hair and Alexandra Foreman Artistry who always knows how to make a woman look her best!). Elena from Conscious Hair always does such beautiful and natural looking hair style. One thing that I love about her business is that she always keeps the environment in mind and uses natural and eco-friendly hair product like John Masters Organics. I am so sensitive to environnemental issues and I believe that any little thing we can do to help keep our planet alive is a small step toward a big achievement. So why not do it too on your wedding day? A green wedding anyone?

Award-winning designer Karen Stone, owner of Sea of Bloom floral boutique located right in Sooke made beautiful bouquet and flower arrangements for for the ladies. Pastel and roses to stay with the our vintage romantic theme.

Vintage intimate wedding at the Sooke Harbour House with lace, pastel, roses and gold notes.

THE DECOR

With over 10 year of experience, Tricia Hartig owner of En Vied Events created our beautiful intimate wedding table inside the Sooke Harbour House restaurant with the help of Karen from A Sea of Bloom who supplied the floral arrangements. Although the Harbour house can accommodated very private weddings, they also have a tent outside and an indoor area a well were they can accommodate bigger wedding. The beautiful menues and other stationary were made by talented also award-winning Laura Prpich from Tuktu Paper Co. Laura is just an amazing illustrator and is certainly one of my favourite wedding paper good designer on the Island!

Whiffin Spit: Named for a clerk on the royal navy's vessel "Herald" which surveyed Sooke Harbour in 1846, the spit protects the harbour from the breakers coming in the Straight of Juan de Fuca from the Pacific Ocean. Tall ships sailed through the far channel to carry lumber from the muir to distant ports during the latter half of the 19th century.