Mollie and John’s Wedding at Tigh Na Mara Resort

On Aug 17, 2012, my good friends Mollie and John got married! It was held at Tigh Na Mara resort in Parksville, BC at a gazebo outdoors. It was a great wedding! I was pretty happy I found some shade that day because it was about 31 degrees, and I had to drive from Victoria to Parksville (about a 2 hour drive). So it was definitely a good spot to cool down.

It’s pretty crazy seeing so many of my friends either married or engaged or having kids. I feel like I’m still trying to figure out life (finding “the one”, getting a real job, etc, etc). Maybe I’m just a late bloomer…

Anyways, here’s the pictures from the wedding! Congrats!! It was an awesome day!

The bridal party and John.

Mollie and her dad.

They’re married!!!

Chad Proposes To Rotha @ Bernard Park

I was in Europe from July 14 – Aug 5 (I will continue my blog posts about it after this… Because this is pretty important). I got a message from my friend Chad on Aug 3rd saying he needed my help on something. He said it was a secret so he wasn’t able to talk about it over the interwebs. I had no idea what this “secret” was because he always has some crazy idea brewing. So I got back from Europe, spent a day or two recovering, and then we went met up…. Long story short, Chad was going to propose to his girlfriend, Rotha on their 4th year anniversay – exciting!!!

Yesterday (Aug 13) was the big day! Here was the plan:

1. have everyone show up at Bernard Park (that’s where Chad and Rotha took the dog) by 8:00pm (near sunset)
2. Chad & Rotha walks down the path (which would be lit by candles) to the park with the dog
3. Chad & Rotha shows up at the park and sees a bunch of friends/family
4. show a slideshow of memories of Chad & Rotha
5. give Rotha a present that Chad made (the decoy)
6. BAM! Propose!
7. hopes Rotha says yes
8. happy!

So here’s the pictures:

Chad and I met up at 12:30pm to set up the chairs, projector, computer, sound system, cameras, everything. Then at 5:30pm – 7 whatever ish, other people showed up to set up the candles on the path and more cameras and finish up the loose ends.

Here’s the place at around 7:30pm. We were just finishing everything while people started showing up. It looked ace.

The pathway that was lined with candles.

Here they come!

Watching the slideshow.

Shoot! Someone noticed me taking pictures of candid people!

The lamp that Chad made for Rotha

The proposal!

She said yes!!!

Sorry, wasn’t able to focus properly on the diamond… Pretty close though.

A toast to Chad and Rotha!

Sorry that a bunch of pictures didn’t turn out alright. But at least Chad and Rotha are super happy! Congrats to the two of you, and thanks for letting me be a part of such an amazing event.

The ring was custom designed by local jewelry business, Vanessa Jewellers. Check out their website here: http://www.vanessajeweller.com

Three Convocations!!

This past week and a bit, I was invited to a few of my friends’ graduation ceremonies. They were all on the Lower Mainland, and it was some good times.

The first one was Brenden’s. This was at the Fraser Valley Adventist Academy (FVAA). All the grads are on the left. I got there and realized I knew a couple of other people, so that was pretty cool.

Pastor Dauncey giving a speech.

Brenden got a bunch of awards!

Kelly was one of the grads as well and got a bunch of awards as well.

Go Bo!

The second convocation was Lori’s. Her’s was held at Simon Fraser University (SFU). The venue was a bit different from what I’m used to. It was held outside. I couldn’t imagine being there for the winter convocations. But it was a nice change in scenery!

The SFU pipe band started the ceremony off. It was awesome.

Lori walking across the stage! There were sooo many grads!

The last convocation was Shannon’s. Her’s was at the Abbotsford Events Centre. She gradded from the Fraser Valley University (UFV). They had an awesome live band playing!

All the graduands.

Red Robinson got an honoury doctorate.

Shannon about to walk across the stage!

Stay classy, grads.

So it’s been a pretty long 10 days – a lot of watching people convocate, running around, etc etc. But it was great seeing everyone graduate! Congrats everyone! So happy for you all!

History Maker 2012

Over the May long weekend, my youth group went to a youth conference called History Maker. It went from the 18th – 21st. Last time I went to this conference, I was a youth, and it was held in Kamloops, BC. This time, I was a leader, and it was in Abbotsford, BC (just a little closer). There were 20 something youth that went, and we definitely had a great time. We left on Friday at 11am so we would have time to get off the island, check into the hotel, chill out, and make it to the 8pm start of the conference.

History Maker is a youth conference where youth groups from various churches gather to worship and learn more about God. There are general sessions in the morning and evening to start off/end the day. This is where a band leads people into worship and then a Pastor would give a short sermon. In between the morning and evening sessions, there are a whole lot of workshops that people could attend. This year, there were bands like Leeland, Jake Hamilton, Greg Sczebel and Press Play. Speakers like Elijah Waters and Eric Samuel Timm. There’s a lot more bands and speakers, so you could check out the full details at www.historymaker.ca.

Here’s some pics of what happened at the arena during the weekend.

Here we are waiting for the night to begin while people started filling the arena.

Leeland

Jake Hamilton

Familia playing at the outside stage.

More Jake Hamilton

Legacy One

More Leeland

Eric Samuel Timm

Propaganda

Matthew & Marlena’s Wedding

May 12, 2012…. Matthew and Marlena’s big wedding day!

It’s been a really hectic past week and half. My friend Shannon roped me into playing music during the wedding ceremony, so off I went to the Mainland on the 4th. We had to learn about 15 songs and on top of that help with a bunch of stuff such as: a lot of various arts and crafts, organizing the sound system rentals for the ceremony, etc. I definitely wasn’t expecting to be doing all this, but stuff had to get done. So there were a lot of late nights and early mornings.

Fast forward to the wedding day… The ceremony was held at Milner Chapel, Langley, BC – A small little chapel that seated about 80 – 100 people. It was a nice little place. The ceremony was really nice too. Everything went smoothly (thank goodness!). I wasn’t able to take any pictures because I was playing music, so a big thank you to my friend, Peter Trotter who was able to capture this day with my camera.

Ian & Joanne’s Wedding

On April 21, 2012, Ian and Joanne got married at Church of Our Lord. It was a great little wedding, and the weather was amazing that day. Unfortunately I didn’t take that many pictures because there were a lot of heads in the way of a good shot. But I took what I could. Congrats you two!

This was them ringing the church bell at the end of the ceremony.

The reception was at North Douglas Church. We definitely danced the night away. Again, I didn’t take pictures because I didn’t want to babysit my camera the whole night… Thanks for the great times!

Brie & Blaine’s Amazing Wedding!!

July 23rd, 2011… My friends, Brie & Blaine got married finally! SO happy for them! It was held at Esquimalt Lagoon. Right on the beach. It was such a perfect day – not crazy hot, simple, small, and not a single cloud in sight. I’m going to stop typing and just post the pictures.

This next picture is stitched together using 5 pictures. Click on it to see a higher resolution.

Stop! Reception time!!

Congrats you two!! You guys rock! Great party!

Click on the pics to see a higher resolution picture.

Canada Day 2011!

Late Saturday night update!! Hey everyone, sorry it took me this long to post up the pictures from Canada Day (July 1st)… I get distracted easily. But thought I’d do an update before I leave for a camping/rock climbing trip at Nanaimo River!

Anyways, Matt and I got annual passes at Butchart Gardens recently, so we thought might as well go check out the gardens again. This time I came prepared with my 50mm lens. I thought it would be good practice for me and it’s a great place for it in my opinion. When Matt and I got there, we obviously rode the carousel, and this time the roses are in full bloom! Sooo beautiful!

Afterwards, Matt and I met up with people from his church and we all had a potluck dinner, then we all headed downtown to hang out and watch the fireworks. I think every year the fireworks get better and better! (Note to self: use manual setting next time you take pictures of fireworks). These next pictures were taken with my Sigma 10-20mm lens.

Hope you all enjoyed this as much as I enjoyed taking these pics. But I’m gonna grab some sleep now. Leaving tomorrow to Nanaimo River… Be back on Tuesday night probably!! Keep checking back.

Escape From Victoria

It was my birthday on Saturday, so I decided to have a chill weekend and go to the Mainland to visit a few friends just to keep it low key. I think I’m just too lazy to organize a party… But anyways, I’m sure throughout this week, I’ll be catching up with friends and all that. So I guess it’s gonna be like a birthday week? Sure why not!

So on Friday, I ducked out of work a little early and headed for the ferry.

I’ve always enjoyed ferry rides. It lets me throw on a pair of headphones and just drown in music for an hour and a half. It’s just a good place to chill out and do nothing. It gives me time to think, rest, or do whatever. Yes, I know. I’m weird like that.

My friend Shannon thought it’d be funny to make a “multi-cache”, and the final stage was my birthday present (For those who have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s geocaching. You can check it out right here). So on Friday night once Shannon and Shannon picked me up from the ferry, we had dinner at Wendy’s and then went back to Shannon’s place out in Langley. She made me do the first two stages of this “multi-cache” as they were indoors… Tomorrow, I’ll be tackling the outdoors portion of it.

Saturday – Woke up. Church. Do the rest of the multi-cache. This ended up being a 5 stage multi-cache. The coordinates were a bit off, so it was pretty much a game of hot and cold all around the outside of Shannon’s house. I’m sure everyone had a good laugh about it – watching me wandering around aimlessly trying to find these things. So after being out in the cold for a while, I found them all and it was time to get back inside to warm up and find out where the final stage was. I pieced it together, and played another game of hot and cold only to realize that the final prize was underneath where I slept! Jeez, thanks for that… But anyways, the present ended up being tickets to go see the Vancouver Giants VS Chilliwack Bruins hockey game out at the Prospera Centre in Chilliwack! Fuuun!!

We went geocaching for a bit, then went to the hockey game. It was a good time! Vancouver won 5-1! Yay!

This is what happens when you leave the kids with your camera for a few minutes:

Sunday… More hockey! Shannon’s mom got tickets to go see the Canucks Super Skills at Rogers Arena, so she gave me, Shannon, and Matthew (Shannon’s brother) tickets! It was a good time – The Canucks showing off and having fun! First off we had a round of mascot musical chairs. Marty the Marmot was there (mascot of the Victoria Salmon Kings). It was awesome!

Thanks for the amazing weekend! More to come!

Check out more pics of the Vancouver Giants VS Chilliwack Bruins game and the Vancouver Canucks Super Skills.