Photography by Unspoken Photography.
If there were ever a day that proved you do NOT need perfect weather to have an absolutely unreal elopement in British Columbia, it was Emily and Eric’s.
They came to Vancouver from sunny Arizona dreaming of big moss-covered trees, mountains, water, dark romantic florals and that unmistakable moody Pacific Northwest atmosphere.
And BC understood the assignment.
It rained.
And it poured.
And instead of fighting it, everyone leaned all the way in.
The result was a rainy, romantic, slightly gothic Vancouver elopement that felt like Emily and Eric had dreamed up the weather themselves!
From Arizona to the forests of British Columbia
Emily and Eric travelled to British Columbia from Arizona, although their story started years earlier in Wisconsin.
As in 2008 earlier.
They were high-school sweethearts who first met when Emily and her friends needed somewhere to hang out and ended up at Eric’s house. Emily remembers thinking he was cute, funny and quirky — and, importantly to a teenager, he had a car.
A few months later, Eric asked her out on MySpace.
Honestly, iconic. Who remembers MySpace?! Speaking my millennial language! Lol (I had to sorry Gen Z)
Their first date was snowboarding, with Eric teaching and Emily spending the day on the bunny hill. She remembers being terrible at it and Eric patiently staying right there with her even though he could easily have gone ahead.
That dynamic never really went away.
Emily describes Eric as gentle and calm, the person who steadies her when she feels anxious or high-strung. He’ll go to the bookstore with her for the thousandth time, join whatever activity she's interested in and pull her into adventures she might not have chosen for herself.
Eric loves Emily’s curiosity, her constant desire to learn and grow, and the way she is always sharing something she has read or recommending another book. He also loves that she is willing to try things with him — including mountain biking adventures that might initially make her a little nervous.
And travelling has always been a huge part of their relationship.
They’ve road-tripped around the US, travelled internationally and built a relationship that seems to operate particularly well on the philosophy of: we’ll figure it out.
One of their favourite examples happened on a spontaneous trip to Sequoia National Park.
They arrived minutes too late to check into the campground, found themselves there in cold, rainy weather and eventually discovered another tiny problem with their camping plan:
They hadn't brought sleeping bags.
Naturally, they made dinner, cobbled together blankets and an emergency foil blanket and made it work.
The next morning they woke up surrounded by enormous trees, fog and mist.
Years later, they would choose another rainy day among giant trees for one of the most important days of their lives.
Which feels pretty perfect.
A proposal built around everywhere they had been — and everywhere they still wanted to go
Travel even found its way into Eric's proposal.
After buying a house together, Eric planned a date night there for Emily's birthday while they were still working on the home.
He created an activity using travel tags, asking them to draw and write memories from places they had visited together. A globe sat nearby, representing both the adventures they'd already had and all the places they still wanted to see.
Then Eric asked Emily if she would continue to walk the world with him.
And gave her the custom ring he had designed using the elements Emily had picked out while they were ring shopping.
She said yes.
After so many years together, though, the two of them weren't suddenly interested in having a big traditional wedding.
They had never really been a traditional couple.
When conventional wedding planning started feeling stressful, they realized they wanted something completely different: a trip, a beautiful experience, some of their favourite people and a wedding day that was short, meaningful and relaxed.
They legally married at home in Arizona and came to British Columbia for the celebration they actually wanted to have.
Photography by Unspoken Photography.
Why they chose British Columbia for their elopement
When we started planning, Emily and Eric knew much more about how they wanted the day to feel than exactly where it should happen.
Atmospheric.
Whimsical.
Romantic.
Magical.
A little gothic.
Emily loved the idea of water — whether that meant a waterfall, lake or ocean — along with BC's huge moss-covered trees and mountains. They wanted to spend time outside and experience somewhere completely different from their home in Arizona.
Their eventual vision was essentially a moody romantic fairytale set in a misty, lantern lit forest, with dark reds, burgundy and deep greens woven throughout the day.
More importantly, they wanted to feel relaxed and supported.
They told us one of their biggest priorities was having the logistics handled so they could actually be present and enjoy themselves instead of spending their wedding day worrying about what came next.
That became the guiding point for the entire plan.
Finding the right Vancouver elopement locations
One of the biggest advantages of planning an elopement in Southwest BC is that your ceremony and portraits don't necessarily need to happen in the same place.
And for Emily and Eric, trying to force one location to do everything would have meant compromising something important.
During the location discovery process, we explored options including Spirea Nature Trail with Alouette Lake, Pacific Spirit Regional Park and other forest settings around the Lower Mainland.
Then there was Lynn Canyon.
It had so much of what Emily had been describing: enormous trees, moss, lush forest trails and the suspension bridge.
Visually? Yes.
Logistically for their entire group? Not quite.
Emily and Eric weren't actually eloping alone. They were bringing roughly 20–24 family members and friends, and some of their guests had mobility considerations. Emily's grandpa would be there too.
A ceremony that required everyone to navigate uneven forest terrain, stairs and the suspension bridge didn't make sense.
So instead of giving up Lynn Canyon, we split the experience into two locations.
Lynn Canyon would belong to Emily and Eric.
Cleveland Dam would belong to Emily, Eric and their people.
It gave them the best of both.
Photography by Unspoken Photography.
Can you combine Lynn Canyon and Cleveland Dam for an elopement?
Yes — and Emily and Eric's day is a perfect example of why using multiple Vancouver elopement locations can work so well.
Lynn Canyon gave them the intimate, mossy forest experience they wanted for couple portraits and private vows.
Cleveland Dam gave us a much more accessible ceremony setting with expansive views over Capilano Lake and the surrounding mountains, making it easier for their family and friends to be part of the experience.
Rather than choosing a ceremony location based solely on which spot photographed best, we were able to consider accessibility, guest experience, scenery, timing and photography separately and build the timeline around all of them.
For couples planning an intimate wedding in Vancouver with older relatives or guests who have mobility limitations, this can be such a good approach.
You don't necessarily need to sacrifice the adventurous portraits you've imagined just because the same location isn't appropriate for every guest.
A slow wedding morning in Kitsilano
Emily and Eric spent the Vancouver portion of their trip based in Kitsilano, giving them easy access to the beach, restaurants, coffee shops and the rest of the city.
They wanted their wedding morning to feel slow.
So it started with coffee and breakfast before heading back to get ready.
Hanna joined Emily for hair and makeup, and there was intentionally time built into the afternoon to eat before getting dressed and heading out.
Emily wore a gown from Vivienne Atelier with pearl jewelry made by a friend, while Eric wore a suit from Men's Apparel Club. Her engagement ring was from Point No Point Studio.
And then there were the flowers.
Emily had asked for something dark, whimsical and a little gothic.
Our florist, Alice, created the most gorgeous arrangement in rich burgundy and red tones — the kind of florals that somehow looked even better against a grey sky, wet greenery and Emily's dark hair.
They were exactly right for the day.
Photography by Unspoken Photography.
Private vows in the rain at Lynn Canyon
Before meeting their guests, Emily and Eric headed to Lynn Canyon with our team.
The rain was already very much part of the day.
So we brought clear umbrellas.
And lanterns.
And then carried all the things — coats, veil, lights, flowers, umbrellas — through the forest so Emily and Eric could just experience it.
They took portraits on the suspension bridge before wandering into the mossy forest, where they read their private vows to one another away from everyone else. The timeline intentionally gave them this little pocket of the day to themselves before shifting into celebration mode with their families.
This was exactly the atmosphere Emily had been describing throughout planning.
Dark forest.
Wet moss.
Lantern light.
Cathedral-length veil.
No crowd.
Just the two of them.
And rain falling through the trees.
Our coordinator Destinye described how genuinely happy Emily seemed simply to be in the forest.
There is one photograph Sarah captured from behind a tree during this portion of the day that says everything about it.
It doesn't look like two people enduring bad weather.
It looks like two people who ended up exactly where they were supposed to be.
Photography by Unspoken Photography.
A rainy Cleveland Dam elopement ceremony at “golden hour”
While Emily and Eric were at Lynn Canyon, their guests were picked up from Kitsilano by private shuttle and transported to Cleveland Dam.
This was another intentional planning choice.
Coordinating transportation for an intimate wedding group means guests don't need to navigate unfamiliar roads, figure out parking or worry about getting from the ceremony to dinner afterward.
By the time Emily and Eric arrived at Cleveland Dam, their people were there waiting for them.
And still — very much — so was the rain.
No one seemed particularly concerned.
At one point Destinye offered an umbrella to one of their guests, who essentially responded that the rain was part of the experience.
Exactly.
Everyone gathered under umbrellas overlooking Capilano Lake, with the mountains disappearing into that soft grey September sky.
At 6:00 p.m., their ceremony began right around what should have been golden hour - because of the cloud and the rain, this turned out to be more of a blue hour!
And Emily and Eric did something we absolutely love for couples who aren't interested in traditional wedding rules:
They walked in together to thier song - Annie's Song by John Denver.
A song Emily had listed months earlier when asked what song reminded her of their relationship.
There was no need to manufacture a big reveal or force their ceremony into a structure that didn't feel like them.
They simply entered the next part together.
A ring warming ceremony with their closest people
Their ceremony was short, intimate and meaningful.
Their friend Dana spoke.
There were tears.
They exchanged rings.
And they incorporated a ring warming ceremony, giving the people they loved a way to participate rather than simply watch.
A ring warming involves passing the couple's rings among their guests so each person can hold them for a moment and offer a wish, blessing or intention before the rings return to the couple.
For an intimate elopement with guests, it's such a beautiful way of acknowledging the community surrounding a marriage without turning the ceremony into something overly formal.
And for Emily and Eric — two people who had gone back and forth about whether they wanted guests at all before deciding they really did want their people there — it fit beautifully.
Photography by Unspoken Photography.
The rain became part of the aesthetic
Here's the thing about planning a Vancouver elopement in September:
Rain is possible.
That doesn't mean the day is ruined.
Emily and Eric's ceremony was very rainy.
It was grey. It was chilly. Umbrellas were everywhere.
And it was gorgeous.
The dark florals became richer against the green landscape. The mountains looked moodier. The forest looked more saturated. Clear umbrellas reflected the light. Lanterns made sense in the darkness of the trees.
The weather didn't interrupt the aesthetic.
It completed it.
Their guests embraced it too, which changed the entire energy of the afternoon. Instead of everyone waiting for the rain to stop so the "real" wedding could happen, this simply was the wedding.
If your brief is moody romantic gothic Pacific Northwest fairytale, blue skies might have been the less appropriate option.
Family photos, a sparkly red coat and portraits in the field
After the ceremony, we moved into family and friend photographs while everyone was already gathered at Cleveland Dam.
With a guest list of around 20–24 people, having a pre-planned family photo list made it possible to move through combinations efficiently instead of asking Emily and Eric to remember who still needed a photo while standing in the rain.
Then Emily borrowed the most incredible red sparkly coat from one of her friends.
It matched her dark hair and those burgundy florals ridiculously well.
We took Emily and Eric back out into the field for a few more portraits, with Destinye running around holding a light while simultaneously managing approximately all of the things.
And somehow, it worked.
Very glamorous behind the scenes.
Very romantic in the photographs.
Photography by Unspoken Photography.
A champagne toast before dinner on Granville Island
At 7:00 p.m., everyone gathered for a champagne toast before the group boarded their shuttle again. Eric opened the toast, and shortly after sunset the guests headed toward Granville Island.
Dinner was waiting in The Library, a private dining room at Tap & Barrel Bridges.
That gave Emily and Eric exactly what they wanted after being outside in the September rain: somewhere warm and cozy where everyone could settle in, eat, talk and spend the rest of the evening together.
It also meant the experience still felt like an intimate wedding rather than a traditional reception.
Just dinner and dessert with their favourite people after getting married in the mountains.
And after dinner, the two of them were back at their place.
They draw a bath.
Put on a favourite song.
Danced together in the living room while the tub filled.
Got in the bath.
And just… were married!
Why this Vancouver elopement worked so well
Emily and Eric's day is such a good example of why elopement planning isn't really about finding the prettiest location.
It's about finding the right combination of places and experiences for the people actually getting married.
They wanted the mossy forest.
Their family needed an accessible ceremony location.
They wanted intimate moments alone.
They also wanted 20-something of their favourite humans there.
They wanted mountains and water.
They wanted a relaxed day.
They wanted to travel.
They didn't want to spend their wedding managing logistics.
So instead of trying to make one location or one traditional wedding structure solve everything, we designed the experience around those priorities.
Lynn Canyon gave them the forest.
Cleveland Dam gave them the mountain-and-water ceremony and space for their guests.
A private shuttle connected the pieces.
Granville Island gave them the cozy dinner afterward.
And the rain gave them the Pacific Northwest atmosphere they had been imagining all along.
Planning a Lynn Canyon or Cleveland Dam elopement
If you're considering a Lynn Canyon elopement, it's an incredible option for couples drawn to lush rainforest, moss-covered trees and dramatic Pacific Northwest scenery. The suspension bridge and forest trails can create gorgeous portraits, especially on overcast and rainy days.
For an intimate wedding with a larger guest group or guests with mobility considerations, however, it's worth thinking carefully about terrain and access.
A Cleveland Dam elopement can offer a completely different experience nearby: mountain views, Capilano Lake and more open space for gathering with family and friends.
Emily and Eric's day shows that you don't have to choose between the two.
Sometimes the best elopement plan is a ceremony somewhere your people can comfortably join you and a completely separate portrait experience somewhere that feels wild, intimate and entirely yours.
Can you have guests at a Vancouver elopement?
Absolutely.
An elopement doesn't have to mean secretly running away with nobody else there.
Emily and Eric originally went back and forth about including guests. In the end, they knew they wanted some of their people to experience the day with them, while still protecting part of the adventure for themselves.
So that's exactly what we planned.
They had their private vows and forest portraits alone first.
Then approximately 20–24 friends and family joined them for the ceremony, ring warming, family photographs and celebration afterward.
It's a format that works beautifully for couples who want the intimacy of an elopement and the feeling of looking around after their ceremony and seeing the people they love most.
Photography by Unspoken Photography.
What happens if it rains on your Vancouver elopement day?
You get married.
Seriously.
Rain is part of planning an outdoor wedding or elopement in Southwest British Columbia, especially when you're choosing the region specifically because you love its lush forests and Pacific Northwest atmosphere.
A thoughtful rain plan doesn't always mean moving everything indoors.
Sometimes it means clear umbrellas.
Appropriate footwear.
Warm layers nearby.
A timeline that can flex.
Lighting for darker forest conditions.
A team that knows how to work in wet weather.
And a group of people willing to embrace the experience.
Emily and Eric did exactly that.
And looking back at their day, I wouldn't rewrite the weather.
Not even a little.
Planning an elopement in Vancouver or Southwest BC?
If you're dreaming about getting married somewhere between the rainforest, mountains and ocean — and you have absolutely no idea how to turn that vision into an actual plan — that's exactly what we do.
At Sea to Sky Elopements, we plan intimate weddings and elopements throughout Southwest British Columbia, including Vancouver, North Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, the Sunshine Coast, Vancouver Island and beyond.
We help with the part that can get overwhelming quickly: finding locations that actually work for your vision and your guests, building the timeline, coordinating vendors, thinking through accessibility and transportation, planning around light and weather, and making sure all of those moving pieces become one experience that feels effortless once you're actually in it.
Because the goal isn't to spend your elopement thinking about logistics.
It's to be standing in a ridiculously beautiful forest, reading your vows to your person in the rain, without wondering what everyone else is doing or where you're supposed to go next.
Just ask Emily and Eric.
