Wedding at Shaughnessy Restaurant at Van Dusen Gardens - Esther and Jimmy

Esther and Jimmy get Married at Shaughnessy Restaurant at Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver // Victoria Wedding Photographers

We met up with Esther and Jimmy around this time last year, to discuss their wedding.  They told us about their laid back lifestyle, how they met, and some of the unique details of their wedding.

We were excited from the start: not only are Esther and Jimmy easy-going and easy to talk to, they planned on doing a few things at their wedding that would be entirely new experiences for us.  By the time their wedding day came around, we were bouncing in our seats.  Jimmy and Esther were hosting their wedding at iconic VanDusen Gardens, in Vancouver, a first for us, they were doing a first look which we love to do, and they’d be playing door games before the wedding.  All of these elements were going to make for a beautiful, sentimental, and fun-filled day.  Needless to say, easy going Esther and Jimmy kept us on our toes!

If you’re not familiar with Chinese wedding traditions, door games are something you should definitely know about!  The morning of the wedding Jimmy sent his handsome groomsmen to retrieve his stunning bride, Esther.  However, Esther’s bridesmaids weren’t about to give her up so easily.  Presented with obstacles, Jimmy and his groomsmen had to complete a series of challenges, to the gleeful delight of the bridesmaids (and to us capturing it).  These challenges included everything from rapping on the spot, to tasting a variety of questionable ‘candies’.  The games finish with groomsmen bribing the bridesmaids for the bride, a few aching stomachs (for the groomsmen – from the food, for the bridesmaids – from the hilarity), and of course, with one very green mouthed groomsmen.  Victorious, Jimmy headed outside to see Esther, in her wedding attire!

After a beautiful and intimate first look, it was off to Shaughnessy Restaurant at VanDusen Gardens to meet up with family and friends for the wedding and photos. With quests traveling all over the globe for the day, table-to-table cheers and toasts, and occasional roaring chants of “Fiddy! Fiddy!”, Esther and Jimmy’s wedding reception proved to be beautiful, heartfelt, and so entertaining!  Hope you enjoy the photos.

Vendors we loved from the wedding:

Venue // Shaughnessy Restaurant // VanDusen Gardens
Ether’s dress // David’s Bridal
Sash // Davie and Chiyo
Jimmy’s Suit // Moore’s
Bridesmaids // Autoalive
Makeup // Anita Ho
Hair // Cathy Nguyen
Officiant // Verna Magee Shepherd
Flowers// Sky Florist
Cake // BlueBird Cakery

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Thank you for checking out our wedding photography.  If you'd like to know more about our lives in BC, or as Pebble and Pine Photography, Creative and Modern Victoria and Vancouver Island wedding photographers, you can read About Us.

Merridale Ciderworks Wedding - Tarilyn and Joel

Joel and Tarilyn's Summer Orchard Wedding at Merridale Ciderworks on Vancouver Island // Victoria Wedding Photographers

Man, we sure love a wedding on Vancouver Island.  Merridale Ciderworks is one of Vancouver Island's best outdoor wedding venues.  It's private, it's remote feeling, it's beautiful, it's intimate. It has delightful food, and guests, and couples rave about the times they have there.

The day of their wedding took place on Tarilyn’s grandma’s 67nd wedding anniversary, and was very sentimental. It was easy to see how celebrated Joel and Tarilyn’s relationship is, and how happy their wedding guests were.  Family and friends were all participants during the ceremony events, and were a constant mob of hugs, smiles, and tearfully joyous congratulations throughout the afternoon and evening.  Their glasses were raised high following all of the heartfelt speeches, and clinked often for eventful newlywed kissing – which, of course was followed by a chorus of Ooh’ing and Ahh’ing!   Bride and Groom, in similar fashion to their engagement photo session, could not keep their eyes off each other.  Whether they were dancing, jumping in the photobooth, talking to guests, or across the room from each other, Tarilyn and Joel’s eyes were glued to one another the whole day.  After sneaking them away from friends and family to do a few more portraits among the twinkle lights, we left the couple to dance all through the night together.

Thanks so much Tarilyn and Joel, for inviting us to be part of this very very special day.

Joel and Tarilyn had a lot of amazing, local vendors!  If you’re planning a wedding on Vancouver Island, be sure to check out their work:

Venue: Merridale Estate Cidery / Merridale Ciderworks  //  Florist: Daisy Chain Florists //  Hair: Rosa Harris  //  Wedding Gown/Shoes: Lisa’s Bridal  //  Bridesmaids: Everything But The Groom  //  Wedding Favours: Sweet Little Things Bakery  //  DJ: HiWay Productions – Ron Larson //  Officiant: Barbara Densmore

Thank you for reading! For more of our work, please visit our facebook page!

Thank you for stopping by to check out our wedding photography. If you'd like to know more about our lives in BC, or as Pebble and Pine Photography, Creative and Modern Victoria and Vancouver Island wedding photographers, you can read About Us