For many couples, elopement = “nice vacation/package deal with a rubber stamp attached.”  But not Carrie and Tony. A  couple of earth scientists/professors, they were coming from another part of the world and wanted to marry each other in an old growth forest.

While The Carmanah Valley would be unforgettable, their wedding dinner would likely have been a freeze dried pouch. Then I remembered Meares Island, and their elopement adventure began.

We took a water taxi to the island, wandered the rickety trail, and then found the perfect spot at the 1200 year-old “The Tree of Life”.  “After a thousand years, who better than these Douglas Firs to bear witness to your marriage ceremony?”

Tony’s family had sent their blessings, which were a total surprise to him. And the ceremony, deeply personal, had a few more surprises, but what happens in the forest, remains in the forest..:)

This was the first wedding ceremony that the water taxi folks recalled on this protected island. Once the secret got out, the dock was full of well-wishers upon our return.

And then we went to the Wick to toast a couple of adventuring scientists with a round of Dark and Stormies…:)