Kelly + Andrew | Sea Breeze Lodge | Wedding on Hornby Island

After endless Covid postponements, we finally made it out to Sea Breeze Lodge on Hornby Island to celebrate with Kelly and Andrew (and Kacey + Angus!). I’ve been lucky enough to photograph weddings and elopement on quite a few Gulf Islands, including at Bodega Ridge on Galiano Island and Camp Fircom on Gambier Island, but the adventure to get to Hornby Island is pretty unique, which makes our weekend here even more special. From Vancouver on the mainland, your first goal is to get to Vancouver Island, preferably Nanaimo to shorten your drive time. You drive an hour north before getting on your second ferry of the day to Denman Island. Upon arrival on Denman you drive to the other side of the island before getting on yet another ferry that will take you to Hornby Island. And this is where our story begins..

Kelly’s family has had a family cabin on Hornby Island forever, and many of her friends shared memories of spending time there over the years. Her dad milled all the wood himself so of course him and Rene hit it off right away. Like many of the Gulf Islands, Hornby is home to artists and dreamers with a close knit community of nature lovers and adventure seekers. You can feel the connection that everyone shares – with each other, with the land and sea and with all of those who are lucky enough to visit. We were visiting at the end of October, well into off season, which made the community even more sleepy than normal, except at the local coffee truck which was buzzing with energy even before our early morning ferry. After getting to know Kelly, Andrew + their family and friends it made total sense why they chose to host their wedding on Hornby Island and I’m so glad they didn’t let a pandemic get in the way of making that dream come true.

I’ll let the photos of the weekend speak for themselves – and I’ll be here encouraging more and more couples to plan full weekend weddings where their different groups of friends get to really know each other, families are less stressed out, and the celebrations never seem to end. Getting to watch whales from your front porch doesn’t hurt either. 😉