On The Road | Tofino

Being a wife to a carefree husband, it has taught me to be more spontaneous in life. Like this past Easter long weekend, on Friday morning, we decided to just drive up the island! No plans, we just decided to go. The weather was fantastic, the scenery was breathtaking and my company was the best. 

What more could this lady ask for? 

Here are some of our favourite shots from the weekend, enjoy!

{first stop was this view from the Malahat}

{both our favourite part of the drive, between Nanaimo and Port Alberni - majestic trees surrounded the winding roads}

{we spotted the teepee and had to pullover, duh}

{lighthouse in Ucluelet - beautiful small town}

{watched the waves crashing in - we were both in awe of such beauty}

{on the road to Tofino}

{at Long Beach, where the view was spectacular even if it was rainy}

{one of our last stops on the way back: Lake Cameron - a perfect lunch spot}

Adventure is out there. This was only about a five hour drive, but there were so many sights to see, and even the sound of the heavy rain pounding against the truck was different. Travelling truly is good for the soul and stimulates all senses. 

Next on our list is Portland, Oregon.

Click here for more travel posts!

A Time Of Reflection

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

The ever so bright rays of the sun woke me up, nestled closely to a sleepy man, whom fills my heart with so much joy realizing he's my husband. I can't help but feel overwhelmed with love, beauty and grace on this day. 

Today is a time of reflection upon the pain and sacrifice Christ our Saviour went through to pay for our sins. He came down to earth as a man, knowing that his life would be taken away so that we can have freedom. He portrays so much passion and affection towards us in this act of love upon dying on the cross. I will never fully comprehend this kind of love, but it has set me free. He has given me freedom so that I can spend days like today where I can be next to somebody I love. To be compassionate and caring. To be kind, humble and generous. 

Without this kind of grace, I don't know where I would be. 

The Best Day Ever

Just a little over seven months ago, the love of my life and I celebrated becoming husband and wife. Without a doubt, it was the happiest day of my life as of yet! I feel blessed being able to look back at these beautiful photos and even more grateful that I get to spend the rest of my life with the loveliest man. 

Yesterday, one of my go-to wedding blogs when we were planning the wedding, Ruffled, featured our rustic farm wedding! I thought I'd share some of our favourite shots that you may have not seen yet!

{This has to be one of my favourite shots. What a handsome fella.}

{Our wedding party sure knew how to make us laugh.}

{One of the many signs I calligraphed with paint.}

{Best looking groom & groomsmen!}

{Yup. That's my husband!}

{Garrett and I designed the patterns and sewed all of the polka-dotted bow ties!}

{The ceremony programs I designed also doubled as fans for the guests.}

{Hello lovely bridesmaids!}

{I've always loved Grace Kelly's dress from that scene in To Catch A Thief and knew that my wedding dress would be like it.}

{So much labour of love went into these paper flower bouquets! Garrett gets credit for adding the "crinkled" effect in each flower - so crafty!}

{The most amazing dinner. I wish we could have this every night!}

{The farm owner's pup was getting a little taste of the dinner too!}

{I feel like this would be one of those photos we'll try and recreate after 50 years of marriage!}

{The happiest ending to the day, but also so ecstatic to be living life together from that day on as husband and wife!}

For more photos, check out our feature on Ruffled blog! Thank you Sarah & Graeme for capturing our love! 

Welcome Home Cake

My sweet husband came home last weekend from work/school and I wanted to do something nice for him. Naturally, I would've had some baked goods (like his favourite chocolate chip cookies). But this time, I wanted to step it up and decided to bake him a cake! I added a welcome home topper plus some babies breath because why not right? And he loved it, of course. 

We love surprising each other with little things like this especially after being apart for some time. It makes the reunion extra sweet!

I followed this recipe by Martha Stewart and then a buttercream icing recipe from here. 

Valentine's Day Postcard

I thought it would be fun to whip up a postcard to mail out to our family and friends this year for Valentine's Day, so here they are! Have you picked up/ made a card for your loved ones yet? Love day is tomorrow, but it's okay if you're a little late, because love day can be any day of the year really!

Grateful

Boy did that week ever go by quickly! Garrett and I have definitely been working hard on the wedding projects, though I have to say I'm quite impressed with all the crafty work he's done over the past few weeks! We have a lot of great surprises up our sleeve and we seriously cannot wait any longer until our special day comes! I also just wanted to share a few things I've been super grateful for this week:

• I got to put on my dress (yes, my wedding dress!) for the first time! I found the perfect accessories for it too from the prettiest bridal shop in town, The White Peony. Seriously, even if you're not a bride-to-be, you need to pop in and take a peek!
• We found this lovely and secluded beach (pictured above) on a morning walk before brunch.
• Got to hang out with Garrett's grandparents who were visiting for the week - I feel so blessed to know that they will soon be my family too.
• Though it makes me super jealous that my sister is in Paris, I'm so excited for her and I know that she's having a pain au chocolat for me right now.
• Garrett and I made dinner one night and took it to the marina; we had it all in a picnic basket, laid out on a floral blanket under a giant tree and watched the leaves' shadows shimmer in the breeze as the sun was setting. 

I challenge you to take the time to just pause and truly appreciate little moments like these. I hope it will make your weekend lovelier than ever!

xo

Tasshia

Love Captured!

{all photos above are from The Nickersons}

Where do I even begin writing about how awesome our photographers are?! The Nickersons are an amazing husband and wife team who do so much more than just photographing couples. They are fun, easy to connect with, passionate about their art and capture love in action! These photos truly speak more than a thousand words. We cannot say enough great things about them! 

It was such an answered prayer to have found them and looking back now, I think I squealed when they responded so quickly to our request email! And now here we are. In love with every single photo they snapped! Now I'm daydreaming about what the wedding photos will be like....

And now if we can ask you a big favour...! We need all of you to share some love and leave a comment on their blog post about our engagement session! There may be a little prize we may receive if when we win! So we need your help!

Check out more photos on their blog and leave a comment  here. 

xo 

Tasshia

A Proposal Story

Photos taken by the captain of our private sail boat ride!

Well the news is out folks! We are getting married! I am a Bride-to-be! 

After countless phone calls and sharing the news to our closest friends and family, it's now time to share with the rest of you our proposal story. Firstly, I would like to say how thankful I am to have this story to share. That it is something special and is ours. I truly am so blessed to have Garrett as my fiance! 

Please read on to find out how he popped the question!

I had worked eight days in a row and was so looking forward to a four-day long weekend. Garrett was heading to visit me from work for the weekend and I originally wanted to go on a road trip to Seattle (to getaway), but he suggested we could still do fun things while in Vancouver (he doesn't live in the city and in fact lives about 6 hours away). The plan was to go to Science World with our great friends Perry and Jodi. We were both very excited as we had our own fun memories there years ago. So we got to Science World and were having a blast figuring out puzzles and science-y things! Ha! Then all of a sudden, Jodi said that she had to go to work earlier so they had to leave. Little did I know, this was all part of the plan! 

As we were driving out to get lunch, Garrett said: "I think I have a good date idea." He made it seem like he had just thought of it on the spot! Instead of asking away (like I normally do), I just said: "Okay! This will be fun!" So we drove up to Finch's Market and he insisted that we took sandwiches to go. The place was so cute, I was a little sad we couldn't stay to eat. 

Eventually, we parked by the water where we normally have picnic lunches. I figured we weren't going on a picnic since it was cloudy. He got out of the truck with shoes changed, a bow tie on, a coat for me, and a picnic basket! (Looking back now, I should've seen these hints but I really had no idea what was going on!) All of a sudden he said: "We're going on a sail boat!"

We met the captain and his boat was named Allons-y (which means Let's Go in French). This whole time I was just so oblivious to the whole situation and so amazed that we were going on a sail boat date! After some conversation with the captain, I found out he happened to be a fashion photographer as well - which I thought was so awesome! I started taking photos with my phone thinking how cool it was to see Granville Island Market from the water. All of a sudden, he pulled out his camera and started taking photos of us! I thought "Hmmm, that's a little weird. But of course he has his camera with him. He's a photographer! We're on his boat!" 

We were having a great time as Garrett and I were just having conversation, soaking in this time we have together. Though it was cloudy and cold, I didn't care as I was able to snuggle next to my love. Then suddenly he whispered to my ear saying: "Remember that list of five things you wanted to do when we first started dating... well this is the last thing on the list." (Um hello another BIG hint that this could be it! But no, I STILL had no idea) I simply thought, "Awww! My love that is so cool!!" 

Then after some time, the captain suggested that we check out the front of the boat. Again, I thought "Oh! Good idea! Let's do that!" So we got up, I was at the front and Garrett was behind me. There I was standing, talking away by myself and thinking how absolutely cool it was! Then I turned around, and there he was. Down on one knee. He asked: "Will you marry me?" I thought "Oh my goodness! This is happening!! I have to soak all of this in!" And of course I said: "Yes!!" 

Sometimes I pause and think about that image of Garrett down on one knee and it puts a huge smile on my face! I am so glad that I had no idea this was coming (even though I normally - almost always figure him out and his surprises)! We have been together for over four years and have had seasons of prayers for this time to come. Garrett had told me that there were so many things that needed to line up and he was so faithful that God was going  to make it perfect!

We've been planning like crazy and have set the big date for early September. Thank you for reading our story and we're looking forward to the whole planning process! I'm actually working on our wedding website and will surely let you know when the launch date will be!

xo

Tasshia