Cheryl Hellcat's photostream  

My very good friends Angie and Leroy had the most amazing mountaintop wedding. Leroy had proposed to Angie after making it up Black Rock Mountain, so they decided to get married in the same spot. My husband had the honour of officiating (luckily no one was available or willing to do the hike, so he got approved as a temporary marriage commissioner for the day), I had the pleasure of photographing while another friend recorded video, and friends and family joined to witness their marriage (after a 3+ hour hike.)

One of the bridesmaids and her husband carried up the pieces of a wedding arch that they had built and then put it together at the top. Everyone in the wedding party brought clothes to change into and the ladies found a depression behind a big rock for a changing room. From there, they walked down the hill to a rock and candle-lined aisle while music played.

It was such an intimate and beautiful wedding, I am so thankful to have been a part of it. I am also impressed with everyone that made the hike. Many people were from Saskatchewan and had never hiked up a mountain before!

The wedding images can be viewed here: cherylhowlettphotos.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/leroy-angela...

Found this Fly Agaric poisonous mushroom while out wandering.

I always enjoy finding cool mushrooms :)

Seems like the tradition for me on my birthday is to go out in nature somewhere and take a self-portrait.

This year I drove out to Miquelon Lake Provincial Park. I vaguely remembered that we had a family reunion here when I was younger so I wanted to check it out. I was surprised to see an actual beach with sand and everything!

I had a nice afternoon wandering around and exploring. When I got home, my awesome husband had gotten me two of my favourite things....sushi and red velvet cupcakes!

Our last week on Vancouver Island, we headed up to Ucluelet for a few days. We sure love it there!

We spent some time at Florencia Beach where Jamie went for a beach run while I did some beachcombing. After his run he went for a chilly dip in the ocean.

I spotted a little black bear while hiking the Wild Pacific Trail in Uclulet.

I got up super early one morning to hike to South Beach for sunrise photos but it was overcast so there wasn't much to capture. The forest looked amazing on the way back out and I especially liked this tree covered boardwalk.

Our vacation ended with Jamie's youngest brother getting married at Saxe Point in Victoria. The next day we drove for 14 hours or so to get home. It was hard for me to leave Vancouver Island again!