Deep Cove engagement shoot: Ashley and Dan
Ashley and Dan contacted us while they were in the middle of big life transitions. Planning their destination wedding in Mexico, packing boxes to move from Vancouver to Edmonton as well as finding work in their new hometown. It makes the days that Tanja and I moved to Vancouver sound like a cakewalk. But they managed.
They told us about their idea to have an engagement shoot in North Vancouver’s Deep Cove. It’s where it all started, with their first hike together to Quarry Rock. Funny enough, that’s also the first hike Tanja and I did back in 2012.
It was our first wedding anniversary and I wanted to surprise Tanja with the little adventure. I’d arranged a car-share to get us there and proudly led Tanja up the mountain. We had barely arrived at the big rock with its lookout over Indian Arm and the surroundings, when my phone rang. It was the car-share company who had received an alert of the car I’d rented. Apparently I had forgotten to turn off the car’s headlights and the battery was about to die. Chicken as I was in those days (I probably would decide otherwise now) I made us rush down the mountain. But we were too late: the car battery (and the car-share’s unlocking module) was dead as a dodo. Lesson learned. Sometimes a romantic moment is more important than calling BCAA. But enough about us.
Ashley and Dan love the scenery of Deep Cove because it’s so typically West Coast. And we couldn’t agree more. So we set the date for a Saturday that both our schedules allowed. Unfortunately it was already late in October, which meant we were playing hit-or-miss with the weather. Usually we’re quite lucky. This time, not so much. As Vancouver gave us its best downpour we huddled over the steaming coffee at Deep Cove’s famous Honey’s Donuts. We crossed our fingers for the rain to end but it didn’t happen. We rescheduled for one week later and said goodbye to each other.
A week later, we met again in front of Honey’s donuts. This time we started the shoot right away since the clouds were already packing together. The dramatic sky was the perfect backdrop though. While walking along the beach we ended up on the pier. As we photographed Ashley and Dan, a tiny boat came into view and headed for the pier. We continued working when the boat moored. A guy stepped onto the pier holding a door and offered it as a photo prop. I hardly knew what to say, it’s not every day you get a door offered into your photos. But Ashley and Dan, spontaneous as they are, happily accepted the door and cranked out their best ‘peek-from-behind-the-door’ photos. Beats a peek-from-behind-the-tree hands down. Well done guys, well done. I had a hard time taking photos because I couldn’t stop laughing 🙂
After we closed the door on this part of the shoot we worked in a few more spots around Deep Cove. Finally we finished the night with beers and lots more laughter at a nearby pub.
Thanks again for the fantastic night Ashley and Dan. And shout out to Dan for giving us the tip about Sayulita which we ended up visiting on our vacation in Mexico.
