'That moment after a swim when you're walking along the river and find five people having a spontaneous Thursday afternoon wedding, and you become the photographer, drink cider and champagne, eat cheese, bread, cherries and wedding cake and laughingly go skinny dipping in an ice cold river that you realize life is really unpredictable.'
I spontaneously moved to Squamish last week to chase a job lead. On Thursday I didn't know what to do, so I went exploring. By chance I found a spot called Anderson Beach on the Squamish river and spent an hour lying in the sun. On the way back I saw a little party of people and from the distance, what looked like a woman in a white dress.
Halfway back along the beach I reached that awkward moment where you either pretend you're the only person in the world and walk on by, or go say hi. I went and said hi. Five awesome looking young people and the wedding commissioner met me with smiles. They had found the spot and the abandoned alter and heart shaped circle of rocks the day before. We shared congrats as it looked like it was about to start. I couldn't help it:
"Want me to take photos?" A bridesmaid offered her compact camera relieved, and I smiled, "I'm a wedding photographer, the camera's in the car if you can wait a second..." We laughed at the chances, I ran back to the car and grabbed the camera and fifteen minutes later kicked off a beauty of an impromptu wedding.
We laughed and drank champagne, Kat and Yann got married and the wedding commissioner left us. Good food was eaten among new friends, we skinny dipped in the icy Squamish river and sipped Salt Spring Island cider while eating wedding cake with shared plates. It was one of those moments when the feeling was so right that one couldn't help but reflect on the magic of it, basking in shared joy as much as the sun and the spectacle of the place.
When the sky clouded over, and the wind blew cold we meandered back and went our separate ways radiating with the feeling of chance that puts people together.
**
Congrats again Kat and Yann! And cheers to finding friends in strange places.
Much love.
To see the day scroll down or click HERE.
...click to enlarge
