Well, we’re finally back from our vacation! It’s so nice to get away from the city and spend some extended time in our favourite place in the whole world.

11 days of camping and surfing is a long time… I have to admit I was ready to get back home and have a shower by the end of it. It was the best shower EVER, that’s for sure. Still, there’s nothing that calms my soul quite like surfing and camping in Tofino, so I’m really glad we were able to be there for a long period of time. So what did we do?

… lots of surfing (Greg, Trev, Allan, and me) …

… hanging out at the beach until sunset …

… celebrating Canada Day …

… by applying tattoos …

…. and eating lots of cake …

… spent a lot of time enjoying our amazing campsite …

… and surfed with sea lions …

… we checked out our wedding venue again …

… and made sure our amazing menu was coming to life (yes, they did our recipes proud!) …

… we went crabbing (Nice work Crista!) …

… for Red Rock crabs and Dungeness …

… and it was a success …

… we celebrated Allan’s birthday (Happy Birthday my love!) …

… and we spend a lot of time just enjoying our favourite place.

What have you been up to lately?

For those of you who have been following me on Twitter, you know by now that we’ve picked a date for our wedding and a venue as well!

Allan and I will be getting married in Tofino/Ucluelet on Saturday, September 3rd 2011. Wohooo! We feel that Tofino is the perfect place for us to start our new life together, and I am really excited for all our guests to experience our favourite place in the whole world.

We’ve put deposits down on our venues already! Our ceremony location will be at the Black Rock Resort.

Allan wants an outdoor wedding and I want an indoor wedding… so we thought — hey, let’s have the weather decide! Black Rock has a beautiful outdoor patio that looks out onto the wild Pacific Ocean with dramatic trees and rocks framing the landscape.

It can seat around 100 people, but since we are having only about 70-80 people, it will be the perfect size.

While we were standing there, it was amazing to hear the ocean crashing against the rocks and seeing the ocean spray shoot into the air in the background.

In the event of rain or wind, we will be going downstairs to the Wine Cellar Room at the Black Rock for the ceremony. The room can seat around 100 people for the ceremony.

The room is beautiful with candlelit alcoves and floor to ceiling windows.

The windows look through steep cliffs on either side out to the Pacific Ocean and the waves. We love it!

Our dinner reception will take place just down the driveway at the brand new Ucluelet Community Centre that just opened a few weeks ago!

It’s hard to imagine with this fair going on, but we’re going to transform the inside of this venue to look romantic with tent-like draperies, natural elements and of course, some simple wedding florals. The ceilings are ridiculously high with exposed wood beams and windows. It’s going to be beautiful! And best of all… it’s HUGE (can seat 250 people) so there will be lots of space for a rockin’ dance floor.

We’re really excited about our wedding venues and can’t wait to tie the knot on our favourite little spot on the West Coast, with lots of time for surfing afterwards

What do you think of destination weddings? What do you think of our venues?