Lior and Steve created British Columbia forest wedding running entirely on burgundy anthuriums, a clearing under fifteen metre firs, and three cultures sharing one chuppah. The whole day was shot by Kaoverii Silva, a Vancouver photographer whose documentary editorial eye is the reason this gallery lives half in colour and half in grainy black and white. Keep going for the silk satin dress, the seven circles, and the Creed finale nobody had on their bingo card.
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Style: Modern, Colorful, Romantic
Time of planning: 14 months
Number of guests: 94
Setting: Forest
Season: Fall
Here is the origin story, and it is very 2019. Lior had just finished university and was working in Victoria, Steve was back in town chasing a new job and a promotion, and they first crossed paths at a mutual friend’s soiree where Steve was on wingman duty and Lior had been dragged out against her will. The receipts are real, because Steve took a photo that night of a giant bottle of Pink Whitney with Lior caught in the background, neither of them realising what that frame would eventually mean.
A month later they ran into each other again at a New Year’s Eve party, Lior had their mutual friend pass along her number, and Steve texted within ten minutes. Their first date landed on January 12, 2020, and they have been building toward this forest ever since.
Bride's Morning & Fashion
Lior’s details read like a mood board that actually committed. The dress is the Dahlia from Lovenote, custom cut in silk satin, a strapless basque waist that nips in at the hip and spills into a draped train that does its best work trailing across gravel and fir needles. For the ceremony she layered on sheer long sleeves and a higher neckline, then dropped both for the reception so the strapless silhouette could carry the dance floor.
On her feet are Charles & Keith floral pointed slingbacks, the kind of detail shot a photographer hangs in a hydrangea bush, which is exactly what happened here. The jewellery stayed deliberate with Olive & Piper Rue drop earrings, and the perfume was Byredo Bal d’Afrique because she wanted something with a bit of smoke to it.
Her hair sat in a soft centre part with loose waves that never tried too hard, and her makeup came from Rose Quartz Beauty, who kept everything warm enough to read on camera while staying clear of full glam. The flowers in her hands set the tone for the whole day, a cascade of burgundy anthurium, white orchid, and trailing amaranthus that the floral world has been calling the breakout stems of the year.
Groom’s Fashion
Steve went classic and meant it. Black tuxedo, black bow tie, a boutonniere pulled from the same flower story, and the watch his PoPo gave him when he turned eighteen, which is the kind of heirloom that quietly outranks everything else in the outfit. He made a call most grooms talk themselves out of and asked his groomsmen to dress closer to formal than semi formal, more buttoned up than the guests even though the whole thing happened outdoors.
First Look
Before any of the official paperwork, Steve and Lior did a first look with their entire wedding party watching from the sidelines, which turns a private moment into a low key spectator sport in the best way. It happened down near the water with the firs towering behind them, and it set the emotional temperature for everything that followed.
Ceremony
The ceremony happened in the Grove, a clearing tucked inside fifteen metre trees, which is the most intimate of Sandpiper Resort‘s ceremony sites and the one that puts the couple front and centre instead of the scenery. The walk in is long on purpose, long enough that Lior had time to actually arrive in the moment, and she did it to a piano version of Go the Distance from Hercules, a lifelong Disney loyalty showing itself at exactly the right second. The chuppah waited at the end of the aisle, draped and dressed, with the forest standing in for cathedral walls.
What happened under that chuppah is the part that makes this wedding genuinely theirs. Lior and Steve braided Jewish, Chinese, and Canadian traditions into one ceremony, starting before the aisle by signing the legal license and reciting and signing their Ketubah in front of their wedding party and immediate family. The chuppah itself was topped with a Talis from Lior’s brother Daniel, and they opened with three short bows to honour the ancestors who could not be there. Then came the circling, three times each and once together for seven circles total, the kind of choreography that looks quiet and means everything.
From there they moved through the blessings of the Kidushin and drank wine from a shared cup, read personal vows, and exchanged rings that rested on the index finger of the right hand. Their wedding party took turns personalising the seven blessings while holding the wine they would later drink, which is a generous way to hand the mic to the people who know you best. Steve closed it out with the breaking of the glass, saved for their future mezuzah, and then the first kiss, and then the petals, because Kaoverii’s black and white recessional frames show the whole aisle erupting at once.
Moments Together & Cocktail Hour
After the recessional, the couple ducked away on a personal golf cart with Kaoverii Silva for a few minutes alone, which doubled as their getaway for the grand entrance later. It reads as smart logistics and lands as something genuinely romantic. The cocktail hour spread out into the garden with the mountains and the river behind it, string lights overhead, and white roses everywhere.
The signature cocktail was built on lychee liqueur, a direct reference to Il Terrazzo, their favourite restaurant back in Victoria, and a nod to Steve’s Chinese heritage, so even the bar was telling the story. The veil portraits from this stretch are where the florals get their full close up, with anthurium, orchid, and trailing amaranthus reading like sculpture against the silk.
Reception
Dinner moved into a tent set in the trees, and the tables leaned all the way into the anthurium thesis. Burgundy anthurium, dahlias, white hydrangea, and trailing amaranthus ran down the centre, broken up with clusters of grapes that pushed the whole tablescape into still life painting territory, which happens to be one of the loudest table moves going right now. Taper candles, wine carafes left out on the linen, and small numbered cards kept it feeling lived.
The grand entrance came in hot to an instrumental version of International Players Anthem, a song Lior and Steve both knew word for word on the drive home from their third date, so it carries more weight than a standard hype track. Speeches came from both families plus Maid of Honour Arielle and Best Man Wes. Then the first dance, after dinner, to God Only Knows by the Beach Boys, a shared favorite they finally got to use for its intended purpose.
What followed is the part their guests will still be talking about. They ran the Horah straight after dinner to spike the energy, with circle dancing, chair tossing, Steve hurdling his groomsmen, and Steve getting launched into the air, all of which Kaoverii caught in motion. The playlist leaned on 2000s hits with detours through oldies, electronic, and pop punk, then a closing finale of Creed, which is a choice and they made it on purpose. The cake stayed short and sweet, two tiers of white buttercream with a scalloped red berry trim that nods to the vintage piped cake comeback.
Advice from the couple:
• Having a wedding venue be all-included (food, drink, décor, etc.) saved a lot of time and stress.
• We scouted several wedding locations over 2 months, the year before the wedding.
• Having most guests stay on or within walking distance to the venue removes barriers for everyone to be present and fully enjoy the day.
PHOTOGRAPHER Kaoverii Silva | SECOND PHOTOGRAPHER Yuki Schell Photography | VENUE Sandpiper Resort | FLORALS Beg Floral | HAIR & MAKEUP Rose Quartz Beauty | DECOR Valley Weddings
