Zarifa and Frank (Cortes Island Wedding Photography)

Zarifa and Frank met at a summer Solstice gathering several years back.   The obvious choice for their wedding date considering this was June 21st.  Of course, the month of June is synonymous with weddings throughout most of North America.  But in Coastal British Columbia the month of June is synonymous with rain and many of us have learned to avoid hosting outdoor events anywhere near the Solstice, the seemingly rainiest part of June.  "Are you sure that's the date you want?!", I may have said aloud or perhaps it just reverberated in my head.  But Zarifa and Frank betrayed no fear of the elements, perhaps even welcomed 'whatever will be."  June 21st was their day.  Now, in my completely unscientific personal experiential perspective, when one puts a few too many fretful sleepless hours into worrying about the possibility of rain, it rains.  So, evidently, Zarifa and Frank's brilliantly revolutionary "whatever will be" approach to their wedding allowed for the most beautiful calm sunny summer solstice day I can recall ever occurring here on Cortes Island.Zarifa and Frank are friends of Darshan's from her Victoria days who followed her up to Cortes a couple of years ago.  So, Darshan got to play less of a role as photographer and more of the role of bridesmaid.  Her first experience as a bridesmaid, actually.  The ceremony site was a bit of a secret to everyone except the bride and groom right up to gathering time.  We all hiked into a very lovely forest glade I had never seen before in the Whaletown Commons, Cortes Island's brand new community park.  Zarifa and Frank were there ahead of time sequestered into separate meditation spots and entered into the ceremony from different angles once the circled had formed.  The four directions were summoned, the couples daughter, Aurora, anointed the circles with daisies, vows were exchanged, a hand-fasting ritual allowed every guest to tie a knot in the cloth, and the deed was done. A beautiful local wedding with a beautiful local couple.