Ancient rainforests shrouded in salty mist.  A wild and mountainous shoreline. Deep, blue sparkling inlets, dotted with sea birds. What’s not to love about British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast?

The Westcoast Wilderness Lodge located in Egmont, BC, offers more than just a wild and mysterious landscape; It’s also the perfect place to say ‘I do’.

High up on a craggy granite bluff overlooking forests, inlets and islands, the Westcoast Wilderness Lodge offers a magical setting for your special day.

The lodge was built to host closely-knit groups for special occasions – which makes it perfect for an intimate wedding. The majestic decks and dining room, cozy accommodations and exciting wilderness adventures make it a unique destination wedding resort. Couples and their guests have complete and private access to the guest lodges, dining room and social lounge as well as the decks, hot tub area and twelve acres of wilderness.

To make the planning as stress-free as possible, a full-service wedding coordinator is on hand to ensure all the details of your big day are taken care of.

Check out this real wedding at the Westcoast Wilderness Lodge.

Photos: Sakura Photography

Kristen Wall from Lifesong Photography shot this lovely winter wonderland wedding at the Freestone Inn in Mazama, Washington,

Having a small guest list meant that Ben and Emily could splurge on their wedding guests by offering cross-country ski lessons the morning of the wedding, matching Smartwool winter hat wedding favors, and a pub meal for all of their guests the night before.

Magical!

Emily, 32 & Ben, 41

Mazama, WA

Wedding Date: Jan 21, 2012

Number of Guests: 33

Wedding Cost: $12,000

Wedding Ceremony Location: Freestone Inn, Mazama, WA

Wedding Reception Location: Four Sisters at the Freestone Inn

Do you adore weddings? Do you fancy the idea of writing about them? Do you have a passion for small weddings? Do you love social media?

We’re looking for an intern at Intimate Weddings.

Here are the details:

• Two posts per week on the Intimate Weddings blog.
• You will input the posts (including images) directly into WordPress.
• You will help us spread the word about Intimate Weddings via the various online social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, Tumblr and Pinterest.
• You will receive a $75 monthly honorarium if requirements are met.

Qualifications

• Strong writing skills.
• Creativity. Although photography skills are not a requirement, if you are handy with a camera and you love DIY projects – this is a MAJOR bonus!
• Experience with WordPress platform.
• Keen sense of aesthetics.

Email your resume, writing samples and/or links to samples of your work and a link to your blog (if you have one) to christina(at)intimateweddings(dot)com with the word Intern at IW in the title.

The tree. Is there a more perfect symbol for marriage?

A tree symbolizes strength, life, vitality, roots. And it happens to make the perfect backdrop for a small wedding.

An ancient, lone tree is so majestic and grand by itself, but adding simple touches like lanterns or swaths of fabric is another way to make it clear and differentiated as the ceremony backdrop.

Another great idea for during or after your ceremony is planting a tree. Planting a tree on your wedding day helps you to remember the beginning of your married lives together as you watch it grow each day. It’s a beautiful remembrance and could be an amazing tradition to continue with the birth of children as well.

I also love the idea (and this could be in conjunction with you planting your tree) of giving your guests saplings as wedding favors that they can bring home to plant and remember your marriage as they watch it mature over time. Check out our sponsor Tree Beginnings for a great selection of tree favors.

Trees are also perfect to hang photos or signs.

You can also hang items from the trees branches as well. I love these place cards that are hung from this beautiful tree’s branches.

You can also carry a less literal theme of trees throughout your wedding with areas like your guest book. These alternative guest books clearly have a tree theme and I love how unique, and displayable, they are.

This “Giving Tree” save-the-date is so sweet, and is free to download if you love it too!

These cakes would be perfect for a wedding where the couple was married under, or among, trees.

Image One: stylemepretty.com; Image Two: mywedding.com; Image Three: brides.com; Image Four: weddingwhimsy.tumblr.com; Image Five: theloveliestday.com; Image Six: weddingbeepro.com; Image Seven: thebridallounge.ie; Image Eight: picturesquewedding.tumblr.com; Image Nine: ruffledblog.com; Image Ten: pinterest.com; Image Eleven: greenweddingshoes.com; Image Twelve: thebudget-mindedbrideblog.blogspot.com; Image Thirteen: etsy.com; Image Fourteen: intimateweddings.com; Image Fifteen: weddingchicks.com; Image Sixteen: weddingchicks.com

Rebekah is a wedding and event designer and vintage obsessive. She owns the company A & B Creative, read her blog.

Lately, I’ve been on a bit of an ice tangent. Ice shot glasses. Ice candles. We even tried to make an ice rink. (Sadly, we are experiencing the mildest winter EVER here in the banana belt of Ontario, so the ice rink looks more like a pond.)

So, I’ve got this thing for ice. Which is why I nearly booked the next flight to Colorado when I stumbled on the Silverthorne Ice Castles. Have you ever seen anything more sublime? Isn’t that the BEST setting you have ever seen for an engagement photo?

And what’s really neat about this place is that it’s filled with icy corridors and pathways that you can explore.

The Ice Castles in Silverthorne are man-made ice formations created by Utah’s Brent Christensen.

Brett’s fascination with ice began with an ice rink that he made for his children. One thing led to another, and he ended up building an ice castle in his front yard that became quite the roadside attraction.

People began driving by the Christensen’s home just to see the unique ice structure in the front yard. The following winter, a local resort asked Brent if he would build a larger ice castle on the front lawn of the resort. Brent built the castle in 2009-10 and in two months the word had spread and about 10,000 people had come to see the “Ice Castle” at the Zermatt Resort. The following winter (2010-11) he built another castle in the Town Square in Midway, Utah (near  Park City, UT) and over 25,000 visitors came to see the ice castles in 2010.

His current creation is in Silverthorne, Colorado.

Check out this cool video by videographer Devin Graham on the Ice Castles:

Photo One: Trevor Christensen