Some weddings are a day. Melissa & Kero's was a whole weekend — and honestly, those are my favourites.
Melissa is a doctor. She spends her days looking after other people, staying calm in moments that would undo most of us. So watching her get to be the one who is celebrated, fussed over, and cried over for two days straight felt exactly right.
Day One: The Tea Ceremony (May 17, 2025)
Before the white dress, before the vows, there was the tea ceremony — one of the most meaningful traditions in a Chinese wedding, where the couple serves tea to their elders and receives their blessings (and usually a fair amount of happy tears) in return.
It's intimate in a way the wedding day itself rarely gets to be: close family, a room full of love and laughter, and two families becoming one before a single guest arrives at the venue. If you're planning one, I wrote a whole guide to why the tea ceremony matters here: The Importance of the Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony
Day Two: The Wedding (May 18, 2025)
The next morning, we gathered at Celebration Pavilion in Queen Elizabeth Park — one of Vancouver's most beautiful ceremony settings, with its wall of windows looking out over the gardens. May in Queen Elizabeth Park is pure spring: everything green, everything blooming.
The details were soft and romantic: blush and white florals everywhere, with peonies and roses in Melissa's bouquet and eucalyptus woven through it.
The Vows Everyone Will Remember
Here's the moment I'll never forget from this day: Kero cried through Melissa's vows. Not a single polite tear — full, reach-for-a-tissue emotion. And Melissa? She laughed through his — tissue in hand, beaming at him like he was the funniest and most wonderful person she'd ever met.
That contrast — his tears, her laughter — is the truest photograph of who they are together. It's also why I photograph weddings the way I do: the polished portraits are beautiful, but these unscripted seconds are the ones couples tell me they treasure most, years later.
Portraits Above Coal Harbour
After the ceremony, we stole the couple away for portraits overlooking Coal Harbour — seaplanes coming and going below, Stanley Park across the water, the North Shore mountains behind them. Vancouver showing off, basically.
Planning a Celebration Pavilion Wedding?
If you're dreaming of your own day at Queen Elizabeth Park, you might like my venue guide: Vancouver Wedding Venue Highlight: Celebration Pavilion at Queen Elizabeth Park — and another beautiful wedding I photographed there: Angela & Derek's Wedding at Celebration Pavilion.
Melissa & Kero — thank you for trusting me with both days. The tears and the laughter alike. 🤍
Planning your Vancouver wedding? I'd love to hear your story — explore my wedding photography packages or get in touch to check your date.
— Julia, Silver Moon Photography | Vancouver wedding photographer