Canadian Adventure Wedding on Prince Edward Island: Ciera + Sam

Deciding to have an Adventure Wedding in Canada comes with an endless amount of options. After all, it is one of the largest countries in the world boasting 3 giant territories that span from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. Plus within you have 30+ islands to discover, vast amounts of wilderness, and some of the worlds greatest national parks and mountains! But if you are an adventurous couple looking for a more offbeat area (less touristy) to go exploring on your destination wedding or elopement day, we would love to introduce you to Prince Edward Island. Having an adventure wedding in Prince Edward Island (PEI for short) offers a level of history and charm you had no idea that existed!

But wait, maybe you’d never heard of Prince Edward Island… So allow us to catch you up! PEI is an island set off of Nova Scotia (Northeast Canada, just below Newfoundland). It’s often refereed to as the “Birthplace of Confederation,” called the the backbone of Canada’s farming community, and it’s claim to fame from the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery. I think it was on every little girls childhood “bucket list” at one point in time. The landscape doesn’t boast big mountains like the rest of Canada, but it does offer a variety of unique places like red cliffs, golden beaches, rolling sand dunes, stunning swamps (totally a thing), historic lighthouses, picturesque fishing villages, and I might dare to say the friendliest people on the planet!

Today our Your Adventure Wedding team is super excited to share with you an Adventure Wedding on Prince Edward Island! But let’s rewind to let you know how exactly it all began…

Meet Ciera + Sam

12+ years ago, they met in middle school. Sam was bold enough to write Ciera a secret admire letter. It wasn’t until later after they shared a choir solo together though that she found out it was Sam. After growing up together through high school and college they embarked on countless travel adventures together across the USA and Western Europe. They also moved across the country from Colorado to New York City so to say they are a cultured, well-traveled adventurous couple, I think would be a serious understatement! They also both love English, literature, art, nature, and hiking.

Ciera even told me at one point, “I LOVE gray rainy days” and that she would fully embrace a rainy wedding day! Ideal adventure wedding couple, right?! Yes! Let’s fast forward to Sam’s birthday trip they took to Mexico. Sam had his 4th generation ring in hand as they hiked around Teotihuacan National Park (Pyramids National Park) and as they went to an area where they were along, he proposed to Ciera a lifetime of adventures! She said yes and the excitement of adventure wedding planning began!

When these two first reached out to our team, they originally inquired about an Iceland adventure wedding. As they found themselves obsessed with the moodiness of the landscape, earthiness, the textures, tones, and variety of the landscape. They were also looking for a more “local” experience versus being an “American in Iceland.” So finding us, our adventure wedding style and private locations was exactly what they were looking for. It actually made the “excited” again to be wedding planning. They were completely sold on everything and then some tragic family events forced them to evaluate the direction they were going. After a few months, they reached back out to our Your Adventure Wedding team to let us know they now needed to look to planning an destination wedding that was in North America.

Our team is always up for a challenge so we pitched a few ideas loosely at them and they fell in love with the idea of a Canadian adventure wedding. They were seeking a place that boasted beauty, history, and still held an element of adventure. Our team proposed several different options throughout Canada but in the end, they decided on holding their adventure wedding on Prince Edward Island! So come along with us today as we walk you through their unique Canadian Adventure Wedding on PEI!

The morning began at 5:30am at the historic Great George Hotel. Which is a crazy sweet hotel that comes with a boatload of history attached to it, being in downtown Charlottetown. It was the perfect base for Ciera and Sam’s Adventure Wedding in Canada. The bride Ciera did her own hair and makeup that morning. The excitement was high but the mood still calm and our adventure wedding photographers even caught her perfecting writing her vows! So sweet! Since it was a fall wedding on Prince Edward Island, Ciera opted to have a long sleeve adventure wedding gown and she was warm and comfortable throughout the entire day! She complimented the dress with a more rugged pair of boots that could easily tackle any terrain.

Staying with tradition, Ciera and Sam did not get ready or see each other before the designated “first look.” So before everyone hopped on the bus for the adventure wedding, the destination photographers staged a formal first look and it was so cute outside of the front of the historic hotel! They were both so freaking happy to see each other!

Their 45+ guests all greeted them in excitement and loaded on to the bus so that we could begin the epic adventure wedding day on PEI!

Choosing an adventure wedding ceremony location can be a daunting task, but luckily on Prince Edward Island, the choices are gorgeous and frankly you can’t choose a bad location if you tried. Our wedding planning team suggested they do a little hike down Thunder Cove with their group to be married along the red cliffs. They loved this idea and were excited to share the hike with their guests that morning. The ceremony was performed by Sam’s sister who added lots of personal touches to it that made almost everyone shed some tears!

Thunder Cove Wedding Photos:

Once the ceremony concluded their wedding guests explored the beach while the two of them ventured around Thunder Cove with our Prince Edward Island wedding photographers. Thunder Cove has such amazing textures and tones to explore!

So you know when I said, “stunning swamps” above? This is one! Imagine exploring this charming little spot on your Canadian adventure wedding on Prince Edward Island!

Historic Lighthouse on Prince Edward Island:

Lighthouses are in abundance through Nova Scotia and specifically Prince Edward Island. They all have their own character and charm. Having adventure wedding photos taken while exploring them just seems like a “must have” on your Prince Edward Island wedding day.

PEI Fishing Village:

Our adventure wedding photographers, favorite thing to do before the wedding day is drive the trek the day before. That way, they can get an idea of how the light will change and also any sort of sweet random spots that would be fun to stop at off the schedule. Stopping in a sweet little fishing village is always a stop during a PEI adventure wedding, but this spot proved to be even more so than normal because of how amazing the colors were! So as these two explored the area, their guests had a bathroom / drink break at a local pub! Best of both worlds, right?!

Cavendish Dunelands:

Cavendish Dunelands is one of Canada’s famous trails to hike but surprisingly, one of the less touristy. It’s a picturesque trail on Prince Edward Island. Which proved to be a perfect adventure wedding stop on Ciera and Sam’s agenda. From the bridge, the water, to the beach the options were countless!

The Beach:

Prince Edward Island has an amazing amount of gorgeous gold sand beaches and the last one we visited was one of our all-time favorites for an adventure wedding day!

Sometimes adventure wedding days run short or long. With the rain and wind coming in Ciera and Sam decided to cut their adventure wedding day a tiny bit short so their guests could have a more time to rest and refresh before the Prince Edward Island wedding reception. Since the historic Great George hotel does not have formal reception space, the group walked over to the Confederation Centre for their Prince Edward Island wedding reception. Ciera and Sam were wanting to have a traditional PEI dinner and you cannot get more Prince Edward Island than having an oyster and mussels bar, clam chowder, surf + turf, and Avonlea traditional short cake.