A wedding weekend on the lake
Up to fifty for the ceremony. Plated dinner for fifty on the lawn under string lights. Sixteen sleeping on-site across the two houses; another thirty-four at our partner property ten minutes up the road. Friday-noon load-in to Sunday-eleven check-out, the property is yours alone.
Three of our friends got married out on the dock. The fourth was supposed to but it rained, so we set up in the great room. It worked.
We don't take more than forty weddings a year, and we won't book a wedding the same weekend a family is on-site. The capacity below is the room we keep.
Capacity
- Ceremony: up to 50 guests on the dock or the lawn.
- Plated dinner: up to 50 under string lights or a tent.
- Cocktail or standing reception: up to 70.
- Overnight: 16 across both houses, 34 more at the partner property ten minutes up the road.
- Music has to be down by ten — Cowichan bylaw, and we share a road with neighbours we'd like to keep. The party doesn't end at ten; it moves to the firepit and the sauna.
Where to stand for the ceremony
Four spots on the two-acre property, all within a three-minute walk of each other.
- The dock. Sixty feet of cedar over the water. Best at four in the afternoon, when the sun drops behind you.
- The beach. Barefoot. Sand underfoot, lake at your back.
- The cedar grove. A clearing under three old cedars. Cool and quiet, even in August.
- The lawn. Open ground above the dock — the rain plan, but also the best one when the wind picks up.
Any of them holds fifty seated. Room for a string quartet or a single guitar.
Dinner and after
Where guests sit, eat, and stay until ten.
- The deck. Plated dinner for fifty under string lights, lake on three sides.
- The great room. Floor-to-ceiling windows facing the water. The wet-weather plan.
- The firepit. Lawn-side, lit at sundown. S'mores, last drinks, the people who don't want to go to bed.
The kitchen is built for a catering team — Wolf range, double ovens, walk-in pantry. We don't cook for you. Brianna keeps a list of Cowichan caterers, florists, photographers, and officiants we've worked with — most have been here three or four times, so they already know where the four-o'clock light lands.
Where everyone sleeps
Sixteen on-site, thirty-four ten minutes up the road. No shuttles, no hotel block, no taxis at midnight.
- Lakeside House. Six bedrooms, sleeps twelve. The bridal party plus parents.
- The cottage. Two bedrooms, sleeps four. The couple, or whoever needs the quiet.
- Partner property. Twelve bedrooms across the lake road, sleeps thirty-four, ten minutes away. We handle the booking.
Saturday-morning coffee on the deck, everyone in the same robe, nobody driving anywhere.
A Saturday wedding
One way the day tends to run. Yours can run differently.
- 9am — Coffee on the deck while the rentals arrive.
- 11am — Hair and makeup in the master suite. The bridal party uses the cottage.
- 2pm — Photos on the dock and the trail to the beach — the boards on the dock have warmed by then; barefoot is a real option.
- 4pm — Ceremony on the dock or under the cedar at the lawn's edge.
- 5pm — Cocktails on the deck. Charcuterie from Cowichan Valley producers.
- 7pm — Plated dinner under the lights.
- 9pm — First dance on the lawn — we keep the marshmallow forks in the bench by the firepit, in case the dance floor empties early.
- 10pm — Music quiet. The party moves indoors. Sauna for whoever's still standing.
- Sunday 11am — Check-out. The lake is yours until then.
What it costs
Wedding weekend (Friday to Sunday, whole property): from $24,000 in shoulder season, $32,000 peak. Includes both houses for two nights, the grounds, the dock, all amenities. Catering, rentals, officiant, and music are separate — Brianna has a vendor list.
We don't dynamic-price weddings. The number on this page is the number Brianna will quote you.
Vendors we trust
We don't cook for you. Brianna keeps a list of Cowichan caterers, florists, photographers, and officiants we've worked with — most have been here three or four times, so they already know where the four-o'clock light lands.
Photography and video
Photographers who've shot a Saturday here and know where four o'clock light lands.
Catering
Cowichan Valley caterers — vegetables from the farms ten minutes south, fish off the boat in Cowichan Bay.
Florists
Local growers — peonies in June, dahlias August through October.
Planners
Day-of coordinators who've run a wedding here before. Worth every dollar.
Music
Acoustic duos, string quartets, DJs who know the 10pm rule.
Officiants
Licensed BC officiants who've done outdoor ceremonies on the dock.
Planning runway
Roughly how a Shawnigan wedding gets planned.
- 12 to 18 months out. Hold the weekend, sign the contract.
- 9 to 12 months. Book the photographer, the caterer, the officiant.
- 6 to 9 months. Come walk the property. Pick the ceremony spot.
- 3 to 6 months. Vendors, rentals, accommodation for the thirty-four off-site.
- One month out. Final walk-through with Brianna. Run the timeline.
June through September books out twelve months ahead. May, October, and the off-season have more flex.
We had the whole property for three days. Forty-two guests, sixteen of them sleeping in the houses, the rest ten minutes up the road. The ceremony ran at five — the lake went still about a minute before the vows. By Sunday brunch, half the guests were back in the sauna. Nobody wanted to leave.
Lucia & Sergio
Summer Wedding 2023
How we're different
Most venues near Victoria give you a time slot and a shared space. We give you the property for two and a half days.
- Whole property, two nights. Friday noon to Sunday eleven. No other guests on the grounds. Music has to be down by ten — Cowichan bylaw, not us. The party moves to the firepit and the sauna.
- Sixteen on-site. Two houses, eight bedrooms. Another thirty-four ten minutes up the road at the partner property. No shuttles, no hotel block.
- Four places to stand. Dock, beach, cedar grove, lawn. Great room with floor-to-ceiling windows is the rain plan.
- Forty-five minutes from YYJ. Close enough that guests fly in Friday morning. Far enough that it feels like the trip was worth it.
- Fifty, not two hundred. If you want a ballroom for two hundred, we're the wrong call. If you want fifty people who actually matter to you, we're built for it.
Hold a wedding weekend
Tell Brianna the weekend you've been picturing. She'll write back within four hours with what's open, the pricing PDF, and a soft hold on the calendar for a week while you talk to your people.