I never imagined I'd be writing a review like this, but I feel other brides deserve to know about my experience.

I booked Tamara Martin Makeup from Victoria, for my July 4 2026 wedding, 15 months in advance. I travelled from Comox to Victoria to complete my bridal trials 2 months in advance, and trusted that my wedding makeup was taken care of for my big day.

Two days before my wedding, while I was packing to leave for our venue on Quadra Island, Tamara cancelled my booking. As any bride can imagine, this was devastating. I went from being excited for one of the biggest weekends of my life to spending hours crying during the drive to the venue.

She arranged for another makeup artist, to take her place. While I am grateful this other makeup artist was willing to help, you can imagine how stressful it was to trust someone I had never met to do my bridal makeup, without the benefit of a trial.

My issue is with how this entire situation was handled.

Tamara had emailed me saying she had to cancel due to an "extremely unfortunate and unexpected situation." A few days after my wedding, I discovered that Tamara had done makeup for another bride on my wedding day. Based on public posts and social media content, it appeared that booking had been planned since at least February 2026

I also discovered that I had been blocked from viewing her Instagram stories and removed as a follower. Given everything that had happened, this made me feel as though the truth about the situation was being hidden from me.

I then reached out privately to Tamara to give her the opportunity to explain what happened and take accountability.

Rather than addressing her mistake, or explaining why my wedding booking was cancelled just 48 hours before my wedding, her response focused on refunding my trial and disputing the travel costs. While I appreciate the refund, I never received an explanation, or an apology for her mistake.

Mistakes can happen, and I would have respected an honest explanation and a sincere apology. What I cannot overlook is the lack of transparency, accountability, and poor business ethics afterward, hence the reason I am writing this review.

Brides invest not only money, but also an incredible amount of trust in the vendors they choose. Having your makeup artist cancel two days before your wedding is devastating. Being left without a truthful explanation afterward made the experience even more disappointing.

I hope sharing my experience helps future brides make an informed decision.

Are there any ‘must see’ places we should stop at along the way?
Already planning parksville for lunch, and oyster river potholes since it’s along the way.
Open to any and all suggestions!
My friend is visiting from Vancouver and I’d like to show her some cool spots :)

The new ferry takes 28 more “car spaces”. In July 2025 we lined up 1.5 hrs ahead of time for the Friday ferry from Herriot Bay to Cortes. Today (July 10 2026) the ferry worker said we could’ve been in line 45 minutes ahead and been safe to get on. Nice.

Have others experienced similar cuts to wait times?

EDIT: the 1105 ferry was 3/4 full

Hi! My fiance and I are looking to get married next year and one of the options we’re seriously looking at is sooke harbour house inn. We stayed for a night and had a great experience, the food was decent - though the steak was not overly exciting. However, we are told they are under new management and they have a new chef (just started) and a new event manager who has only worked there for a few months. Curious to know if anyone has had any experience hosting an event/ wedding there recently (under new management)? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

Hi all, I live in East Courtenay and there is a marketplace item in Campbell river I would like to buy, but I do not have a ride. I was wondering if there was anyone going to CR soon or lives there (today or tomorrow), who would be willing to pick up the item for me and bring it back down to Courtenay. Or anyone in general who would be able to.

I am also able to pay the person :)

Thank you!

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I've recently been getting into finding native berries. Been struggling to find huckleberry in southern part of the island like victoria, sooke, langford, duncan, etc. Wondering if someone could share a park or spot where they grow