Picturesque elopement earns Shuswap wedding photographer 4 awards
Published 5:00 am Wednesday, February 11, 2026
Having taken her wedding photography business full-time just a couple years ago, Kayla Bowie is already living her happily ever after with four awards won in 2025.
The North Shuswap photographer is the talent behind the camera of Kayla Bowie Creative and, in striving to capture couples’ special moments, also captured accolades from the industry.
After submitting photos taken during an elopement on her rural property, Bowie won first place in the wedding couple category in the West Coast Wedding Awards (WCWA). She explained that images are judged in a juried process that evaluates on composition, creativity, lighting, aesthetics and editing, while also fostering growth and community in the industry.
Bowie said when she submitted her photos, she hadn’t expected much to come from it so it was “definitely an amazing experience when I found out that I won, especially in first place.”
The icing on the cake is that her personal connection to the winning photo made it particularly meaningful.
“I just love that that image, the one that won the West Coast Weddings, was taken right on my property,” she said. “It just creates that pure magic being able to bring all the things that I love together to create something so beautiful.”
Bowie shot her first wedding for friends in 2019, the timing of her foray into photography coinciding with COVID and the birth of her first child, so “it was a process.” She persevered, however, focusing on self portraits and pictures of friends during social restrictions before branding her business in 2023.
Though she still does some portraits and family photos, Bowie concentrates mostly on weddings, engagements and couples, preferring to focus on a niche and those special moments that are full of emotion.
“I’ve always been creative, I’ve always been into the arts and things like that,” she said. “I guess, when I was younger I was really drawn to being able to capture a feeling in a photograph.”
While the industry has seen changes recently with the introduction of readily available AI technology, Bowie hasn’t found that has negatively affected her business, and doesn’t see it ever really being a problem in what is such a personal line of work.
“People, they love having that genuine moment and connection captured, and I think that’s something that AI can’t get,” she said. “It’s great for other business aspects, but I don’t think it will ever be able to capture someone’s personal moments on their wedding day… That added depth and emotion, that really makes the image.”
In addition to her first place WCWA win for 2025, Bowie was also recognized as the B.C. Wedding Photographer of the Year by Canadian Wedding Photographers, was named one of the Top 10 Wedding Photographers in Canada, and one of her images was selected as one of the Top 10 Canadian Wedding Photos of the Year.
With all those featuring the same couple on her property, Bowie admitted that while she was surprised by her wins, they weren’t. She said “they were thrilled,” but not over surprised as they had loved all their photos from their special day, with that client trust just another bonus of her work.
“I’m deeply grateful to the couples who trust me with their stories and invite me into such meaningful moments of their lives,” Bowie said. “These honours are a reminder of why I love what I do – capturing real connection in beautiful places, both close to home and across the country.”
The winning portfolio and her other work can be viewed on her website at kaylabowiecreating.com.
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