Bridesmaid Proposal Party: Anthropologie Meets Taylor Swift Vibes
Say HELLO to the cutest ever bridesmaid proposal party! With Anthropologie meets Taylor Swift vibes, there’s literally no way this couldn’t have been the FREAKING CUTEST EVER.
So, Jeanna wanted to throw a party to officially ask her girls to be her bridesmaids, and wanted to treat them really special! It was originally supposed to be a pool party, but the weather didn’t quite turn out that way. Nonetheless, we made it ADORABLE and they had an amazing time!
Huge thanks to the Soiree team for bringing us on board for this — we loved every bit of this design!
Say HELLO to the cutest ever bridesmaid proposal party! With Anthropologie meets Taylor Swift vibes, there’s literally no way this couldn’t have been the FREAKING CUTEST EVER.
So, Jeanna wanted to throw a party to officially ask her girls to be her bridesmaids, and wanted to treat them really special! It was originally supposed to be a pool party, but the weather didn’t quite turn out that way. Nonetheless, we made it ADORABLE and they had an amazing time!
Huge thanks to the Soiree team for bringing us on board for this — we loved every bit of this design!
Okay, so we started with the tablescape. They had a catered dinner (the menu looked UNREAL) and w wanted to go really full on the florals, pairing them up with these beautiful dishes, glassware, and napkins from Anthropologie.
Remember that pressed floral Oscar de la Renta dress that Taylor Swift wore to the Grammys? That was kind of my inspiration point for the florals — a mix of light and bold colours, a whimsical garden-inspired design with long reaching stems, and just cuteness overload.
The perfect twisted taper candles were added in, and you should have seen those personalized acrylic name cards that Paula from Paper & Palm made. Adorable.
Jeanna spoiled her girls with matching Cartier rings, along with the cutest Jellycat stuffies, personalized to each bridesmaid (PS as a parent, let me tell you…those are the SOFTEST things you’ll ever experience and they’re so cute).
Along with the tablescape, we also designed a few floral pieces for coffee tables, the bar, and the sweets display. I provided Jenna Rae Cakes with all-edible, locally grown flowers for this cake and it was SO whimsical, and just totally adorable.
I love a good statement arrangement, especially when it’s placed on a bar. You want to put the attention where people are going to be congregating, so this just makes sense!
If it’s not already clear, we LOVE being part of your celebrations. While the bulk of what we do is weddings, we also want to be part of your engagement parties, your rehearsal dinners, your anniversary parties…and yes, your elaborate bridesmaid proposal parties 😍
Get in touch if you want to chat about your upcoming special event!
The 2020 Portfolio Builder: Part 1
I’m so excited to FINALLY share this first set of images from the Portfolio Builder that Emily from Feast & Festivities and I hosted together in the fall!
The concept of the Portfolio Builder is something I’ve been envisioning and planning and trying to figure out the best way to make it happen for several years already. I knew that I didn’t want to take it on on my own (so much work!) and I knew that Emily would be an amazing partner. You’re going to hear from her a little later in this post.
Have you heard the news?
Our next Portfolio Builder event for photographers and videographers is oh so soon!
SAVE THE DATE
Saturday, June 12, 2021
I’m so excited to FINALLY share this first set of images from the Portfolio Builder that Emily from Feast & Festivities and I hosted together in the fall!
The concept of the Portfolio Builder is something I’ve been envisioning and planning and trying to figure out the best way to make it happen for several years already. I knew that I didn’t want to take it on on my own (so much work!) and I knew that Emily would be an amazing partner. You’re going to hear from her a little later in this post.
This set of images were taken by the talented Photography by Jolaika!
The 2020 Portfolio Builder was originally supposed to take place last April, but we decided to postpone due to Covid, and I’m so glad that we did. By the time our new October date rolled around, the case numbers were actually a lot higher but we we knew how to best organize the day to keep it safe for everyone involved, and had so much more peace of mind.
As I’ve been envisioning the Portfolio Builder over the last few years, I knew a few things would be important:
1) That I wanted to gear it towards photographers and videographers.
2) That each of the participants be given privacy, customization, and the chance to do their own thing. I’ve seen the behind the scenes of a lot of shoot-outs and photography workshops on Instagram, and honestly, they look terrible. Jostling over each other’s shoulders to try to get the shot you want? Nah. That’s no good. I know that if I were in that situation, I would shrink to the back because I wouldn’t want to take away anyone else’s chance at getting what they need, and in the end, I’d be super unhappy with my final product.
I’ve got a soft spot for beautiful seating displays. Whether it’s a traditional (and cost-effective) seating chart, or an elegant display of escort cards like this one, I love to see that attention has been paid to the details. This is one of the first things your guests will interact with, so it should be beautiful!
Here, we carefully lined up rows of (alphabetically arranged!) escort cards beside a champagne tower (HELLO! That’s a good way to welcome everyone to the party!) and completed the design with mixed size floral arrangements. Because, obviously every table should have gorgeous floral arrangements 💁🏼♀️
A few notes from Emily of Feast & Festivities:
"One of my favourite event details to design is the dining table. It's where guests all simultaneously gather and move through an experience together. Planned and designed well, a table has the essentials for the making of a cherished memory—carefully chosen food and beverage, personal touches, and good company.
The sunny and tall ceiling surroundings of Cloakroom are so refreshing and white. We took the opportunity to draw on that blank canvas with neutral linen, chairs, and tableware, which allowed the colour palette to really stand out in the cheerful florals and candles of the tablescape. I always love a custom detail incorporated into the event's place setting. For these settings, we added a vellum wax seal embellishment with lavender buds to the menu. The card was placed on top of a custom-made Everyday Host linen napkin with a soft purple edge, highlighted by the particular fold of the napkin. I'm such a sucker for a timeless linen texture napkin!"
One of my very favourite design moments of the day, this sweet little cake and champagne combination. Adding depth is often forgotten about, but so much life is brought to this moment of your wedding design, through the varied heights of the cocktail tables, the layering of texture through napkins and plates ready to go for your cake cutting, and a few simple taper candles placed behind the cake.
Obviously any time anyone wants me to floralize a champagne bucket, or a wedding cake display, or just about anything, I’ll be happy to do so. I encourage you to think through your wedding day and imagine when those special moments will be happening. Then, how can we enhance the ambiance of those moments even more by adding a thoughtfully-planned design element?
This was such a joyful day, and I cannot wait to share more from the other photographers.
Vendors:
Photos: Photography by Jolaika
Planning and design: Feast & Festivities
Florals and Design: Stone House Creative
Linens, Chairs: Planned Perfectly
Place Setting Rentals: C&T Rentals
Venue: Cloakroom Wellness
Dress: Bliss Bridal Boutique
Shoes: Bella Belle Shoes
Makeup: Tiopo and Co
Hair: Tori Lynn Hair
Rings: Mokada
Accessories: Luna + Stone
Stationery: Minted
Calligraphy: Blake Creative Co
Cake: Sugar & Salt BakeShoppe
Model: Havilah for Panache Management
Want to be part of the next portfolio builder?
June 12, 2021 is the date and registration opens NEXT WEEK!
This is a day exclusively for photographers and videographers who are looking to build their portfolio and attract their dream clients. You’ll find an expertly planned and thoughtfully designed styled shoot and bridal editorial created to give you the time and space to get inspired, explore, try new things, and hone in on your skills in a one-of-a-kind outdoor setting.
Whether you’ve been in business for several years already or if you’re just starting out, or maybe you’re thinking about branching out to offer video services to your already established photography business, the Portfolio Builder is the right fit for you.
And let’s be honest…after the dumpster fire that was 2020 and that 2021 is turning out to be so far, we all need some inspiration.
Girls Gone Mild: Laidback Summer Bachelorette Party
When you work in the wedding industry and your cousin/life-long built-in best friend gets married, you do what you can to celebrate in a BIG way. And with Roberta’s wedding coming up THIS WEEKEND, I thought this would be the perfect time to show you how her laidback summer bachelorette party came together!
Bachelorette parties (along with basically every other event that requires people) are all VERY different in this Covid world. There’s not really a responsible way of going out on the town in the same way as we used to…so, girls gone mild, anyone?
When you work in the wedding industry and your cousin/life-long built-in best friend gets married, you do what you can to celebrate in a BIG way. And with Roberta’s wedding coming up THIS WEEKEND, I thought this would be the perfect time to show you how her laidback summer bachelorette party came together!
Bachelorette parties (along with basically every other event that requires people) are all VERY different in this Covid world. There’s not really a responsible way of going out on the town in the same way as we used to…so, girls gone mild, anyone?
My sister and I are 2 of 3 bridesmaids (the other lives in BC and wasn’t able to come just for the party), and we hosted the party on my sister’s back patio. Knowing that Roberta is a pretty laid-back person and doesn’t go for anything too wild anyways, the girls gone mild theme with a slight Mexican twist was perfect (her fiance is Mexican, after all, so we HAD to play to the stereotypes lol!). Our goal was really just to create a great ambiance, so that our guests could have a relaxing night, making jokes, playing games, and eating good food.
Basically the only reason why this set up looks as good as it does is because of Trend Decor. We’re so lucky that Maureen from Trend offers an awesome selection of lounge furniture, because the only other real option for lounge pieces in Winnipeg is very glam white leather, which was not our vibe. I had my van loaded with all of her pieces — obviously we chose a lot of the rattan accents, and I really wanted to find a way to hang the lanterns (luckily they’re SUPER lightweight so we just looped them around the patio lights), and we sprinkled in some black accents as well as using a few of my sister’s patio pieces.
I’ll tell you what: if you’re unsure what to do to make your bride-to-be feel special during this weird Covid time, get a photographer to come to your party for a few minutes. It’s so special to have photos of Roberta and her girlfriends! Mary-Margaret Magyar Photography came, and we are SO grateful for her!
Obviously I added flowers. I made a few arrangements here and there, using exclusively locally grown flowers, along with a selfie wall with garlands of bright orange marigolds, and fuchsia and purple carnations. It’s lucky for me that Roberta LOVES bright colours so I could really indulge in a palette that has no subtlety at all 😂 I also added a few mini garlands to her chair!
Guests came into the backyard and were greeted with hand sanitizer, a cocktail, and the selfie station.
Watermelon Margaritas
-Frozen watermelon
-1 can lime-aid-Tequila
-Triple Sec
-Add fresh watermelon when blending
-Garnish with a piece of watermelon (or don’t, if you forget about it like we did ha!)
I thought I’d share my original design board! I create one of these for each of my events. The only thing that I envisioned that didn’t happen was the bridal sombrero…it arrived the day AFTER the party 🙄
I’m so glad that we could celebrate my dear Roberta! Wedding events have felt really different this year, but let me tell you, this woman deserves to be celebrated. She’s incredibly generous, always the first to lend a hand (in fact, she stayed late after her own bachelorette party to wash the dishes), and is a kind and caring friend.
We could not have made this party quite as beautiful without a lot of help from the following Winnipeg wedding vendors:
Photos: Mary-Margaret Magyar Photography
LoungE, Glassware, Flatware Rentals: Trend Decor
Bride’s Makeup: Justine Barry Artistry
Bride’s Dress: Anthropologie
Inspiration Tables from The Gates on Roblin Open House
I had a great time at the Gates on Roblin’s open house two weeks ago! All of the creative/decor vendors were tasked with designing 3 inspiration tables: one each of the categories of modern, romantic, and vintage. I’m not personally one that’s big on “themes” so my goal with these table designs was really to just create something that I liked and would appeal to engaged couples who like my style. Truth be told, I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money. Because guys, flowers ARE expensive, even on the wholesale level. But that’s beside the point!
I had a great time at the Gates on Roblin’s open house two weeks ago! All of the creative/decor vendors were tasked with designing 3 inspiration tables: one each of the categories of modern, romantic, and vintage. I’m not personally one that’s big on “themes” so my goal with these table designs was really to just create something that I liked and would appeal to engaged couples who like my style. Truth be told, I also didn’t want to spend a ton of money 😂Because guys, flowers ARE expensive, even on the wholesale level. But that’s beside the point!
The Gates on Roblin ~ Mandy Wright Photography ~ Soiree Event Planning ~ Planned Perfectly ~ C&T Rentals
Modern Wedding Design
I had one initial idea for this modern wedding design style: this incredible variety of rose called Toffee. They’re an absolutely incredible colour, they open up beautifully, and they’re a gorgeous selection for a warm neutral (which is the next big colour trend). I paired it with black accents (vase, candle holders, chairs) for some depth and drama, and chose Planned Perfectly’s new taupe linen. It’s got a beautiful texture and is a beautiful neutral base. The black metal candle holders are new to my inventory and I love them! They give off such a great glow. The perfect finishing touch was those black and gold cutlery from C&T! I’ve been hoping for black flatware to be brought into Winnipeg and here they are!
Vintage Wedding Design
I love olive foliage. The stems are a hardy branching shape, the colour of the leaves is a silvery sage green (similar to the colour of eucalyptus but MUCH more interesting…FYI I’m tired of using eucalyptus all the time), and it’s really pretty en masse like this. I also knew that I wanted to use these cross-back chairs from Planned Perfectly, and thought they’d look great with the walnut chargers from C&T Rentals. We added the copper flatware and I popped some dried hydrangea into my copper votives to add some interest to the base of the tall vase. The terracotta menus were actually samples I had on-hand from Minted, and didn’t they work PERFECTLY? (and PS, I have a discount code for any of your from Minted - let me know if you want it!)
Romantic Wedding Design
This centrepiece design was my anti-dote to personally being tired of the typical cylinder vase trio with pillar candles and greenery. I still included three pillar vases, but mixed them in with coloured taper candles and bronze votives, and then created some free-form mini gardens at the base, using moss, fern, and a few floral bits and pieces. I selected the mauve velvet linen as the base and Andrea from Soiree Event Planning completed the table design by selecting the place settings - I was originally thinking all white plates but I love that she stacked the grey charger with the scalloped white dinner plate and salad plate!
My Set Up
And last up, I designed this for my own little set up. I wanted to do something with a little more colour (because as we all know, I LOVE colour) and I started with the dark blue delphinium because I needed the height. Then I knew that I wanted to bring in some coral and peach, and thought I should add in a touch of yellow for a little more vibrance and fun. The light blue velvet linen from Planned Perfectly was SO gorgeous and if you’re looking for an incredible linen to take your tables from basic to amazing, this might be it! They also have a new green velvet that is STUNNING.
I would DIE to create this style of arrangement curved around or in front of a sweetheart table, or as a “nest” for a really intimate ceremony setting. Wouldn’t it be incredible to say your vows knee-deep in flowers?!
The bridal bouquet ingredients included the most perfect peach amaryllis (wowza, am I right?!), roses, agapanthus, alstroemeria, and a couple of cute billy balls. I finished it with a TON of silk Tono & Co ribbon.
Hire a Talented Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg
I’ll be announcing my 2021 appointment dates in the next few weeks! My waitlist has already been started so if you want to be one of the first I meet with for a 2021 wedding, make sure you get on the list early. Couples interested in full event and floral design will be contacted first about their dates. I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!
Tropical Greens at Cielo's Garden's Open House
I always love being a part of the Cielo's Garden Open House each year, for a number of reasons (you can see more from last year's by clicking here!).
First, the people there are wonderful. Carla and Diego (and their adorable daughter and cat) are truly great people, and I always enjoy spending time with them. The facility that they dreamed up and created is incredible. Each spring, when I arrive there for the first time of the year, I fall in love with the place all over again. The way the trees arch over the path in the woods, the sweet stone chapel, even the smell of the air out there - it's magical. The open house is also a great opportunity for me to meet up with some of my couples getting married there, walking through their wedding flower plans in the space in which they'll be, which helps the couple to visualize it so much better.
And finally, the open house is also a chance for me to stretch my creative muscle and do something interesting. Carla recommends me as one of her preferred vendors, and to me, this gives me a responsibility to always be coming up with fresh design ideas so that each couples really feels like they're getting a unique wedding just for them.
So for this year's open house design, I decided to feature my personal favourite colour: emerald green. I didn't want to just do the same old green that has been done time and time again, though - I felt the urge to play with a tropical vibe, which I've never done before, and chose to tie in some of my copper wedding rentals, which paired beautifully with the green and black accents. I was pleasantly surprised at all of the positive response I received on Instagram from the design, so I thought I'd share it here on the blog! The photos were all just taken on my phone, so forgive me for them not be stellar :)
Venue: Cielo's Garden | Florals and Design: Stone House Creative | Place Setting Rentals: C&T Rentals | Silk Table Runner: Tono & Co
