Client Process: A Step-by-Step Look at Working with Stone House Creative

A step-by-step Look at my client process

Photos by Brittany Mahood

We are Stone House Creative, a floral design studio led by Lauren (that’s me!) and rooted in colour, clarity, and thoughtful artistry. With florals, we shape the full visual story of a celebration bringing palette, texture, and atmosphere together with calm, confident direction. Couples choose us for our ability to simplify complex ideas, articulate what will make the greatest impact, and deliver a celebration that feels cohesive, expressive, and uniquely reflective of their aesthetic.

It’s really important to me that every element I’m touching is thoughtfully considered to build a cohesive, immersive aesthetic that feels elevated and artfully composed. I often joke to my planner partners that I’m nosey and I want to know everything — but I truly do! If I know what you’ve got going on in various areas of your wedding, then I can offer florals that will best complement the overall vibe,

Another of my priorities is to act as a guide to you: I know that you (most likely) haven’t done this before. You have no idea what boxes to check, what to focus on, and sometimes, you don’t even know what you like! I want to help my couples refine ideas, prioritize impact, and navigate decisions with clarity and transparency.

If you’re interested in working with me, the process is going to go a little like this:

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Step 1: Inquiry and Consultation

-Most clients reach out to me via my website or through their planner. This lets me gather the basic info I need!

-Your virtual consult will be scheduled, and we usually take about 45 minutes to chat through everything floral. I’ll ask you for inspo pics and colours beforehand so I can start brainstorming!

-We’ll discuss your budget range and if I see any red flags with what’s realistic for your budget, I’ll note that. I’ll also steer you towards ideas that will work within your budget. 

-Depending on how early in the planning you’re at, I often find that couples haven’t really spent a lot of time thinking about the details yet. This means my questions will definitely bring up things you’ll still need to think through, and that’s totally fine.

-Some couples want to be very collaborative in the design, and some just want me to create the vision and execute it. Both are great — just let me know where you fall! 

*I’m usually booking 9-15 months in advance of a wedding, so keep that in mind when you send your inquiry! The sooner, the better.

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Step 2: Proposal Creation

-I love this part. Creating your proposal involves a custom visual proposal and an itemized breakdown, giving you all the transparency in pricing that you need to make a good decision. It does take me a fair amount of time to work through all of this, because of the way I aim to envision everything in an all-encompassing way. 

-Everything is fully CUSTOM. Yes, there are definitely average price ranges, but with each couple comes specific requests, flower choices, colour palette blending options, unique table needs, and so on. It takes time to make the magic, baby! 

*That being said - if you’re only looking for a price, please tell us that so that we don’t invest a few hours into your proposal. I can give you general price ranges instead. 

-My favourite part is definitely the visual proposal (and to be honest, I’m likely doing too much unpaid work here). This custom design plan translates our shared direction into an inspiring visual roadmap. It outlines key floral moments, installation concepts, colour intentions, and atmosphere, all showing how each detail contributes to an immersive, beautifully cohesive experience.

-You’re not beholden to any particular idea at this point! We can continue making any changes up until 5-6 weeks prior to the wedding, but this gives us a really good place to start from. 

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Step 3: Booking

-You’ll reserve your date with a contract and retainer. I make this super clear and easy to follow, so you’ll have total piece of mind.

-I aim to take only 1 wedding per day. Sometimes there are occasions where we have 2, but that’s the max because it’s really important to me to be able to have the time I need to make your designs totally perfect. This means it’s also important for you to be responsive on booking your date pretty quickly because once the date is gone, it’s absolutely gone. 

-You’ll receive a client guide with some further info and a BTS look at my process!

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Step 4: Behind the Scenes Design Details

-This is when your unified visual story really comes together! I’ll be hard at work, selecting flower varieties, ordering the right vases, choosing candles, and making any updates or design refinements you need until about 5 weeks before the wedding. 

-Recipe writing, internal cost work, and placing preliminary flower orders with my local growers are all in the works now, too. In fact, I actually work with my local growers as early as January/February, letting them know what colour palettes and flowers I would hope for each weekend during their growing season, and they will plant according to my requests.

-If you’re one of those clients who wants to collaborate on design, the visual proposal is a great way to get our thoughts on the same page and work to refine it together throughout your engagement and as the rest of the details come together. 

-Your second flower payment will be due 90 days from the wedding.

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Step 5: Confirmations

-About 5-6 weeks prior to the wedding, we’ll re-connect to see where everything is at. Usually we need to make a few adjustments to the table numbers, refine a few design elements to coordinate with everything else you’ve been planning, and talk about the delivery, set up, and teardown timeline. 

-From here, I place our flower orders and send your final invoice (due 15 days before the wedding).

-A small number of my clients will want to gift their flowers to guests, or repurpose arrangements to their day-after brunch the next day. I love this! We’ll just need to connect to discuss the details and make a plan for success.

-This is a busy time for you, but it’s critical for us to connect on all of these details so that nothing is forgotten or missed! 

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Brittany Mahood Photography

Step 6: The Wedding Day

-All week long we’ve been processing, prepping, and designing, and on your wedding day you’re free to be fully present. Our calm, seamless execution brings your visual story to life, transforming each space into an atmosphere that feels intentional, expressive, and unmistakably yours. I’ll deliver your bouquets to you in the morning while you’re getting ready, and then my team heads off to the venues to make the flower magic happen. 

-Most couples opt to have us come back at 1 am to handle the removal of all the vases, candle holders, and any unwanted flowers. *The flowers are all yours, if you want them! If you don’t want to deal with any or most of them, my team will bring them back to the studio for proper composting. 

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

If what you’re looking for is a designer to guide the vision for your wedding, come and ask me any questions you want — I might just be your girl. I offer custom designs, creative and unique design boards that communicate the vision, have countless testimonials that speak to the creative trust the client had in me, and I also just love what I do.

Reach out to check your date!

Vanessa Renae Photography

The Top 5 Wedding Flower Mistakes Couples (and Planners!) Make

Photos by Michael & Melanie

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I remember what it was like to be engaged, attempting to plan and budget for a wedding when I had ABSOLUTELY no idea what anything could cost, or what order I should do things in. Luckily for me, I happened to work at a wedding magazine so I had the right information available to me.

Now that I’ve been working in the wedding industry for 15+ years (I’m not that old, I’m sure…I’ve just spent my entire career in weddings!), there are a handful of things that I see couples (and some wedding pros, too!) make mistakes on that I can offer some help on!

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Here are some of the most common mistakes that I see couples (and their wedding planners!) making when they get into wedding planning:

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1) Getting Hung Up on Specific Flowers

I always want to know a client’s favourite flowers, and the flowers that they absolutely don’t like. Some of you have a list of these prepared, and some of you really don’t care that much. Both of those are good! The problem lies in getting too bogged down in a “must-have” flower. Hopefully we can accommodate that, but the reality is that there’s never a 100% guarantee that I can make it happen and I would really hate to break your heart! We never know if there’s going to be a big storm, or a shipping problem, or some celebrity wedding that takes the entire stock of a certain flower that week.

The other reason why I don’t want you to get hung up on specific flowers is because, sometimes, your choices are boring. SORRY! Most of the time when I see this, it’s in planners’ design boards.

So what do you do? All I need you to do is find a few images of bouquet shapes that you like, and colours and textures that you like. I don’t need you to choose the flowers — I’ve got that, and while I love your suggestions, if a planner has talked too in-depth with the client about the flowers before connecting with the floral designer, we end up pigeon-holed into something that can be pretty boring and has already been done before. We want to design something unique and gorgeous for you, and giving us the reigns is going to work out a lot better.

2) Focusing on Design, Without considering the venue

If only every venue was designed to be gorgeous from top to bottom. The reality is, they’re not. I’M TALKING TO YOU, GOLF COURSE CARPET!!! The golf course I had my reception in had purple and ORANGE carpet, and I’m not even joking. What do we do with that!?

There are some venues that I think “meh that feature is so ugly that we should just ignore it,” and there are other times when I absolutely know we need to work with something, rather than against it. And that’s where Pinterest does us dirty. You find these gorgeous ideas that you want to implement in your wedding design and you set your heart on them, and then I have to be the bearer of bad news to tell you: the ceilings in your venue are too low for this. Or, there are posts in your reception space that mean we can’t do this. Or, your venue doesn’t allow us to stake anything into the grass so we cannot do this. Or, since your venue has no natural light, this feature isn’t going to be noticed unless you add professional lighting.

So what do you do? You’ve got to let the venue lead. First, go for a good walk-through of the space and have the venue coordinator provide you with some sample floor plans. Rely on your planner and your florist to offer suggestions that will work with the space and highlight the best parts of it.

*Make sure you’re aware what your venue’s restrictions are, too: can we use real candlelight or only faux? Are they overly specific on what you can do with the floor plan? Are you allowed to suspend or hang anything?

3) not paying attention to Scale

This one is a big personal pet peeve. In my opinion, this is what sets apart “floral designers” from FLORAL DESIGNERS. Same goes for wedding planners and designers. If you’re not considering the scale of the space that you’re working with, or the size of arch that you’re designing on, the height of the ceiling and how low you need to hang the florals above the dinner tables, then you aren’t doing the design justice and it’s going to fall flat.

Hanging a floral installation too high? No one’s going to notice it and the money you spent isn’t serving you. Designing an arch piece that’s too small for the structure? It’s going to underwhelm. Even when we repurpose the ceremony flowers to the reception, we need to think about scale. The large urn arrangement at the front of your ceremony is probably gorgeous from the front and sides, but the back is likely mostly greens to keep your costs manageable, so we can’t repurpose that piece to the centre of an escort card table without everyone seeing the back (some florists refer to this as the “underwear check” — we don’t want you to see our underwear!).

So what do you do? Ask your florist for their recommendations on scale and size, and what might need to be budgeted for a particular piece in order to achieve what it needs to. Maybe that ceremony urn needs to have florals all throughout the back so you can repurpose it. Give us all the floor plans and measurements that your venues provide so we can make the best suggestions possible.

4) Forgetting about setup and logistics

We’re pretty lucky here in Winnipeg that the majority of our venues allow us ample time to set up (some of my colleagues in major cities in the US or Toronto regularly work in venues that only give them 2 hours to set up!). Nevertheless, the logistics of setting up are crucial to making your event work and will also impact your budget: does your venue have a loading elevator or do we need to carry things up a few flights of stairs? Do we only have a couple of hours to set everything up AND flip the flowers from ceremony to reception? If your ceremony is at one location and your reception at a second location, are guests heading directly to the reception? That means that it’s harder for us to repurpose items.

So what do you do? Ask your venue for loading and set up information to pass along to your planner and florist (and anyone else coming to set up: rental companies, linens and draping, lighting!) so they can properly account for the size of staff they will need, and quote your accordingly.

5) Underestimating How much flowers cost

Arguably, this is the biggest problem. And I know — you’ve never done this before. You don’t know what you don’t know. That’s okay! But it does mean that you’ll have to do some research, and NOT the kind of research that involves reading all the major wedding blogs “budget guides.” Because they’ve been saying that the average wedding costs $30K for the entire 15 years that I’ve been working in the wedding industry, not updating to reflect inflation, while also only publishing weddings that cost 6 figures.

So what do you do? How do you research what wedding flowers actually cost? Talk to your local florists. Pricing is not always an easy thing to quote because every wedding has a custom list of wants and needs. Choose a small handful of florists who you are interested in, and before sending an official inquiry, ask for their minimum spends or average client spends. Ask “what ballpark range do I need to budget to achieve something like ______ this wedding in your portfolio?” That will go a much longer way to helping you figure out what your budget range should actually be.

For example, my minimum for full service floral design begins at $5000, but my average client spend is around $7500. At the same time, many of the weddings in my portfolio have spent upwards of $15,000 on their wedding flowers. There are a lot of florists who offer set packages for smaller weddings, or an a la carte offering, where you can get their signature design style but without the added cost of customizations. There is something out there for every budget level, but arbitrarily deciding on a number without having a clue if it’s a relevant budget to what you want isn’t going to make it easy on anyone.

To help you out, here are a few past blog posts that highlight pricing info:

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Hire a Talented Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg

Not to toot my own horn (too much), but I happen to be really good at this — and more than just designing, I’m really good at balancing logistics and budgets with your dreams.

I’d be thrilled to design an incredible atmosphere and accompanying florals for your wedding.

Why You Should Create a Design Board for Your Wedding (and How To!)

Are you one of those “visual” people?

So many of my clients come to me saying, “I’m a really visual person and I’m having a hard time picturing the wedding.” And a large part of me wants to say “you don’t need to visualize it; I can, and it’s gooood.” But obviously that is completely unhelpful to you 😝

So what do you do? How can you communicate to your vendors what it is that you want your wedding to look and feel like to make sure you’re all on the same page? 

A mood board, also called a design board, is the perfect tool for you.

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Before we get too far, please know that I don’t expect you have to have a multi-page document outlining every single element of your wedding. That only works for a small segment of the population (I’ve noticed that most of them seem to be teachers!). And to be honest, sometimes those multi-page docs can actually stifle your vendors’ creativity if you’re not leaving any room for our ideas or suggestions (though one of my clients this year created the most incredible multi-page doc to share with vendors as well as her family and wedding party, and it’s essentially everything that a person could need to know about the wedding, including the timeline, contact info, wedding party attire, and so on, along with her design inspo boards!). 

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Instead, I’m going to suggest you create a single page visual reference to get everyone on the same page. Rather than getting nitty gritty, think of this as a high level overview that communicates a few things: 

-colour palette 
-level of formality
-overall vibe and atmosphere you want to create
-descriptive words

I always ask clients, “how do you want the wedding to look and feel?” and they often pull up a few images that show a certain design or they use a few buzz words. That’s not really what I’m asking. 

I want to design BEYOND what you’ve seen on Pinterest, because that wedding was designed for someone else. If you can find a way to communicate how you want to feel while you’re sitting at your own wedding, that’ll go a lot farther in helping your vendors to get to know you and creating something just for you. 

That being said, you’re going to include some images from weddings in your mood board. But take this advice as you do: notice patterns in what you’re drawn to and edit out what no longer is interesting to you! This can be a living document.

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A FEW TIPS:

-Canva is so great for mood boards! This is what I build all my client design boards on. Pinterest also has that new collage/shuffle feature which could be very cool for you.

-Turn off AI generated images on Pinterest. Some of them aren’t bad, but I don’t want you to fall in love with a flower that isn’t real (this is becoming SO much more prevalent) or with the scale of something that literally isn’t possible. 

-Get specific with the wording of your Pinterest search terms. Sometimes I’ll even add in “2025” to it: “outdoor wedding ceremony with pastel flowers 2025” to get something more recent. 

-Look at things other than weddings to inspire you: hotel lobbies or great restaurants are always a go-to for me. Is it art that sparks something in you, or editorial fashion shoots? Locations from your travel bucket list! The dream sunset! These types of images often help to convey the emotions and feelings more than a typical wedding photo.

-Include some colour swatches, knowing that we will likely make additional suggestions for adding depth and visual interest. I also like to talk with my clients about the amounts of each colour that we’ll use — maybe the bulk of the flowers are mauve and lavender, with 15% peach, 10% coral, and 5% chartreuse added in to amp it up.

-I’m a words person, but I generally find it so helpful when people can communicate their style or ideas with a few descriptive words. Often I’ll pull a few threads during our conversations, asking questions to get you there, but if you can have that prepared, that’ll get us where we need to go!

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Here’s an example of a design board I created in Canva, based on the most gorgeous church I saw in Rome, Sant’Ignazio of Loyola. The moment I walked in, I was in awe — and that’s saying something, because obviously we were in Italy and every single building is gorgeous.  

I started with a photo I took of the interior, which inspired the palette of moody blues and greys, with touches of golden caramel and burgundies. I imagined designing this wedding with velvet linens, in a rich, historic style setting. Then, I added a few images of flowers that I knew would work, this gorgeous light fixture that I’m drooling over for my own home, and a few inspiration images that set the ambiance that I would be going for, if this were my wedding.

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once you’ve got your design board, what do you do? 

Share it with your creative vendors AND OPEN YOURSELF to their ideas. Let them have some time to think on how they can add to and further your design, tweak elements that may not be realistic in your venue or within your budget, and ask them for their best advice and creative ideas on how to achieve it. 

Then? Step away. When you’re confident that everyone is on the same page and working together to create something amazing, hand off the reigns to your creative vendors. Let us work our magic. 

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

If what you’re looking for is a designer to guide the vision for your wedding, come and ask me any questions you want — I might just be your girl. I offer custom designs, creative and unique design boards that communicate the vision, have countless testimonials that speak to the creative trust the client had in me, and I also just love what I do.

Reach out to check your date!

2026 and 2027 Wedding Flower and Design Trend

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Every year for the last 12 years, I’ve written an annual trends forecasting blog post. I always enjoy it but to be honest, this year I’m not feeling it. Why? Good question.

It might be that the trend cycle seems less interesting to me than ever before. Rather than obsessing over trends, I would love to see you plan a wedding and celebration that is unique, interesting, and fits your vision instead of just replicating another thing you saw online. I’m feeling this way with my personal style, with the renovation I’m planning for my home, even just feeling super tired of Instagram itself.

The best designs are never going to be replicating what we see someone else has done.

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Now here’s the thing: Despite my current disillusionment in all things trends, I nevertheless work in an aesthetics-based segment of the wedding industry. And I LOVE making your weddings beautiful. But here’s a good quote for you: “You can’t please everyone, so please yourself. Trying to make every family member and guest happy can lead to a wedding that doesn’t reflect you two as a couple. Focus on what makes you happy.” In other words: You do you. Make your wedding the greatest it can be, for you.

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Trending Colour Palettes

Blue

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I LOVE blue. Much of my wardrobe is blue. It’s flattering on every skin tone, it can be calming or energizing, and of course, there’s such a huge range of shades. I think we’ll be seeing pastel, baby blues (paired with chrome for a chic feel!) as well as bolder cobalt for couples who aren’t afraid to make a statement.

When it comes to flowers, there really aren’t that many naturally blue flowers, so when blue is a strong component of a colour palette, I often suggest that the planner or couple finds other ways to incorporate it; stationery and linens are excellent places to layer in more blue.

Chartreuse

Wedding pros have been petitioning Pantone to make Chartreuse the colour of the year for a few seasons now, and I think we’ll keep it seeing it play into high end weddings in a major way. It’s a fun way to add a modern flair to a classic white and green palette, but I’d love to do a citrusy palette like Brides and Minted have collaborated on.

Burgundy and Olive

It’s not new, but it’s still going strong. Burgundy and olive green will continue to be a popular choice, and for good reason! It feels very rich and luxurious, and is a natural base for an elevated design. This palette fits really well with velvet textures and over the top drapery, and I think you could easily layer in rich browns, taupes, and magentas to add more depth and visual interest.

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Unconventional Seating Layouts

This one’s quite a lot of fun! We’re seeing unique seating layouts all over Pinterest and Instagram, for both ceremonies and receptions. Below are a few images that caught my eye, but one word of caution: pretty much all of these ideas require either a smaller guest count, or a large amount of space — or both!

To tie back to the beginning of this post, these are all excellent examples of having fun and getting creative. Do something unique, because you like unique — and not just because you’ve seen it on IG.

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An amazing floor plan is like a love language to someone who works in events. A plan that creates visual interest in the room and allows for multiple different design elements, at the same time as allowing for excellent flow, is the absolute dream.

We’re talking differently shaped and sized tables, mixed cocktail and full size tables, introducing interesting seating elements (as long as they’re still comfortable!) and you have got yourself one heck of a good base for your event design. Just also know that you may not be able to count on the standard 8-10 people per table so your numbers will be a bit different!

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Major Ceremony Focal Features with Scaled Back Reception Tables

In my books, this is a great combination: amped up florals and decor at the ceremony, and scaling it back on the guest tables at the reception. Here’s what works about this wedding design trend:

-When you go big in one area, it doesn’t look like you chintzed out in the other area. Meanwhile, if you go kind of medium everywhere and try to spread your budget equally without creating any design focal points, then it does feel like you chintzed out (not that other people’s perceptions of your wedding budget should have much bearing on reality…but keep in mind I’m speaking from a designer’s perspective here).

-I would love to see this as multiple pieces grouped around your ceremony altar, whatever that may be: an arch is always good, but I am seeing more interest in multiple sizes and styles of vases and ground-based floral pieces styled together. Then, we’re seeing long reception tables lined with minimalistic bud vases or petite floral frog arrangements, or round tables with 3x petite floral pieces with candles.

-Ideally, the ceremony focal florals are pieces that can be utilized at the reception (*note, you’ll need to talk this through with your floral designer so that she can plan it all out in advance. We design different pieces in different ways, and we want to make sure it looks phenomenal in each location). So, perhaps those ceremony arrangements become ground-based pieces that find their new home at the front base of each long table.

-Note that we still have a beautiful collection of vases on the guest tables, perhaps featuring interesting vessels themselves, or allowing the florals to have a lot of height and interest.

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Portraits Are Getting a Glow Up

Paris Hilton’s wedding; show a photo of Michael and Melanie backdrop

Very editorial portrait style

Bonus points if this can also be set up as a grown-up alternative to a photo booth. I know I would be THRILLED as a guest if your photographer (or their second shooter) was taking high quality portraits of guests with a gorgeous setup that didn’t include cheesy props.

Michael & Melanie Photography

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Bold Lighting Design

Lighting is taking a major step forward in design priorities this year. "Lighting sets the tone before anything else. Step into a room, and you feel it instantly. It guides the eye, shapes the space, and creates moments that linger. It’s no longer just functional—lighting is part of the décor. Seamless when subtle, bold when dramatic, it elevates the room, the entertainment, and the mood. Every glow and shadow tells a story. We are loving where this has taken our events, and possibilities are endless. The right light doesn’t just illuminate—it transforms. It’s how an event becomes unforgettable.” —Xin Huang of Le Petite Privé

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Silver and Chrome Accents

We’ve been seeing silver and chrome accents trickling into fashion and home design, and slowly but surely making its way into weddings as well. As Junebug reports, “Silver is replacing gold, bronze, and warm metals in wedding fashion and décor. Expect to see silver tableware, silver-accented attire, reflective details, and chrome-adjacent finishes. It feels fresh, cool, and timeless.”

One thing to note, it does take a while for some of these types of design trends to become accessible in our market. It’ll take some time and investment on behalf of rental companies to be able to purchase inventory and get it into circulation. I just brought in some SUPER cute chrome vessels that I’m really excited to style at weddings and events this year!

Image Source - this is the vase collection I purchased!

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So now that I’ve finished this post, I’m finding myself much more interested in thinking about trends than I was when I started — so that’s a good thing! I think all of these ideas can be highly customizable and be pushed to really create something that’s interesting and personalized to your style, your venue, your vibe.

I also thought I’d share my personal 2026 inspiration board!

I always like to start off with a delicious colour palette, and this is actually the palette that I’m focusing on in a branding refresh this year. You’ll be seeing more of this soon :)

I was thinking about what gets me really excited, what leaves me feeling invigorated and refreshed, and that’s always joyful colour, sweet pea, and pansies. I have had so much fun with dahlias the last couple of seasons and when they’re in season, there’s really nothing that beats them.

So, if you’re unsure of what you want, no worries. I KNOW WHAT I WANT and I can just do that for you! I’ve got ideas for every season that I want to accomplish this year.

All images curated from my Pinterest boards.

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looking for a wedding floral designer in winnipeg?

We can design an incredibly beautiful wedding for you, trendy or not.

Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!

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How Much Does A Bridal Bouquet Cost?

Some PRicing Transparency for 2025 Weddings

Photos by Kate Elizabeth Photography

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I remember what it was like to be engaged, attempting to plan an budget for a wedding when I had ABSOLUTELY no idea  what anything could cost. I have a specific memory of sitting at my fiance’s (now husband’s) computer and googling “wedding photographer in Winnipeg”, opening up every single website on the first 5 or so pages of Google, and sending a form submission to every single one. Because NONE of them had any pricing information available (and I only heard back from about 5 of them!).

That was a long time ago, and pricing transparency has definitely improved in the Winnipeg market, but I think that now, more than ever, couples are anxiously seeking pricing information. Since covid, costs on a lot of things have increased and not gone down, and now we get the joys of all this tariff business. All that to say, I understand where you’re coming from and I’m here to give you some insight on wedding flower pricing!

I do need to give the caveat, of course, that flower pricing varies widely — what types of flowers you’re interested, what time of year you’re getting married at (stay clear of Mother’s Day if you’re on a tighter budget!), how many guests you have, how full and lush you want everything, and of course, what your personal priorities are.

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I know the internet loves to talk about “the wedding tax,” which is one of the most annoying myths out there. So, let’s talk about bridal bouquets and what they cost.

There are a few things that florists would love for couples to understand:

1) We’re not trying to rip you off.

2) We’re not interested in taking advantage of you.

3) We really do want you to have a beautiful wedding, but we’re not responsible for paying for your wedding for you.

And at the same time:

1) Flowers are a perishable, luxury item that are flown in from around the world. No one NEEDS flowers to get married.

2) The entire supply chain of the floral industry, from seed to stem, is costly. The amount of labour, of supply cost, of resources that go into growing your wedding flowers (whether they’re grown in Manitoba or elsewhere in the world!) is incredible.

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The voices who parrot the “wedding tax” conversation love to say that they could walk into a flower shop and pick up a grab-and-go bouquet and pay $50 for it, or they could order a bridal bouquet and be charged $350 for it. “That’s a rip-off!” they moan. And you could just walk in and buy that $50 bouquet if it’s what you want and what you can afford.

But there’s a very large difference between those two bouquets.

And if you’re coming to me and asking to order a custom bridal bouquet, then naturally I’m assuming that you’re looking for something far more beautiful and detailed than that $50 grab-and-go bouquet. I assume that you’re wanting premium flowers, carefully arranged by a designer with a certain skill level and knowledge base.

That $50 grab-and-go bouquet literally takes 5 minutes to plan and put together. The $350 bridal bouquet is carefully crafted in around 1 hour, not including all the time that I’ve spent mulling over your colour palette and texture preferences to select the perfect ingredients, order them from multiple farms or wholesalers, and conditioning them carefully so they’re at their absolute peak on your wedding day.

There’s nothing wrong with either of these options — they’re just very different, and therefore have a different price tag associated with them.

One last thing before I really get into the pricing: tariffs. To be honest, I’m still not entirely sure how these are going to impact us in Manitoba. During the summer, most of my product is sourced locally, so that’s great and relatively unimpacted. I do know that most of the foliages that we order come from the US, so those are going to have that annoying 25% addition (don’t believe the lie that greenery is cheaper!), and there are certain things that are popular for weddings that literally ONLY come from the US (like smilax, everyone’s favourite vine), which will sadly just end up being way more cost than it’s worth.

What I don’t quite understand yet it is how the shipping of items from other countries is going to be impacted. For example, most roses come from Ecuador, but they typically ship to Miami before heading up here. Does this mean we’re going to see the additional tariff? Or can the shipping routes be changed to accommodate? I feel like all of Canada should be a large enough market to justify changing a shipping route…but I guess we’ll find out. I think we’re going to see a lot of shifting back and forth over the next few months and just hope that it’s easy enough for us all to understand. You should prepare yourselves to either be flexible with your floral selections, or with your budget.

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How much do you think this bridal bouquet costs?

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients:

Sweet Pea
Pieris
Brownie Tulips
Muscari
And finished with hand dyed silk velvet ribbon from Stella Wolfe

BRIDAL BOUQUET COST: $385

The ingredient selection in this bouquet is minimal — there are just 4 varieties, and I normally include more than that, but I love the elevated feel that simplicity brings. Each of these ingredients is premium and higher priced, as is the Canadian silk velvet ribbon (hand-dyed here in Winnipeg, actually!).

I typically price my bridal bouquets around $350; I usually only increase the price if the client has very specifically asked for premium product or a very large bouquet. To be honest, most of my client bouquets should likely be charged more for, but I generally just make sure that pricing is made up for throughout the rest of the order and it works out just fine that way.

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Additional Wedding Flower Pricing Posts You May Find Helpful:

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(And to note: Stone House Creative is not really more or less expensive than any other established floral designers who specialize in weddings and use the premium quality product that I do. There are definitely companies who charge too little, but that doesn’t mean that I’m charging too much — there’s a big difference between the price tag associated with a company that undercuts or doesn’t charge industry standard markups and a company like mine that is built on solid business practises and isn’t interested in going into the red to pay for other peoples’ weddings.)

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I hope this is so helpful for you! I know that wedding flower budgeting is incredibly unsexy and also very mysterious. It’s not a world that you’re familiar with, and that’s okay. Generally speaking, online resources are completely useless and out of touch with reality, so that doesn’t help you either. That’s what we’re here for :) 

And many thanks to Kate Elizabeth Photography for these beautiful images from the recent portfolio builder I hosted with Vanessa Renae Photography! Much more to come from this beautiful day!

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Getting married in Winnipeg?
Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to us for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!