Moody, Stylish Fall Wedding at Niakwa Country Club
You know when the wheat fields and aspen trees turn golden, and the sky is a moody grey blue? That was my starting point for Leanne and Kyle’s moody, stylish fall wedding.
They wanted to create intimate restaurant vibes (within a golf course banquet room), so I leant into a combination of playful, moody, and autumnal design elements. I cannot wait to dig into this one with you!
Photos by Ariana Tennyson
The Event Design
Leanne hired me for full-scale event design along with floral design. From the beginning, we had a few goals we hoped to accomplish: create an intimate restaurant vibe (despite being in a golf course banquet room), bring in a moody autumnal feel, and keep it all in the same space.
Colour palette always plays a big role for me in any design. Leanne was open to my suggestions, and had a few inspiration images that included the coral and plums. I had been ruminating on our gorgeous prairie skyline in fall, when the wheat fields are golden and the skies are a moody grey blue. I wanted to keep that as the base for my palette: golden + moody grey blues, and then layer in the coral and plum overtop.
The Floral Design
Leanne let me have a lot of fun with the flowers! Guided by the colour palette and the desire to create a lot of warmth and vibrancy, I played with the contrast between warm and cool tones.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Golden mustard roses, dahlias, tweedia, ranunculus, butterfly ranunculus, calcynia, sweet pea, scabiosa, and ninebark.
The Ceremony
The best view in the room is a wall of windows, which is also where the head table is usually positioned. I didn’t want direct light from the windows, and I wanted to soften the crispness a bit so I had Planned Perfectly install oatmeal toned drapery along the entire wall. It felt warm but still neutral.
I created a focal point for the altar, utilizing 3x modern pleated wood pedestals topped with foliage and floral pieces, and combined that with a few ground-based floral pieces. I wanted to explore the full colour palette in a modern, garden-inspired way.
The Floor Planning
So, when you’re working with a single space, and you need to have both the ceremony and the reception in it, AND you don’t have multiple hours to re-set the room completely between ceremony and reception, you have to get really organized and very creative. Niakwa has one of those partition walls that folds into the wall, or can extend to break the overall room into several smaller spaces.
We utilized that partition wall to create a back space, where we pre-set the lounge and the reception tables, ready to pull out as soon as the ceremony was cleared. It was a very tight squeeze, but was highly functional!
Once the ceremony was over, guests went into the lobby and outside for cocktail hour, and we went to work. The wall was pushed in, the chairs were pulled out, and tables moved into place for final details.
To create that restaurant vibe, one of my thoughts was to use different orientations and sizes of tables. We used some long banquet tables, full size rounds, and small rounds. I also added a lounge to the back corner with a cool lighting feature to add that moodiness.
Tabletop Styling
Centrepieces, fruit, candles
Personalized photos at each guest’s place setting
Rich linen and velvet tablecloths in cool grey and blue tones
Dim lighting — while technically nothing to do with the tabletops, it was a crucial element to creating the ambiance in the space! Event Light always does the perfect job. I told them the overall vibe I wanted to create, and let them make all the decisions.
One of the sweetest moments of the wedding came from a completely personalized design element that Leanne came up with. She had seen a tiktok where guests walked into a wedding and found personalized notes to every single guest from the couple. She and Kyle worked so hard to find a picture of each guest with either or both of the couple. Guests were so stunned when they walked in to find these at their place settings!
Adding in a lounge corner with soft seating, a lighting feature, and well-styled details was one of the elements I used to create that laidback, restaurant type of ambiance they wanted. A great restaurant almost always has that cozy seating element somewhere, some cool furniture pieces, and lots of candlelight. I love the way this one came together, from the furniture selections to the lighting feature Event Light created (they are THE best).
I’m really grateful for Kayla Lagos Events! Leanne wanted a wedding coordinator, and I recommended they talk to Kayla. She has a really calming personality, is so easy to talk to, and does such a great job of staying on top of things and making it all happen. It was great to work with Kayla on the wedding day to execute everything!
Ariana Tennyson Photography ~ Kayla Lagos Weddings & Events ~ Karta House ~ Niakwa Country Club ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Event Light ~ Trend Decor Winnipeg ~ Luxe Linens
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
I offer full scale event design along with florals for about 3 dates per year. Reach out to inquire about your date availability!
Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to find out how we can create the perfect ambiance for your wedding.