Colourful Fiesta-Inspired Wedding at Fort Gibraltar
When she first inquired with me, Natalia told me that she wanted to host a colourful, Mexican fiesta-inspired wedding. Obviously I was fully on board. When we sat down in person, she explained that she’s actually of El Salvadorian heritage, but her Pinterest searches for El Salvador weddings didn’t pull up many results 😂 We rolled with the Mexican theme though, and it was so cool to see how her El Salvadorian inspiration made its way through.
If you’re a lover of colour, this one is for you!
When she first inquired with me, Natalia told me that she wanted to host a colourful, Mexican fiesta-inspired wedding. Obviously I was fully on board. When we sat down in person, she explained that she’s actually of El Salvadorian heritage, but her Pinterest searches for El Salvador weddings didn’t pull up many results 😂 We rolled with the Mexican theme though, and it was so cool to see how her El Salvadorian inspiration made its way through.
If you’re a lover of colour, this one is for you!
Bridal bouquet ingredients: peonies, garden roses, stock, delphinium, freesia and billy balls.
This bright, vibrant palette filled my heart. I’m an unapologetic lover of colour in all of its forms (it doesn’t just have to be super bold like this — just as long as I have colour!), but the way this one came together was just so joyful. Natalia sent me an image of an El Salvadorian woman dancing in traditional dress, and it totally inspired the palette: magenta, bright purple, lots of greens, touches of yellow, red, orange, and blue.
I also loved that Natalia chose a cascading shape. This bouquet was a BIG sucker (my wrist was so sore making it, ha!), but look how perfectly it compliments her full skirt!
The ceremony was outside at Fort Gibraltar, in front of the old house. I added tear-drop shaped arrangements that coordinated with her bouquet to the railing post behind them, and we also lined the aisle with simple arrangements of orange garden roses and greenery hanging from shepherd’s hooks. All of these things were re-purposed inside at the reception, with the shepherd’s hooks jars tucked into the windowsills, and the larger ceremony pieces hung behind the head table.
Well, there are a few things that I REALLY loved about Gavin and Natalia’s reception. First, the table numbers. These were custom made for their wedding in El Salvador and carefully shipped here. They were incredible, colourful, and detailed.
The second item that I loved is probably obvious: the custom mini bottles of hot sauce! I don’t actually like hot sauce, but I told my husband about this and he thought it was the coolest thing ever.
The fresh floral centrepieces were, once again, full of colour and set in a copper vase. I also added in some cut fresh limes for a little fun.
The cake from Pinky’s was really cute. I loved the mix of simple buttercream textures, and adding the florals to it is always fun (and don’t miss the fresh limes added in!).
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The Modern, Garden Style Cascading Bouquet
2018 was definitely the year of cascading bouquets for me! We’ve been seeing a bit of a resurgence of the cascade shape for a little while now, but with a looser, more garden style than the horrendous pointy triangle bouquets of the 80s and 90s. I thought I’d share a little about this style of bouquet in case it’s something that interests you!
2018 was definitely the year of cascading bouquets for me! We’ve been seeing a bit of a resurgence of the cascade shape for a little while now, but with a looser, more garden style than the horrendous pointy triangle bouquets of the 80s and 90s. I thought I’d share a little about this style of bouquet in case it’s something that interests you!
Photos by Casey Nolin Photography
1) To get the more organic, garden-inspired shape, these are handtied bouquets. In the past (and some older-school florists still do it this way), cascade bouquets were always designed in a bouquet holder. This is essentially a plastic handle that has a little cup at the end where a chunk of Oasis sits, for the flowers to be inserted into. I try to use Oasis/floral foam as little as humanly possible, as it’s terrible for the environment and is essentially plastic - and a carcinogenic! Yuck! I certainly don’t want you carrying around a bouquet that has the potential to make you sick. I also don’t think that the plastic holders are very comfortable to carry - they’ve always hurt my hands. I’d rather you hold onto the stems!
Photos by Charmaine Mallari
2) Because I don’t use a bouquet holder, it means that I need to use a LOT of stems to create the bouquet. So, not only is your bouquet going to be a little more expensive, it’s also likely to be pretty heavy. That might get a little annoying on the wedding day, but your biceps are going to look awesome in photos ;) Some florists will wire the flower heads to alleviate some of the weight, but with our super hot summers, I’m always a little worried that those flowers aren’t going to make it if they have no chance of being popped back into water throughout the day.
3) You’ll have to carry your bouquet slightly differently than you would with a traditional handtied bouquet. You can tell from some of these pictures that the bride’s hands are angled a little differently - the bouquet is in front of her like normal, but her hands are angled so the bouquet hangs down in front. I cut the stems as short as I can to allow for this to be as easy as possible for the bride, as you’ll want to hug the stems as close to your body as possible. This is really the one benefit of using a bouquet holder, as far as I’m concerned - the holder is designed to make it easy to design the bouquet’s shape, but the negatives outweigh that. So, angled hands you’ll have!
Photos by Sugar and Soul Photography
4) I have to be really specific about the flower and greenery types that I use. I like to use a few focal flowers, as I would normally, but then I’m also looking for stems that naturally have a vertical line or a curved line, to help create that cascade shape. And of course, vines and trailing greenery are a must to make the shape!
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
My 2020 waitlist has already been started, and 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!
