Getting Out of the Pinterest Trap

Most brides these days have secret Pinterest boards going long before they're even engaged. I know I'm probably a little late in saying this, but just hold off. Manitobans seem to have an especially long engagement period, and when you start collecting ideas long before your wedding is scheduled to take place, you're going to find yourself falling in love with idea after idea, and getting stuck in some of them. My best advice is to just wait - let the ideas come to you, and don't try to plan too far in advance because you'll find yourself changing your mind anyways.

Tip number 2? Don't be afraid to edit. Before long, you'll see your Pinterest board becoming scattered, disorganized, and convoluted. Something you pinned 3 months ago on a Friday night may no longer be relevant to you. Don't be afraid to delete those images, allowing yourself to curate only a selection of ideas that truly inspire you and get you excited for your wedding day.

Once you have your inspiration images narrowed down to a beautiful set of ideas, analyze them and allow yourself to grow the ideas from there. What is it about these particular images that inspires you? Why do you find something beautiful? Now, consider your daily life - what inspires and excites you, in nature, in your relationship, in fashion?

Put these together - what jumps out at you? Many people think that the way to "personalize" your wedding is by throwing your monogram all over the place or creating some sort of elaborate theme and adding it to everything. No. For some people this works, but I can pretty much promise you that this isn't going to be the way to go. Rather, join together the carefully curated ideas that you've found with the inspiration you find in your daily life. Continue to edit until you find the right combination, and allow your personal tastes to speak through. 

Last tip? Turn off Pinterest. There will come a point in your planning when you just need to get tasks checked off your list. At that point, you need to stop intaking new ideas and simply roll with your plans! And of course, if you do need some help getting everything started, you can always check out Stone House Creative on Pinterest ;)

Luxe Fall Inspiration Highlights

Early this past fall, I wanted to play around with some really beautiful flowers and had a lot of fun designing and creating this luxe inspired fall shoot. My team included the wonderful Kat Willson Photography (who I'm excited to have a few awesome weddings in 2015!), Robin Egg Blue Design, Bliss Bridal Boutique, Caroline Gautron of Edward Carriere, Two Chicks and a Bag of Makeup, and Planned Perfectly. This shoot was featured on one of my favourite international wedding blogs, Wedding Sparrow!

Here are some of my favourite images from the shoot!

When planning this fall shoot, we wanted the overall feel and look to be purposefully simplistic. With the goal of evoking a warm, rich feel as fall colour palettes often do, we also wanted to maintain an overall sense of dignified, elevated style. We wanted to appeal to the fall bride who is stuck with the idea of trotting our those overdone fall themes and who doesn't know how to bring her own sense of style to her wedding. The goal was to create a luxe setting for a wedding, but not overworked and blinged out as is often done. So, it was important that we ground the look with a strong natural element, for which I chose rich wood and natural linen accents on the table and in the bouquet wrap to introduce a quality of depth and texture to the look. Keeping things simple allowed us to explore the colour and texture palette – how would the caramel hues of the garden roses play against the burgundy tapers? What does the contrast between a rich velvet table linen and the refined chair cover bring to the look?

DREAMING OF...

This week, my reflections on Team Flower Workshop are being featured on Vale + Vine, a brand new Canadian wedding site that focuses on fine art weddings - that's my kind of site! All my brides are definitely going to want to check it out :) 

In that interview, I also discuss the importance of being inspired by what's around you, rather than the current wedding industry trends. Those are good too, but when you're wanting to design a wedding that truly feels like you, why would you look to what other people were inspired by for their weddings? Open your eyes to the beauty that surrounds you in your setting and your everyday life, and you'll find that the decisions you make for your wedding will start feeling much more authentic. Right now, this is what I crave: 

As a farmer's daughter, I long for those dusky summer evenings where the horizon and the sky are painted with palette of golden wheat and dusty wildflower purples. I created this moodboard to show you what I am inspired by right now. 

Images via Silk & Willow, Martha Stewart Weddings, Style Me Pretty, The Lane, Joy Proctor, Project Wedding, and Snippet & Ink.