Colourful and Fun Winnipeg Art Gallery Wedding
It’s always fun to design for someone I know! Katelin is my brother-in-law’s sister, so I was excited from the start. It also became the perfect combination of elements — the WAG, juicy colour, a collab with Soiree Event Planning, my cute niece and nephew as the flower girl and ring bearer…everything was awesome!
If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you’ll know I’m an unapologetic colour lover. This wedding shows you exactly why!
It’s always fun to design for someone I know! Katelin is my brother-in-law’s sister, so I was excited about this Winnipeg Art Gallery wedding from the start. It also became the perfect combination of elements — an art museum, juicy colour, a collab with Soiree Event Planning, my cute niece and nephew as the flower girl and ring bearer…everything was awesome!
If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you’ll know I’m an unapologetic colour lover. This wedding shows you exactly why!
Photos by Cojo Photography
Another day, another one of my favourite colour palettes 😍😍 Katelin was totally on board for colour and I was thrilled. She was really drawn to oranges, and Soiree created this lovely palette of lavenders, peaches, a pop of orange so it wasn’t overwhelming, and a nice base of soft pinks. Some people think neutrals are only white/grey/beige…in my opinion, soft pink is totally a neutral.
Another bonus of August weddings — the LOCAL FLOWERS. Ugh they just make all the difference in the world. We had a ton of locally grown goods for this wedding.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Locally grown foxglove, sweet pea, zinnias, and lisianthus along with cafe latte garden roses, anemones, and ranunculus.
(Pause for a moment to notice my ADORABLE (sassy) niece as flower girl!!)
This ceremony arch was so delicious. We’ve designed similar styles many times, but never in this palette and it was SO juicy and yummy. We wanted it to be fuller at the base and lighter at the top, in part because we were on the WAG rooftop, so we needed to heavily weight the base and ensure it was sturdy enough to not blow over.
Those orange dahlias were total perfection, and added just the right change in texture to pop in here.
Excuse the interruption while I tell you WHY YOU ABSOLUTELY WANT TO HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER. There’s no knowing what’s going to happen at your wedding. For example, there might be a wasp infestation…
While we were setting up the ceremony, there were a few wasps buzzing around and then a few more and then a few more…and I thought “this seems like more than usual” while Deanna was this close to losing her ever-loving mind over them. I walked over to the stone/tree area along the side of the rooftop, and realized I could hear a lot of buzzing. There were hundreds of wasps. I’m known for exaggeration, but there were HUNDREDS.
I went to Andrea from Soiree right away and let her know that we had an issue. And professional that she is, they took care of it. They had to call in an exterminator, who came in SO quickly, and move the cocktail hour from the rooftop to the Skylight Gallery. There were still wasps buzzing around during the ceremony BUT not a single sting because they had been sprayed and were on their way out. Soiree took care of all of this behind the scenes, and didn’t even worry the couple with the details.
SO YEAH. Hire a wedding planner. I’ve got a few recommendations for planners that we love, if you want (and yes, Soiree is on that list!).
Can we take a moment to talk about HOW LUCKY we got with the artwork in Eckhardt Hall?! Dang. One of the things about having a wedding in an art gallery is that you never know what the artwork itself is going to be. I know this very vibrant, colour-celebrating exhibit isn’t ideal for everyone but it was incredibly perfect for Katelin and Derek.
One of the design elements I was MOST looking forward to for Katelin and Derek’s wedding was the base palette of monochromatic pinks at the reception: light pink linen, pink glassware, pink vases, and then of course, tying pink into the flowers with vibrant pops of orange and lavender.
I LOVE how this gave a soft and fresh feeling base for the entire event — definitely something to consider for yourself!
A lot of the time, people get stuck in the idea of “white plus my accent colours” or “our main colour is x and therefore that’s what our linen needs to be.” That’s not necessarily true — I think it can work a lot better if you choose something as your neutral, and use it heavily as a base throughout. Then add your primary colour as a focal point but in fewer areas, and that’s what’s going to pop! Like here, the neutral is the soft pink, and the focal colour(s) are the lavender and orange.
Katelin comes from a family of dance-loving people — I wish I could have been there to see it in person! I am a horrible dancer, but I do love it and wish that I could. At my sister and brother-in-law’s wedding, their parents and friends just had their way with the dance floor and it was so impressive.
A huge thanks to my amazing team of freelancers who helped make this floral magic come together! My associate designer Deanna, Andrea from Addison Taylor Designs, and Andrea from Cameo Flowers. The WAG has a shorter setup timeline (which makes sense, they are open to the public during the day!), so when it comes time to setup, it’s GO TiME and all hands on deck. So grateful for these hands and the way they made my vision come together.
Cojo Photo ~ Soiree Event Planning ~ Winnipeg ARt Gallery ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective event rentals ~ Event Light ~ Bailey Delbigio ~ Taylor Neufeld Hair ~ DJ Sir Charles ~ Keith MacPherson
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
Getting married at the WAG? Stone House is one of their preferred vendors, and in our completely biased opinion, we’re the best at bringing the space to life 😎
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!
Moody Romantic Wedding at the Leaf
Welcome to Tara and Adam’s moody, romantic wedding at the Leaf in early September.
When we start our floral discussions, I always clients (and their planners) to tell me about the overall vibe they’re hoping to achieve. Tara said, “romantic, moody, with lots of lighting and candles, and focusing on making it a memorable experience for guests.” I LOVE that. Such a fun brief for us to get creative within!
Welcome to Tara and Adam’s moody, romantic wedding at the Leaf in early September.
When we start our floral discussions, I always clients (and their planners) to tell me about the overall vibe they’re hoping to achieve. Tara said, “romantic, moody, with lots of lighting and candles, and focusing on making it a memorable experience for guests.” I LOVE that. Such a fun brief for us to get creative within!
Photos by Brittany Mahood
This palette — whew! It started off as mostly white, green, and gold. I wanted to bring more richness and depth to it, so I started tucking some cappuccino and brown tones into my floral design board, along with some of those neutral pinks — the idea was to transition pink into a fall palette. As you scroll, you’ll see how that developed in the reception with the perfect linen selections and the custom stationery. This couldn’t have come together more beautifully, and I forever want to use brown ninebark in everything from now on.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Cappuccino and cafe latte garden roses, magic mocca spray roses, white ranunculus, and locally grown lisianthus, orlaya, jewel of opar, ninebark, and explosion grass.
The ceremony took place in the Leaf Performance Gardens. When we started planning, this site was actually developed yet so we tentatively decided on a loose plan of ground-based pieces, and it worked perfectly in the end. I even incorporated some potted plants that corresponded with the gardens (and they’re now planted in my garden!).
Listen. You can fight me if you want to, but I might be almost fully converted to a lily lover. These rose lilies (double blooms) are particularly spectacular. They don’t always have a place, but in installations like this where I am desperately looking for anything with a non-circle shape to bring some architectural variety, the star shape of a lily can really elevate a design and bring a lot of visual interest. I love roses, but I can’t JUST use roses, and basically everything available to us at the wholesale level is round so I need something different!
See what I mean about the depth of this palette looking SO chic and delicious in the reception?
One design element that I really wanted to hit on when designing the tablescapes was repeated clear glass elements. I knew that would work perfectly with the clear acrylic chairs, and pick up on the twinkling of all the candlelight. I chose clear glass vases for the floral centrepieces, as well as all the bud vases and candle holders.
The overall space felt so warm, so welcoming, and just held a really beautiful, modern and moody ambiance.
Bonus — a large majority of these flowers were locally grown!
I love a good floor plan that integrates multiple table shapes. A room with all round tables can just get really boring, really quickly. Connie at Harlow designed this floor plan around the dance floor and the bar, making them 2 natural focal points in the room.
The dance floor featured a twinkle light canopy, flanked on three sides by long banquet tables and by the band stand on the other side. Round tables were set outside of these, with another long banquet table along the exterior wall with windows, mirroring the bar on the opposite end of the room. This was a really nice way to use the Leaf space!
I loved the place settings! The “toffee” napkin paired with “taupe” linen (all from Planned Perfectly was such a gorgeous combination that added femininity and richness. The personalized menus by Blake Creative Co were also the PERFECT colour.
On the round tables, we placed a medium size floral arrangement, incorporating the full palette and some fun locally grown textures. I flanked that with a collection of different candle holders with soft taupe and beige candles for a little more depth.
The long tables featured those repeated clear glass elements, with the taupe and beige taper candles in clear hurricanes, votives on gold-rimmed and gold-based candle holders, and a mix of stem vases with petite stems in each. The gold flatware and clear carousel goblets were a really nice finishing touch.
And by the way, all these vases and candle holders are part of my rental collection :)
We need to give a MOMENT to this bar. This is the perfect example of why you need to trust your vendors and leave it in our hands to create the good stuff. Connie from Harlow had planned out the curved bar with the black bar backs, framed with those gorgeous gold chandeliers hanging above and a gold pedestal at the front (which served a dual purpose, first with the signature cocktails and then later with the wedding cake). We were intending to repurpose some ceremony flowers but hadn’t really settled on anything specific.
As soon as we walked into the room during setup and saw the bar with the chandeliers, it looked good — it looked really good! But the scale felt a bit off. It’s hard to get the scale right when we’re just at the mercy of what rental items we have available to us (we have a smaller rental market here in Winnipeg, so a huge kudos to our planners and event designers who roll up their sleeves to constantly be reinventing what we have and find new ways to display it all!). I digress — but the shelving unit felt a bit short.
Enter, the Stone House team. Rather than putting flowers on the bar top as was the original plan, I asked Connie if we could veto that and instead line the top of the shelving units with flowers. She is always down for whatever we suggest, and DANG, DID IT TURN OUT GREAT. I picked my three favourite pieces from the ceremony ground floral nest, and placed them on top of the shelves (we weighted them down to make sure they were nice and sturdy up there), placed another in the centre of the bar behind the signature cocktails menu, and tucked a few more on the floor to camouflage the base the truss system that suspended the light fixtures. The bar became an immediate focal point in the room, which I always love to do, because people are going to spending a lot of time there, anyways!
This lighting canopy over the dance floor was SO special. I love the idea of twirling around together (I mean…if you can dance. Which Tara and Adam clearly can!) for your first dance under this romantic canopy of lights with all the rest of the room dimmed. Especially when you have a live band like Big City!
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
Planning a wedding at the Leaf and want to elevate the space? I’d love to be your floral designer.
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!
How to Plan a Cocktail Style Wedding Reception
I thought I’d do something a bit differently on the blog today — at the same time as showcasing one of our recent weddings, I’ve also included some wisdom from the planner, Andrea at Soiree Event Planning! Scroll down a bit to see her Top 3 Tips for Planning a Cocktail Style Wedding Reception.
Kendall and Dylan’s wedding was my first time working at The Leaf, and I was so excited to see the room completely transformed from its corporate feeling natural state. It was a long day of setup, with a lot of logistics, but it looked so good!
I thought I’d do something a bit differently on the blog today — at the same time as showcasing one of our recent weddings, I’ve also included some wisdom from the planner, Andrea at Soiree Event Planning! Scroll down a bit to see her Top 3 Tips for Planning a Cocktail Style Wedding Reception.
Kendall and Dylan’s wedding was my first time working at The Leaf, and I was so excited to see the room completely transformed from its corporate feeling natural state. It was a long day of setup, with a lot of logistics, but it looked so good!
Photos by Kassandra Donaldson Photography
Did you know that if you’re having a ceremony or photos in one of the biomes at the Leaf, that you cannot bring in fresh flowers? A bummer for sure, but we do often have little critters coming out of our flowers while we’re designing them, so I’d absolutely hate to have that happen on a wedding day and they mess up the carefully composed environments in each biome.
So, that means that all of Kendall’s personal and ceremony flowers had to be composed of faux flowers. We used fresh flowers throughout the reception.
PS These flowers are all for sale! I am currently selling Kendall’s bridal bouquet and 3 bridesmaid bouquets, and the 5 arrangements plus additional loose flowers that we composed the ceremony installation out of. Send me a note if you want them!
Top 3 Tips for a Cocktail Reception from Soiree Event Planning
1: Seating
Ensure you plan for an intentional amount of seating. If you want guests to mingle, plan for seating for 60% or less.
2: Menu
Select menu items that are simple to eat while standing and don't require much in the way of cutlery.
3: Timing
Adjust your start time to be a touch later. Food service will naturally take less time than a formal dinner, and ideally you don't want dancing to start too early or the party may end prematurely.
More on the seating note — check out the amazing variety of seating that Soiree curated: large sit-down tables, standing and seated cocktail tables, and 3 lounges with a mix of banquettes, love seats, individual chairs, and plenty of coffee and end tables for plates and glasses to be placed on.
This layout was visually interesting and created lots of great nooks for people to either gather together or hide away for a quieter conversation.
It also made sure people know what to expect — they were encouraged to mingle and move around the room, and not stay in a chair for an entire evening.
Kendall and Dylan’s evening featured multiple food stations placed throughout the room, including a mini slider bar, soft taco station, as well as a pasta station. A little bit of cutlery was required, but the pasta was served in small, light weight vessels that were easy to walk around with. And that, my friends, is why you hire a wedding planner — I wouldn’t have had the foresight to realize any of these logistics but the Soiree team certainly knows what they’re doing!
Hello to the ceremony flowers, repurposed and back in action. The newlyweds are friends with Sweet Impressions, and option for the bakery to provide 3 small cutting cakes, one for each of Dylan’s children, so they could do a family cake cutting. So sweet!
The ceremony flowers were designed in individual vessels, making this super easy to repurpose by placing them around the pedestals while still feeling polished and well designed.
This wedding looked REALLY good — and as always, I’ll remind you that it takes a village. A village who are willing to go above and beyond for the client, and do the job right. Each venue has funny little things about it that make working at it hard, and the Leaf is no exception. From loading doors that we’re not allowed to open because they’re right beside the kitchen, to the fact that Creating a Scene had to carry the bar up a hill BY HAND to get it into the room (because it didn’t fit in the elevator), I’ll leave it at this: hire professionals.
Kassandra Donaldson Photography ~ Soiree Event Planning ~ The Leaf ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Event Light ~ Karta House ~ Creating a Scene ~ Sweet Impressions ~ Myuz Artistry ~ Trend Decor
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
We can design a beautiful, unique wedding at the Leaf for you. Find out more about our floral services by inquiring below!
Call me biased, but 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!
Warm Fall Wedding at Hawthorn Estates
I love a good fall wedding. I’m more of a summer girl myself, but there’s something about those warm, rich fall tones and the coziness than feels just right (even if it’s still 30 celcius out!).
So, Kelsie and Nick’s wedding was actually right at the very end of August, but nevertheless we dug right into the warm autumnal tones and added in some rich pink hues that played so nicely off the orange bridesmaid dresses.
I love a good fall wedding. I’m more of a summer girl myself, but there’s something about those warm, rich fall tones and the coziness than feels just right (even if it’s still 30 celcius out!).
So, Kelsie and Nick’s wedding was actually right at the very end of August, but nevertheless we dug right into the warm autumnal tones and added in some rich pink hues that played so nicely off the orange bridesmaid dresses.
Photos: Megan Steen Photography
I’ll admit that I’m not personally a fall person. It used to be my favourite season because it was back to school (and I LOVED school). That, and newly sharpened pencil bouquets, if you catch my drift. But since I started working in weddings, summer has just gone by so quickly so now when autumn its, I get really disappointed and feel like I missed summer.
BUT then Kelsie’s bouquet came along and made me feel like maybe I didn’t have to push fall away. Maybe fall is actually amazing because look at these flowers and colours 😍😍
Kelsie’s bouquet is also the perfect example that just because you’re getting married in fall, doesn’t mean your colour palette has to be Crayola orange/yellow/red. The subleties and nuances in the colour palette here were so rich, so delicious, so warm.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: SO MUCH LOCALLY GROWN!! Rudbeckia, lisianthus, asters, zinnia, ninebark, jewel of opar, and amaranthus, complimented with imported combo and barista roses and olive foliage. Finished perfectly with Stella Wolfe velvet ribbon (hubba hubba, gimme all the velvet ribbon for fall weddings).
Peep the flying petals in the centre image above, and if that doesn’t give you an idea of the energy these groomsmen brought to Kelsie and Nick’s wedding day, then I don’t know what will. So good!
Wind, man. Just know that if you’re having an outdoor wedding in Manitoba, wind will be a factor. No matter what. It’s just always around. We did pretty well here, but I had to work pretty hard to get this drape stuck down (I used double-sided u-glu dashes). Also, please note that I don’t actually do draping and I personally think I’m terrible at it, but we made it happen here and it wasn’t horrible.
Kelsie and Nick set up this outdoor lounge area (with Karina Walker’s retired couch rental — isn’t it so gorgeous?) and they did a lot of their portraits and wedding party photos there. The arch was quite nearby to this area, so while I was working on the arch, I could hear Kelsie and her girls just giggling away and having the best time. It was SO nice — the happiest background music I could have asked for.
Then moving inside for the reception, Kelsie really dug into the orange tones, layering a muslin runner with the orange water glasses, and I added the toffee and sienna candles and an orange tinted vase with the florals. Sometimes we like a varied palette, and sometimes we like layering together a more monochromatic look.
You’ve got nothing on a delicious fall celebration! I’ve still got plenty of fall availability for 2024, so if you’re interested in a delicious, warm palette like this one, be sure to shoot me an email because I would LOVE to be part of your wedding.
Megan Steen Photography ~ Hawthorn EstatES ~ Prairie Sky Events ~ RAe + Dot Studio ~ EPH Weddings ~ Martina Liana Bridal ~ Azazie ~ Made Beauty Co ~ Collective Event rentals ~ Let’s Celebrate Rentals ~ Bark Wedding Date
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
Loving these fall wedding flowers? Us too.
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!
Luxurious Fall Wedding at Canadian Museum for Human Rights
Modern, luxurious, and sleek were the words Soiree Event Planning used to describe what they envisioned for Michelle and Adam’s late October wedding. With it taking place at The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the setting created the perfect moody ambiance to carry it all off.
Modern, luxurious, and sleek were the words Soiree Event Planning used to describe what they envisioned for Michelle and Adam’s late October wedding. With it taking place at The Canadian Museum for Human Rights, the setting created the perfect moody ambiance to carry it all off.
Michelle wore several gowns throughout the day — first, her mother’s (or possibly her grandmother’s? I can’t remember!), and then one of her own, and then a fun dress for the party. This vintage gown was so elegant and such a beautiful touch for their church ceremony.
Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography
It doesn’t happen often, but I LOVE when I get to style the flatlays. It’s such a fun creative challenge to create a beautiful memory for the couple. These invitations were GORGEOUS — the blind embossing on the cardstock! I especially loved the dried baby’s breath tucked into their wax seal — such a great touch. I referenced that with the fresh baby’s breath blossoms that I sprinkled over the invite suite. I love the life that fresh flowers bring, and the depth that added as well.
Fall bouquet deliciousness. Rich, luxurious, and moody — I’m so grateful there are good images of this bouquet, because I didn’t manage to get a single one myself! Don’t these rich pink and plum tones look divine against those deep green velvet bridesmaid dresses?
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: cafe latte garden rose, sweet escimo rose, deep plum ranunculus, deep plum dahlias, blush snowberry, almost black scabiosa, and touches of Israeli ruscus. All tied up with black ribbon.
The ceremony. One of Winnipeg’s oldest churches, with ornate wood detailing, stained glass, and a long centre aisle, St Luke’s Parish was the perfect location for a warm, luxurious design and a romantic ceremony.
Our focal point was a deconstructed arch, composed of a base of textural baby’s breath (we used two varieties for more visual interest and coverage), and then clustered in sections of moody florals in mixed plum, burgundy, and pink tones. We focused on roses, mums, smoke bush, and some really incredible antique hydrangea.
I also added baby’s breath pew hooks to the pews. They looked so cute, but let me tell you what — I spent AN ENTIRE DAY making these. I thought I’d be able to whip them out in one morning and it just took forever 😂 Some things you just don’t expect!
The reception design was sleek and modern, featuring a ton of airy baby’s breath and a really great floor plan.
With different size and shape tables, we designed 3 different table centres: a tall, airy cloud of baby’s breath on round tables with an additional mini cloud at the base, a full length baby’s breath runner with floral tucked throughout on two long family tables, and a shorter baby’s breath garland on short rectangular tables.
We layered in black taper candles and mixed smoke glass votives, which worked perfectly with Planned Perfectly’s smoke glassware and a combination of deep green velvet linens and grey linens.
I recall Michelle being uncertain about using the emerald velvet linens — in my opinion, green is basically a neutral, so for any of you who might be unsure, I’d say to go for it! I’m sure you’d all agree that they look amazing in this context.
Long, single-sided head tables can be such a challenge to design because they’re just not that interesting. It’s always in my mind to try to figure out some different ideas for decor and I think this one turned out great!
We repurposed the ceremony arch behind the table, and added mixed candles and florals along the top of the table. I wanted to create some tabletop baby’s breath clouds, to tie through the design. The black candle boxes were rented from Collective, and I tucked in a few more black pillar candles and smoke glass votives as well (part of my rental collection!).
The Soiree team crafted such a stunning design. This room felt grand, modern, and very luxurious. Details were not missed, and that’s one of the reasons why I love working with them. I know that the clients will be well served, but it’s also a great experience to work on their vendor teams because their logistics and their designs are both well thought-out (not just one or the other).
Cute little fact — I had no idea that there was such a huge height difference between Adam and Michelle until I saw their photos, as I hadn’t met him beforehand. I think it’s over a foot difference!
I so loved being part of this wedding, and I had a great team of people helping me. Deanna, as always, along with Kirsty and Emily. We worked all week out of our wholesaler’s warehouse (I didn’t have enough space at my studio!) and it was so rewarding to see it all come together.
Brittany Mahood Photography ~ Soiree Event Planning ~ Canadian Museum for Human Rights ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Event Light ~ Rhyme & RHYthm ~ Two Fold Paper Co ~ Myuz Artistry
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
Dates book fast at the Human Rights Museum. Contact us today about our availability!
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!