Garden Meets Classic: A Destination Wedding at Clear Lake
There’s a few things that you can do to immediately get me on board with your wedding: plan for a great location (hello to the natural beauty of Clear Lake!), ask for some stellar florals (an over the top ceremony design? yes, please!), and throw in the challenge of logistics to get me excited (more on that below!).
Alex and Travis’s destination wedding at Elkhorn Manor (Clear Lake) was the perfect combination of all of the above.
Let’s get into it!
Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography
There’s a few things that you can do to immediately get me on board with your wedding: plan for a great location (hello to the natural beauty of Clear Lake!), ask for some stellar florals (an over the top ceremony design? yes, please!), and throw in the challenge of logistics to get me excited (more on that below!).
Alex and Travis’s destination wedding at Elkhorn Manor (Clear Lake) was the perfect combination of all of the above.
Let’s get into it!
Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography
Logistics aren’t sexy. They just aren’t. But when you’re planning a destination or semi-destination wedding, at a venue that is a few hours away from any major city and requires your vendors to travel in, logistics are the name of the game. You absolutely cannot hire someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing. Not to toot my own horn, but this is where I absolutely thrive.
Over the last few years, Stone House Creative has become known for the work we do on larger-scale weddings, and I’m incredibly proud of that. Alex and Travis’ wedding was both large, and logistically challenging due to being in Clear Lake. I don’t feel like I can possibly shout this from the rooftop enough: if you’re envisioning a larger, floral-focused design, or your venue necessitates a lot of logistical difficulty, you must absolutely hire a floral design team that understands what truly needs to happen to make your wedding come together without issue.
From the start of my earliest conversation with their planner, Tricia Bachewich Events, I laid out some of the special considerations that their chosen florist would need to be able to have solutions ready for:
-Staffing, and the size of team that we would need to have.
-Delivery logistics. Travel time to Clear Lake is ~ 3 hours, not including all the time needed to load the vehicles; with the amount of installations needed on-site and the set up time we would need, it was clear we would not be able to drive up the same morning as the wedding and still be able to accomplish everything.
-This naturally progressed into needing hotel rooms, which aren’t typically able to booked at Elkhorn until January of that calendar year, along with increased staffing costs due to additional time and per diems.
-Arriving the day before also would mean that we would need a cool holding space at the resort. The ceremony/reception location does not have any air conditioning, so the hotel would need to have an option for us.
-With the size of floral order and guest count, I knew that a single Uhaul would not be sufficient, nor would I be comfortable with the flowers driving for 3 hours in an un-air-conditioned Uhaul. We were heading up to a remote location with not even a regular flower shop nearby; if any of our flowers crapped out while we were driving, there wouldn’t be anything nearby for us to replace it with.
-The requested ceremony arch would require a custom structure build in order to create the scale they desired.
-Additionally, while the couple are originally from the Clear Lake/Brandon areas, they currently live in the USA as the groom is a hockey player in the NHL. They didn’t have the time to dedicate to planning their wedding, and needed a vendor team that could progress without needing their input.
While I normally go for a lot of colour, I have to say that this white and green palette (with touches of taupey blush) looks really good at Elkhorn Manor! The bridesmaid dresses were the perfect colour, especially through Brittany’s lense.
Alex’s Galia Lahav dress is stunning — the floral appliqued details almost feels like tiny floral confetti floating throughout the gown. I chose to design her bouquet in a classic-meets-garden way, making sure that there was some movement and nothing too stiff.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: playa blanca roses, quicksand roses, white ruffled lisianthus, sweet pea, dahlias, ranunculus, and jasmine vine.
Oh baby, I loved this ceremony design! Mid-way through the planning, they chose to add the clear top tent as insurance against the rain. While we didn’t end up needing it on August 3 because the weather was perfect, it actually did POUR that night. You can never be too careful with an outdoor wedding!
To create more of a natural feeling, we softened the tent ceiling with strands of vining smilax. It took a fair bit of time to maneuver our scaffold around on the grass to get me up high enough to do this, but it turned out beautifully.
Then, the piece de resistance: the arch. As many pro athletes are, Travis is pretty tall. And once I saw Alex’s inspiration image for the ceremony arch, I knew that the scale of the arch (height, width, and fullness of the floral!) was going to be really important to nail in order to create the look she wanted. I collaborated with Creating a Scene to custom-manufacture the wood boxes that we then attached the arch structure to — and the devil is in the detail! The box trim on the boxes matched that on their bar, and of course, I made sure to appropriately counter-weight the metal arch structure that I had custom-made to fit on the boxes so that no disasters were possible.
The aisle was fully lined with floral to create a garden effect, and we repurposed most of these pieces throughout the reception design, as well.
Along with the logistical mindset needed to accomplish this destination wedding at Clear Lake, any wedding at an out-of-town venue requires serious flexibility. For months, I was mentally preparing myself for anything that could possibly go wrong.
Here’s a quick run-down of things we had to address the week and day of the wedding: the reefer truck we reserved had an issue and they cancelled our reservation so we needed to figure something else out; the ceremony tent size changed at the last minute so we had to adjust how we hung the ceiling greenery; a chandelier was hung in the ceremony tent literally right where the arch was supposed to go, so we had to take that down; the grids for the hanging installation over the head table were installed incorrectly so we needed to adjust how we designed the florals (and note, we did indeed solve all of these problems. They all took a lot of time, though, so the team came in clutch to make it all happen on time!).
The cocktail hour details were so cute — one of these living wall features to serve specialty cocktails (guests had to ring a bell under whichever cocktail they chose, and a gloved hand would appear with drink ready!). The seating chart was added to the wall, and I added some floral and greenery touches to tie it all together.
They also rented a cute phone booth / photo booth, to which we added more smilax, coordinating floral pieces, and a tall delphinium arrangement to the attached guest book table.
The reception tent featured a central king table for the wedding party, set under a hanging floral piece, and round guest tables interspersed with faux olive trees elevated on white pedestals with box trim. A primarily white palette was warmed up with natural cane-back chairs, taupe candles, and slight touches of blush in the florals.
For the head table, I opted for 20x mixed size clear glass vases that each featured a single variety arrangement, allowing for a delightful garden-inspired smattering of florals and textures down the length of the table.
I’m not always huge on the marquee letters, but this was pretty epic! Set up on the hill, above the tent, it looked so good and was such a fun backdrop to their dance party.
It’s not every wedding when the couple flies in a multi CCMA and Juno award winning country music star to play their first dance — but Alex and Travis brought in Brett Kissel to play a set for their reception! This must have been SUCH a fun party. I would have loved to have been a guest!
I have to give an enormous thank you to the crew that was part of making this wedding happening! Emily and Deanna who helped to design everything leading up to the wedding, Jason and Chad who came along to help us set up, clean up, and drive, and Kayla, Andrea, and Amanda who each drove up to Clear Lake for the day to help us design and install everything. A solid team is crucial, and this crew was AMAZING.
Brittany Mahood Photography ~ Tricia Bachewich Events ~ Elkhorn Manor, Clear Lake ~ Paper & Palm ~ Union Table ~ Special Event Rentals ~ Dream Day Decor ~ Creating a Scene ~ House of Silk ~ 4 Square Foto ~ Trident Films ~ Ginger Snips Salon ~ Oak & Ivy Salon
Looking for a Floral Designer for your large scale wedding in Winnipeg?
Large scale weddings come with a lot of logistics, and require both creativity and a detailed mindset to pull it off. Stone House Creative specializes in this!
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.
Modern Garden Wedding at The White Poplar
I absolutely LOVE working at The White Poplar and I will shout it from the rooftops! So when Tori and Ian inquired about their wedding (more than a year and a half in advance!) I was already pumped. Then they brought on the best vendor team, and a gorgeous design plan, and I was in wedding design heaven.
Tori has a really classic style, and we wanted to meet it with modern sensibility — so a crisp palette of black and white was chosen, with warm taupes and mixed greens added.
Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography
I absolutely LOVE working at The White Poplar and I will shout it from the rooftops! So when Tori and Ian inquired about their wedding (more than a year and a half in advance!) I was already pumped. Then they brought on the best vendor team, and a gorgeous design plan, and I was in wedding design heaven.
Tori has a really classic style, and we wanted to meet it with modern sensibility — so a crisp palette of black and white was chosen, with warm taupes and mixed greens added.
Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography
“Lauren, I cannot thank you enough for your beautiful work. It was truly better than I could have imagined! I spent so much time on the dance floor just staring at the arch, it was insane!! Thank you thank you thank you 💕”
— Tori and Ian
There’s something about the shape of Tori’s beautiful gown that reminds me of Maria from The Sound of Music. It is so refined! Her pearl-dotted hair and veil were the perfect finishing touches. And isn’t the green tone they bridesmaids chose gorgeous? This was a September wedding, so we definitely didn’t have “fall” leaves yet but the richness of the green was very seasonally appropriate.
Tori requested a classic cascading bouquet, and I initially made it WAY too big because the flowers were just so lush and divine. Late summer is the perfect time for locally grown flowers, and we had them in abundance for Tori.
If you’ve been around here a while, you know that I’m a lover of lots of colour. That’s just my personal preference, but part of that is also because a lot of white weddings look the same. Designers tend to gravitate toward their few favourite ingredients, so it’s tricky to see how to pull through the client’s individual style along with the designer’s style.
I actually designed quite a lot of white weddings this year, and I made it a mission to make them each unique. My secret weapon: locally grown flowers. Tori’s wedding had SO many.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: white lisianthus, roses, dahlias, anemones, sweet pea, and snowberry combined with olive and stephanotis vines.
One of many reasons why The Poplar is an incredible place to get married: the photo ops! The natural setting is really stunning.
This ceremony because such a beautiful focal point for the day! Their service was personal and relaxed, and of course, I loved the florals. When your backdrop is a wall of trees, we need to be careful with a green and white palette, so that the arch you’re investing money into doesn’t get blend right into the scenery.
The couple loved the idea of an asymmetrical 2 piece arch, with full white and green coverage. Gorgeous — but also, very easy to end up looking like every other white and green wedding. It’s always a priority for me to make each wedding look unique, so I decided to focus on selecting ingredients that would feel fresh.
For any white wedding, I almost always use playa blanca roses. They open up HUGE and have such a gorgeous shape. But again, even though they’re the perfect rose, I needed to add something that would be unique. So, I cut and dried locally grown green hydrangea — they dry exactly like they look fresh, so I didn’t have to worry about a water source. We clustered these in different groupings along the arch structure, and then focused on lots of white lisianthus (locally grown, whenever I can get them!), the roses, white delphinium for a few fluttery touches, and some clustered white ball dahlias.
We added 2 large arrangements at the back of the aisle to tie the entire space together.
Reception time! The building at The White Poplar is so great — those large front doors, the patio leading to the ceremony site, and all those clear walls make for a great blank space.
The first thing guests saw when they entered was this beautiful seating chart, where we repurposed the aisle flowers. The tables flowed from there, with long tables lining the centre of the room and round tables along the outsides. A sweetheart table was positioned in front of the fireplace.
Soiree Event Planning chose the perfect matte black flatware to accent the industrial black chairs, and a gorgeous dark olive napkin. For the long tables, we clustered petite arrangements in black and grey smoke glass vases (all white, mostly locally grown florals!), and added in ribbed grey smoke glass votives along with soft green taper candles.
The round tables featured a fuller floral arrangement in a matte black vase, complimented by assorted sizes and styles of candles for a more collected but still modern look.
Tip for weddings at The White Poplar: affix your place cards to your menus, and tuck them into your napkins. It can be very windy out there!
Tori and Ian literally told me that flowers weren’t a huge priority for them, but what was a priority was the overall design, and making sure that everything was the appropriate scale and just “felt right.” We went through a few revisions of the floral plan to make sure that we had it right, and I think it came together pretty perfectly between the simpler but still interesting floral centrepieces and the way we repurposed the ceremony florals.
Looking for a Wedding Floral Designer in Winnipeg?
Planning a wedding at The White Poplar? I’ve got a list of design dreams I cannot wait to make a reality. I’d love to be your designer!
Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. 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!
Modern Architectural Inspired Wedding at the Leaf
It’s finally time to share SO MUCH DETAIL from this architecturally-inspired editorial I designed at The Leaf!
My vision was something chic, sculptural, and heavily influenced by the use of a single type of flower (in this case, white lilies). The slatted wood wall in the mezzanine area of The Leaf was absolute perfect backdrop for the strong lines I wanted to create.
It’s finally time to share SO MUCH DETAIL from this architecturally-inspired editorial I designed at The Leaf!
My vision was something chic, sculptural, and heavily influenced by the use of a single type of flower (in this case, white lilies). The slatted wood wall in the mezzanine area of The Leaf was absolute perfect backdrop for the strong lines I wanted to create.
I’m going to start with a very quick visual overview of the design elements, and then get down into some nitty gritty of the pricing for you!
Photos by Keila Marie Photography
Aren’t these details just perfection! I’m so grateful to all of the wedding professionals who helped me bring this to life. It takes a team, friends!
The tabletop was a labour of love to design. Pretty early on, I decided that I wanted to use Planned Perfectly’s toffee linen and Union Table’s matte black flatware with ribbed glassware, but I hemmed and hawed over the place settings. I’m so glad I chose the speckled plates because they add such fun!
Multiple sculptural floral centrepieces are featured down the table, accented with ribbed olive green candles, black trays with fresh fruit, and chains of hyacinth blooms, which added some really fun, modern whimsy.
How much do you think this bridal bouquet costs?
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients:
Freesia
Tweedia
Hellebore
Mini Cymbidium Orchids
Allium
Looped Hyacinth Chains
And finished with hand died silk ribbon from
Tono and Co
BRIDAL BOUQUET COST: $435
This bouquet was a bit of a trial for me — because it wasn’t at all what I had planned on. Almost none of the flowers that I ordered for it actually came in! I envisioned a bouquet that was on the smaller side, with a chic, highly textured design, with these hyacinth chains as a major focal point. That’s basically the only element that came together the way I had originally intended.
That being said, sometimes we have to roll with what we can, especially when we’re working with live, perishable product! The lime cymbidium orchids were perfect for tying through that bright chartreuse tone I needed, and while I didn’t plan on using the white freesia, I loved the warm yellow in the centre and the linear stem shape.
Most of my bridal bouquets aren’t this high cost, but the ingredients I used are mostly premium product and that comes with a higher price tag.
I love wandering around the Tropical Biome at the Leaf, but I didn’t want Erika’s portraits to feel too “wedding photos at the Leaf.” Keila took my vision of clean, bright, fine art meets tropical and played up the atmosphere and the way it supported Erika’s modern column gown, rather than going too typical and obvious.
This is the Aesling Sagrada gown. It’s chic, minimal lines paired with the dramatic (detachable!) cape is what drew me to it. It was perfect for this architectural vision!
Get the Look
The arch was my personal focal point; I wanted something strong, something modern, and choosing to focus on just one ingredient type is not at all common, but forcing myself to stick to just one element allowed me to really play up the star shaped flower.
I tucked in a few double lilies for a softer texture here and there, which were absolutely divine.
Add in a set of minimal black chivari chairs, and you’ve got quite a cool ambiance thanks to that slatted wall and lily arch combo! If there’s a piece of architectural interest at your venue, consider how you can play it up.
THIS CAKE. Jenna did an amazing job, as always!! This wafer paper design feels feminine, structural, and really strong all at the same time. I honestly cringe at the thought of how long this must have taken her to make! The vertically applied wafer paper is reminiscent of that slatted wood wall I took so much inspiration from, and I love the way she curved it around the cake, and added some delicate movement to it. Cake perfection.
I remember gasping when I opened up the stationery suite from Rae + Dot. They used a speciality printing technique called blind debossing to add a three-dimensional ribbed texture to the paper, again perfectly hearkening back to the slatted wood wall that I love so much. I had requested a patterned envelope liner, and suggested that an architectural take on a lily bloom would be cool. The line drawing with the warm toffee paper was AMAZING.
Isn’t Erika absolutely gorgeous? She ALWAYS is, by the way. It’s kind of irritating how beautiful she is. Jessica Kmiec went pink and glowy on her, and Bailey pulled her hair back with these striking pearl hair pins. Chic, modern, goddess. Yeah baby.
Erika also helped me set the table and helped me clean up, and I’m so grateful to you 😘
Keila Marie Photography ~ Stone House Creative ~ The Leaf ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Union Table ~ Jenna Rae Cakes ~ Rae and Dot Studio ~ Love note Bride ~ Jessica Kmiec Artistry ~ Bailey VanderVeen
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. I’d be thrilled to design an incredible atmosphere and accompanying florals for your wedding.
Moody Fashion-Forward Wedding at the Hotel Fort Garry
Being part of Sarah and Scott’s moody, fashion-forward wedding at the Fort Garry Hotel last fall was such a delight.
The flowers were not a huge priority for her — and while most of my couples do put a large emphasis on their florals, I know that many couples out there are in the same place as Sarah! And that’s totally, totally fine.
So instead of doing florals all over the place, we kept a close eye on their budget and chose multi-purpose pieces that would highlight a few key areas, and let Sarah’s fashion be the central design moment.
Being part of Sarah and Scott’s moody, fashion-forward wedding at the Fort Garry Hotel last fall was such a delight.
The flowers were not a huge priority for her — and while most of my couples do put a large emphasis on their florals, I know that many couples out there are in the same place as Sarah! And that’s totally, totally fine.
So instead of doing florals all over the place, we kept a close eye on their budget and chose multi-purpose pieces that would highlight a few key areas, and let Sarah’s fashion be the central design moment.
Photos by Michael & Melanie
Sarah wanted to go smaller and simpler for her bridal bouquet, keeping it a little more chic and not take away from her dress.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: baby’s breath, cream and white spray roses, and playa blanca roses.
I don’t normally post this many portraits and fashion shots, but this gallery from Michael & Melanie is just SO gorgeous. Sarah is all about the fashion and her bridal looks were absolutely divine, so I needed to share a bit more than usual.
The overskirt? The perfect sleeve length? The way she just shimmered? Amazzzing. It’s an Eva Lendel gown, that fate lined up perfectly to make sure she found, on a pre-loved wedding dress site while she was in London, England, of all places. Amazing!!
“Anyone who was on my bridal era journey with me from the beginning knew I didn’t want a lot of flowers initially, but then I found Stone House Creative and immediately changed my mind. Lauren brings a new vision and creativity to this industry I haven’t seen a match for. Her ability to execute someone’s vision is incredible. Thank you for creating such a beautiful backdrop for our celebrations of love.” — Sarah
This ceremony setup has since become one of my most-requested designs by other couples, which is super fun! Sarah wasn’t quite sure what she wanted, but after deciding that she DID want to go with floral decor and tossing around a few ideas, she felt that she needed to reign in the budget. It was actually her idea to repurpose the tall centrepieces and arrange them as an altar around them.
We rented in the mixed clear and gold pedestals, and while we were setting everything up, I decided to call an audible and remove some of the tall stands so the florals were resting right on the pedestals. This added a lot more dimension, created a more designed feeling, and a feeling that that they were floating.
The tall florals were brought over to the guest tables at the reception, paired up with shorter floral arrangements in gold-rimmed vases. I had no idea that the Fort Garry had reupholstered their chairs in this pink tone, but it was lucky! They actually worked perfectly with Sarah’s overall design.
Winnipeg friends will know. Jeanne’s cake, anyone? (I’ve personally never been that into them…aside from the chocolate shavings, which I love)
Sarah’s got a pretty cool story about her second dress — she had admired this designer for years (Valdrin Sahiti, known for dressing Khloe Kardashian and Beyonce!!), so she flew to their headquarters in Kosovo (after travelling through Europe to try on wedding dresses everywhere she could find), and met with the design team. She then got hit with a wave of indecision, and couldn’t decide on anything that she loved! She ended up coming home, but kept thinking it over…and finally, figured out the custom designed gown that would be perfect for her. The designers shipped it to her just 8 days before the wedding, complete with 1000+ hand-sewn feathers onto the skirt of the dress.
Looking for a Wedding Floral & Event Designer in Winnipeg?
Dates at the Winnipeg Art Gallery book quickly, and we’re one of their top designers! 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.
Warm, Inviting Fall Wedding at SMITH
I just LOVE restaurant weddings, so when Ange and Jonathan first reached out about their fall wedding at Smith, I was pumped. Then I heard more that Connie from Harlow Events had planned, and the ceremony location at the Forks, and I was so excited to be on board.
Warm, inviting, and a colour palette that transitioned from summer to fall was the name of the game here, with a real focus on the guest experience. The couple really wanted their guests to have an amazing time, and that always makes for the best weddings.
I just LOVE restaurant weddings, so when Ange and Jonathan first reached out about their fall wedding at Smith, I was pumped. Then I heard more that Connie from Harlow Events had planned, and the ceremony location at the Forks, and I was so excited to be on board.
Warm, inviting, and a colour palette that transitioned from summer to fall was the name of the game here, with a real focus on the guest experience. The couple really wanted their guests to have an amazing time, and that always makes for the best weddings.
Photos by Megan Steen
Oh my goodness gracious, how I LOVED their flowers and colours. Ange and Jonathan’s wedding was in November, so my wholesalers actually had a tricky time getting everything that I wanted because the industry had already shifted away from fall tones. Luckily for us, everything ended up working out flawlessly! The richness and saturation of these tones…divine.
Bridal Bouquet ingredients: Moab, nina, and toffee roses (a STELLAR combination), ranunculus, kangaroo paw, copper beech leaves, cymbidium orchids, and the most divine bittersweet berries.
Angeline didn’t have a wedding party, but I love that the couple still spent time with their friends throughout the day. After we were finished setting up, we took a taco break at the Forks and got to see the girls all hanging out and oohing and aahing over everything, and it was so sweet to watch. It looked like an easy day to be part of — lots of time together, no pressure, and an easy schedule.
I loved this ceremony design and this space. The only other time I’ve been in this room at the Forks was to see a children’s comedian (lol mom life) and obviously this looked a bit better ha!
The chuppah was meant to feel textural and saturated, and it really popped from the white drape behind (which hid a giant hole in the floor — gotta love these old buildings!).
We lined the aisle with candles, and added differently sized pockets of floral throughout the wooden structure. It just looked SO good and the ambiance in this room was amazing.
After the ceremony, everyone walked over to Smith for the reception. It was a pretty beautiful day and we lucked out there, at the end of November!
We scattered mixed size floral arrangements and candles throughout the entire restaurant, using copper bowls and ribbed clear and smoke glass vases. I wanted the space to feel very collected but chic, and of course, bring in a lot of warmth through the colours. One of the things I love about Smith is that it has a very distinct vibe but it can handle a lot of different colour palettes.
Another gorgeous wedding, another amazing vendor team, and another fantastic (smelling) meal — seeing as though we don’t actually eat at weddings, but it sure does smell the best at Smith! The ambiance of a restaurant wedding is unlike anything else.
Megan Steen Photography ~ Harlow Events ~ Smith ~ the Forks ~ Dream Day Decorators ~ Event Light ~ Isabel Nayet Hair and MaKeup ~ 4 Square Foto Booth ~ Dirty CatFish Brass Band ~ LoveNote Bride ~ La Petite Paperie ~ Flour and Flower ~ Union Table ~ Collective Event Rentals
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
We like to consider ourselves specialists in restaurant weddings; we know what it takes to make each space feel unique, create a killer ambiance, and what elements are worth investing in vs not.
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!