Boudoir Photoshoot

Bombshell Boudoir is a brand new boudoir photography studio that just launched this winter -- owned and photographed by Noella at This Sweet Love! Noella coordinated a fun boudoir shoot to launch her new website with, and asked me to come up with a floral installation. We loved the idea of these hanging floral garlands, which just added a really interesting touch and pop of colour. I would LOVE to do something like this for a wedding ceremony! 

Hair and Makeup by Lauren Luxe

Preparing for your Floral Consultation

Your flower consultation should be lots of fun! Sometimes I hear from brides that they are nervous, but girls, you've got nothing to be nervous about! We're going to have fun. Here's what you can do to make sure that your flower consult goes as smoothly as possible: 

1) Do some thinking about what you like, and look at different ideas online or in magazines. Don't worry about being too specific - what's most important is that you know what kind of bridal bouquet shape you lean towards (classic round? something a bit more natural? cascading?), and what type of colouring you like (ie. all white and green? bold hues?). Do you like lots of texture and interesting details? Save some of your favourite images, and bring them in with you - that will give your florist a great idea of what you lean towards. 

2) Bring in pictures of your bridal and bridesmaid dresses. Knowing what style and shape your dress is will be an important factor in deciding how large to make your bouquet and what shape of bouquet will be best for you. 

3) Bring colour swatches. Whether these are from your bridesmaid dresses or are paint chips that show your entire palette, it will help us pick the perfect hues for you! 

4) Have a general list of the things that you'll need - how many bouquets and boutonnieres? What family members and /or friends do you want to have a corsage or boutonniere? Will you need centrepieces plus aisle decor plus an arrangement at your guest book table? 

5) Figure out your budget range. Sometimes brides feel like they need to keep their budget number private, and hope that the florists they are talking to will come close to it. It's so much better to be upfront about that number, because it gives your florist the ability to either give you the best suggestions to work within that budget, or tell you what is and isn't realistic. 

Photo by Brittany Mahood Photography

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.

Announcing Wed Prep Workshop!

I am so excited to announce the launch of Wed Prep Workshop, Winnipeg's first interactive wedding planning workshop!

Coming February 21, Wed Prep is a one-day workshop hosted by myself and Amanda Douglas Events, and featuring several of Winnipeg's favourite wedding professionals, who will provide you with all the information you need to plan the best wedding you can. We're gearing Wed Prep towards you, so that you can have the wedding of your dreams, at the budget you can afford. 

This one-day intensive workshop will include interactive demonstrations, valuable handout materials, and Q&A's with your presenters. Tickets are on sale now and registration is limited to 30 brides at the maximum, so be sure to book yours today!

If you need more info or have any questions, feel free to send me an email to stonehouseweddings@gmail.com. I hope to see you all there!