The 2020 Portfolio Builder: Part 1

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Have you heard the news?

Our next Portfolio Builder event for photographers and videographers is oh so soon!

SAVE THE DATE
Saturday, June 12, 2021

👉🏻 Click for more details

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I’m so excited to FINALLY share this first set of images from the Portfolio Builder that Emily from Feast & Festivities and I hosted together in the fall!

The concept of the Portfolio Builder is something I’ve been envisioning and planning and trying to figure out the best way to make it happen for several years already. I knew that I didn’t want to take it on on my own (so much work!) and I knew that Emily would be an amazing partner. You’re going to hear from her a little later in this post.

This set of images were taken by the talented Photography by Jolaika!

The 2020 Portfolio Builder was originally supposed to take place last April, but we decided to postpone due to Covid, and I’m so glad that we did. By the time our new October date rolled around, the case numbers were actually a lot higher but we we knew how to best organize the day to keep it safe for everyone involved, and had so much more peace of mind.

As I’ve been envisioning the Portfolio Builder over the last few years, I knew a few things would be important:

1) That I wanted to gear it towards photographers and videographers.

2) That each of the participants be given privacy, customization, and the chance to do their own thing. I’ve seen the behind the scenes of a lot of shoot-outs and photography workshops on Instagram, and honestly, they look terrible. Jostling over each other’s shoulders to try to get the shot you want? Nah. That’s no good. I know that if I were in that situation, I would shrink to the back because I wouldn’t want to take away anyone else’s chance at getting what they need, and in the end, I’d be super unhappy with my final product.

I’ve got a soft spot for beautiful seating displays. Whether it’s a traditional (and cost-effective) seating chart, or an elegant display of escort cards like this one, I love to see that attention has been paid to the details. This is one of the first things your guests will interact with, so it should be beautiful!

Here, we carefully lined up rows of (alphabetically arranged!) escort cards beside a champagne tower (HELLO! That’s a good way to welcome everyone to the party!) and completed the design with mixed size floral arrangements. Because, obviously every table should have gorgeous floral arrangements 💁🏼‍♀️

A few notes from Emily of Feast & Festivities:
"One of my favourite event details to design is the dining table. It's where guests all simultaneously gather and move through an experience together. Planned and designed well, a table has the essentials for the making of a cherished memory—carefully chosen food and beverage, personal touches, and good company.

The sunny and tall ceiling surroundings of Cloakroom are so refreshing and white. We took the opportunity to draw on that blank canvas with neutral linen, chairs, and tableware, which allowed the colour palette to really stand out in the cheerful florals and candles of the tablescape. I always love a custom detail incorporated into the event's place setting. For these settings, we added a vellum wax seal embellishment with lavender buds to the menu. The card was placed on top of a custom-made Everyday Host linen napkin with a soft purple edge, highlighted by the particular fold of the napkin. I'm such a sucker for a timeless linen texture napkin!"

One of my very favourite design moments of the day, this sweet little cake and champagne combination. Adding depth is often forgotten about, but so much life is brought to this moment of your wedding design, through the varied heights of the cocktail tables, the layering of texture through napkins and plates ready to go for your cake cutting, and a few simple taper candles placed behind the cake.

Obviously any time anyone wants me to floralize a champagne bucket, or a wedding cake display, or just about anything, I’ll be happy to do so. I encourage you to think through your wedding day and imagine when those special moments will be happening. Then, how can we enhance the ambiance of those moments even more by adding a thoughtfully-planned design element?

This was such a joyful day, and I cannot wait to share more from the other photographers.

Vendors:
Photos: Photography by Jolaika
Planning and design: Feast & Festivities
Florals and Design: Stone House Creative
Linens, Chairs: Planned Perfectly
Place Setting Rentals: C&T Rentals
Venue: Cloakroom Wellness
Dress: Bliss Bridal Boutique
Shoes: Bella Belle Shoes
Makeup: Tiopo and Co
Hair: Tori Lynn Hair
Rings: Mokada
Accessories: Luna + Stone
Stationery: Minted
Calligraphy: Blake Creative Co
Cake: Sugar & Salt BakeShoppe
Model: Havilah for Panache Management

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Want to be part of the next portfolio builder?

June 12, 2021 is the date and registration opens NEXT WEEK!

This is a day exclusively for photographers and videographers who are looking to build their portfolio and attract their dream clients. You’ll find an expertly planned and thoughtfully designed styled shoot and bridal editorial created to give you the time and space to get inspired, explore, try new things, and hone in on your skills in a one-of-a-kind outdoor setting.

Whether you’ve been in business for several years already or if you’re just starting out, or maybe you’re thinking about branching out to offer video services to your already established photography business, the Portfolio Builder is the right fit for you.

And let’s be honest…after the dumpster fire that was 2020 and that 2021 is turning out to be so far, we all need some inspiration.

Fresh and Feminine Editorial at The Gables

When Vanessa Renae Photography first reached out to me about creating an early summer editorial at the brand new venue The Gables, I was on board immediately. The venue is an absolutely gorgeous, newly built facility in Southern Manitoba, which has been so beautifully designed and constructed. I couldn’t wait to get to work!

Vanessa sent me just a couple of inspiration pictures, and I knew right away that I wanted to design an earthy, feminine, and fresh aesthetic that would bridge the rustic barn-like setting with a romantic feel.

I really, really love using locally grown flowers and so I was determined to use 100% locally grown product for this editorial. Why? Not only are the flowers more ruffled, scented, and variegated in colour, focusing on locally grown flowers is also far better for the environment and for our local economy. I’m able to support local farms at the same time as eliminating packaging waste, lowering shipping fuels, and lessening chemical usage.

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: peonies, ranunculus, foxglove, lisianthus, phlox, sweet pea, yarrow, and poppies with a touch of brown ninebark foliage.

Every year there comes that hazy, lazy time when summer has really just started, the vibe is great, and everything feels fresh and full of possibility. And when you live in a climate that is covered with snow for 5-6 months of the year, you REALLY want to celebrate in that perfect window of time.

I worked with Leech Letter Co from Brandon (she’s actually one of my former wedding clients!) on this gorgeous stationery suite.

When working on the design plan, I wanted to highlight the gorgeous wood tones of the venue, so I chose to keep the overall colour palette feminine and earthy: taupe, yellow gold, peach, salmon, blush, touches of brown, and focused on placing a ton of florals on the table.

Want to design this table alongside me? Download my Design Guide here!

The cross-back chairs add that somewhat rustic feel, which was complimented by the natural textures in the stationery, soft fringe in the napkin, and pottery vases.

When it came to selecting the rentals, I knew that I wanted to keep the place settings sleek and clean. C&T Rentals’ Lilly place settings were just the right choice, with their simple, modern lines and minimal lip.

I love working with coloured candles, and for this table, I chose 2 tones: sandstone and toffee. I wanted the candles to emphasize the earthy side of my design, and loved the warmth these neutral tones brought to the tablescape.

My favourite images are the glowing early evening portraits on the expansive lawns and meadow (secret: that meadow is actually a small sheep pasture!).

Thank you so much to Ashley from The Gables for hosting us — your space is mesmerizing and I look forward to coming back!

The Gables Wedding Barn ~ Vanessa Renae Photography ~ Stone House Creative ~ Leech Letter Co ~ Adrianna Papell from Christie’s Bridal ~ Mokada ~ Mrs Box ~ Ashley Lauren from Nikki’s Beauty Bar ~ Emily Leiding from Nikki’s Beauty Bar ~ C&T Rentals

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Want to be part of the next portfolio builder?

June 12, 2021 is the date and registration is NOW OPEN!

This is a day exclusively for photographers and videographers who are looking to build their portfolio and attract their dream clients. You’ll find an expertly planned and thoughtfully designed styled shoot and bridal editorial created to give you the time and space to get inspired, explore, try new things, and hone in on your skills in a one-of-a-kind outdoor setting.

Whether you’ve been in business for several years already or if you’re just starting out, or maybe you’re thinking about branching out to offer video services to your already established photography business, the Portfolio Builder is the right fit for you.

And let’s be honest…after the dumpster fire that was 2020 and that 2021 is turning out to be so far, we all need some inspiration.

My Top 5 Tips for Designing a Beautiful Tent Wedding

With covid the way it is, I expect that we’ll continue seeing a lot of tent weddings throughout the 2021 wedding season.

There are many things to love about a tent wedding:

the ability to host your loved ones at a special property, the ease with which you can customize the event design, and the ambiance can be so exciting and inspiring.

Planning: Gather Events | Photo: Nancy Ray | Via: Town & Country

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Let’s ensure your wedding is more beautiful than the typical tent event.
Read on for my 5 top tips to design a beautiful tent wedding!

PS Before you scroll too far, open up this Pinterest Board in another tab! Here you’ll find more awesome tent wedding ideas 😘

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1. Pay Attention to the Colour Palette

   Tent weddings usually mean lots of green (grass) and lots of white (tent walls). This makes it really easy to design a classic white and green wedding, but if you’re working with a different colour palette, you really need find ways to incorporate your palette to make it stand out!

My favourite way to bring a colour palette to life is actually with the table linens. Upgrading to coloured table linens makes a massive difference simply because of the large amount of visual real estate that table linens take up. Choose the foundational colour in your palette so that you can make the rest of the palette sing with other accents, like your centrepieces.

Planning and Design: Alison Events | Photo: Tec Petaja | Via: 100 Layer Cake

2. Play with the Floor Plan

One of the awesome bonuses of a tent is that you are not restricted to any structural barriers, nor do you have to feel like you have to follow any set of rules. You can do whatever you want! Mix of long banquet and round tables? Do it. Want to put the head table right in the middle of the floor plan? Love it.

Choose what you want to be the focal point of the tent, and design your floor plan around it.

Planning: Always Yours Events | Photo: Jessica Schifilliti

Planning: A. Dominick Events | Photo: Jodi & Kurt Photo | Via: Ruffled

4. Incorporate Unique Lighting

Enlist the help of a great lighting team. Frequently, tent weddings take place outside of the city where it gets really nice and dark in the evening. Whether you want bistro string lighting, classic chandeliers, or a collection of casual textured basket lanterns, some sort of overhead lighting will make a large impact on the overall ambiance. And, of course, don’t forget about the power of candlelight, flickering low to the table all night long.

My go-to lighting experts here in Winnipeg are Event Light. They cover everything power-related (thank goodness, because I don’t think I’m alone in not knowing what any of that means), they’ve got a great inventory of stylish lighting options, and they also have all the tall ladders I ever need to hang flowers 😉

Planning & Design: Amorology | Photo: Tenth + Grace | Via: Style Me Pretty

3. Make a Grand Entrance Statement

Tents are often large, and with the side panels open, guests can trickle in from anywhere. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the flow of traffic can feel a little directionless, so establishing a focal point can make an enormous difference to your guests' experience. I love taking this opportunity to create a gorgeous entrance to the tent that also serves a purpose: welcoming guests, guiding them to their tables, and adding to the overall event design. ⁠This could be a large floral installation or oversized floral urns flanking the entrance, an expertly designed seating chart or escort card table, or a welcome table set with champagne. Create a focal point, designed with a purpose, and add something extra to the guests’ experience.

Planning: Amorology | Photo: Scott Clark | Via: Style Me Pretty

5. Upgrade Your Rentals

This one is a big one for me: upgrade your rentals, people!! Caterers often include a very basic set of plates, glasses, and cutlery but we’re talking BASIC. Not at all beautiful. Coloured glassware, layered dishware, elegant metallic flatware, a coloured napkin…these things make a HUGE difference in your overall event design. Don’t forget about the chairs — the basic white folding resin chairs that are available from most tent companies are fine, but they don’t necessarily fit with every aesthetic.

Here are a few more ideas to make your tent wedding the BEST:

• If space allows, incorporate a great lounge area. Many typical venues will have some sort of entry area with couches and chairs where people can relax post-dinner if they aren’t interested in dancing. A tent doesn’t have that opportunity, so build it in to your plans! If your wedding is in summer, place a lounge outside the tent under a tree, rent some great soft seating (here are some of my faves!) — don’t forget about adding a coffee table and end tables for drinks to be placed on! — and create a great atmosphere.

• Make sure your guests are comfortable with either portable heating systems or fans. And if it can be a misting fan, all the better.

  If your wedding is in spring or fall, a clear top tent is your secret weapon: the greenhouse effect created keeps the atmosphere a little more toasty and gives you a little more natural heat.

• Hire pros. Hire hire hire. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard people say, “We’re just going to make it easy and have a tent wedding.” LOL guys. Since when is building a venue from scratch in your own yard easy?? But if you hire the right professionals, it can be both easy AND beautiful. This starts with a planner who is well-versed in tent weddings and knows how to take care of all of the logistics — because there are a lot of them. If you need some recommendations, just ask away :)

Proof of how amazing the misting fans are! On a hot summer day, a misting fan is the little piece of heaven you didn’t know you needed. This one is available through Event LIght.

Planning: Soiree Event Planning | Photo: Brittany Mahood Photography

Find the full gallery from this elegant tent wedding on a private estate here, for some more great inspiration!

LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

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!

Planned Perfectly Wedding Rentals Product Shoot

Well, this post has been a long time coming!

Way before Covid, in a world that was simpler and happier, Planned Perfectly asked me to design some flowers for a product shoot to showcase their newest linens and decor rentals. I’m still in love with the products, and Planned Perfectly is ALWAYS my go-to recommendation for couples who are searching for high quality and stylish linen and chair rentals (and word on the street is, they’ve got a few new things up their sleeve…but you’ll have to wait to find out more about that!).

Photos: Luxe Images by Jill | Venue: Manitoba Club

This first linen is their Taupe Panama, paired with wood crossback chairs. This is definitely a favourite combination of mine, particularly for a wedding couple who want something subdued, elegant, and warm. The linen has a beautiful natural texture to it, and fits equally as well in a garden-inspired wedding as in a ballroom setting.

We hung this oversized but lightweight installation of copper and bronze tinted plumosa overtop, but unfortunately, it’s a trick just for the photoshoot. The Manitoba Club ceilings don’t have a way to successfully hang anything from the roof (as with most venues), so we hung it from a pipe and drape structure that was tucked out of the view of the camera. Sorry, guys!

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Next up, we’ve got their Toffee Belize linen, and it’s kind of a tricky colour to nail down! Depending on the lighting and what else is in your palette, this linen can skew light pink, mauve, or a muddy neutral. These pictures give it a particularly pink feel, but it’s not quite this light in person. It’s gorgeous!

I also love that it was paired with two different chair options to show you how a simple chair swap can completely change the visual. If you’re planning an elegant wedding in a ballroom, then the classic gold chivari chairs would be a perfect fit. Or, if you’re hosting a gorgeous tent wedding with a garden aesthetic, I love it paired with the wood crossbacks (these are my favourite chairs!)!

For the floral centrepiece on this table, I wanted to do something lush and low, that felt like it was growing naturally without needing a vase to contain it. I loved this palette — it’s springy without being overly pastel. White tulips and gladiolus blooms were a naturally growing focal point, Queen Anne’s Lace added romantic texture, with a few antique pink carnations and spray roses filling it out. And you can’t miss those beautiful cymbidium orchids — they’re this beautiful subdued creamy tone 😍

We styled the table with beautiful glass beaded charger plates, menus along from my sample stash, from Minted, and groupings of votives (the more, the better, in my opinion!).

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This beauty is the Storm Velvet! And ooo, how I love it. I’m all about the velvet and not just for winter weddings, either (though I do love the icy feel that this look has!). This is a seriously gorgeous blue that pairs really nicely with all kinds of pastel palettes, and also with brighter combinations — it’s surprisingly versatile!

When it comes to your colour palette, I always suggest that you select a foundational colour, a focal colour, and accent colours/metallics. Your focal colour is the one that you want your guests to remember — but you’re not going to splash it EVERYWHERE, otherwise it’ll be overkill and visually exhausting (remember the 90s and early 2000’s weddings where you chose 1 colour and just used it everywhere? Let’s avoid that. It does not look good). Choose a more subtle foundational colour that supports the focal colour. So, you could use this blue velvet as a foundational colour to support a more vibrant palette of coral, peach, and orange. If you had a coral linen and coral flowers and coral candles and coral menus, your wedding would be visually disgusting. Foundational colour + focal colour + accent colours = visual beauty!

I’m a recent convert to loving these clear Napolean chairs! For the centrepiece here, we paired Planned Perfectly’s white pillar candlestick trios along with my smoke glass votives that I tucked some simple quicksand roses into. The variation in height and texture is really nice!

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I’m a huge fan of sweetheart tables, and this one features Planned Perfectly’s Silver Velvet linen (which is really a soft grey, and super pretty!). It’s paired with Trend Decor’s blush velvet settee and I love how feminine this design is.

The place setting details include a grey satin napkin, knotted for a modern feel, a pink menu (also from Minted), and copper charger plates. I love the way the copper and silver play together, especially paired with the hanging copper plumsa installation and my smoke glass votives (here I’ve done 2 sizes of votives, with both floral and candles in them, for a bit of visual variety).

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

Getting married in 2022? Wedding flower appointments are now available. Click the button below to get on my wait list!

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! 

Reveal: Playful and Crisp Wedding Style Editorial

Helllllo playful colour! Today I’m going to walk you through the execution of this editorial I created over the summer. While a photo shoot does not come together in the same way that a real wedding does, I go through much the same process with a lot of the behind-the-scenes design planning.

Right from the onset of a personal project like this, I usually have a pretty good idea of what I want to do. When I’m working on wedding flowers, I also usually have a clear picture of what I want to do for you. But when I’m working on event design for a couple, it’s more of a process of pulling ideas out of you, then teasing them in my mind to see how I can expand on it.

Yesterday, I spoke all about my event design services and my design philosophies.
If this resonates with you, I'd love to speak with you about coming on board your wedding vendor team in the larger capacity of event designer. Read more here!

Vibe

I always begin event design projects by considering the vibe I (or the client) want to create. With this editorial being a project for myself, a few words kept coming to me: playful, cheerful, crisp. I knew I wanted to evoke a sense of happiness and light-heartedness (and I planned this before Covid hit...who knew how badly I'd need this!!).

To achieve this, I started with the colour palette: lavender, peach, and coral (some of my go-to’s!) and then surprised myself with the addition of yellow and orange. I'm so glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone (orange has historically been my least favourite colour, but no longer!), because these two brought the citrusy fresh hints that I needed to break up the femininity of the rest of the palette.

Stationery

Your wedding invitations are one of the first projects that we tackle under event design. The stationery sets the tone and can help to "brand" your wedding -- to give you a definable style and visual direction. For this suite, I asked Robin to explore a design that would feel playful and colourful, with clean, modern lines. I knew I wanted touches of colour, but a good amount of white space to balance out the full palette used elsewhere.

She suggested that we use a vellum outer envelope, to show off the flirty pieces inside, and also added a lot of visual interest through the use of different coloured stocks, the rounded edge, and a tall and narrow menu card and place setting on the table.

Florals

I planned two completely different sets of floral ingredients — a spring set (for my original shoot date), and a summer set. I lucked out with my August shoot date, because I was able to incorporate many of my favourite locally grown summer flowers!

Locally grown flowers have the BEST colour variations, with flecks and speckles that perfectly blend a palette and simply aren't possible with wholesale flowers.

The Tablescape

Full florals in the centre of the table, coloured taper and votive candles, gold-dipped flatware combined with clean, modern place settings…Designing a tablescape is all about layering together varied elements to create a unique, personalized look.

I wanted a clean, minimal base for all my colour, so the foundation of white linens with a white tulle topper was perfect.

The Cake

This cake!

I sent Jenna a really pathetic sketch, after having this idea of incorporating both hand-painted flowers and 3D sugar flowers that would move in from the outsides of the cake. I knew I wanted to create some sort of floral piece encircling the cake. I explained this haphazard idea to Jenna and she took it and made it 1 million percent better. This cake is so stunning! It felt fresh, unique, and playful.

The original plan for the cake was so different. This just goes to show you that sometimes, sitting on an idea and seeing where it goes can be a very good thing!

The same goes for your wedding planning: Don't feel like you need to make every decisions or have every answer at the same time.
Some ideas just need time to come together.

I’m so grateful to everyone who shared their talents to be a part of this editorial. I originally started brainstorming this before the first Covid shutdown, and at that point I was just going to focus on a tablescape. Esther suggested that I add a model, and I’m SO glad I followed her advice! One of my favourite details from this editorial was the ensembles created by Maison Corazon for the bride — they could not have been more perfect.

The way this entire project came together was so life-giving and exciting.

Esther Funk Photography ~ stone house creative ~ Planned Perfectly ~ C&T Rentals ~ Trend Rentals & Decor ~ Robin Egg blue design ~ Maison corazon ~ Jenna Rae Cakes ~ Jessica Kmiec Artistry ~ Beauty by B Fey ~ Prairie Clay ~ Mokada Custom Jewelry

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

Getting married in 2022? Appointments to plan your dream florals are now available. Click the button below to get started!

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!