2020 and 2021 Wedding Flower and Decor Trends

Every year, I put together a “wish list;” concepts or ideas that I would love to play with or design more of for clients. What I love about doing this is that it makes it a bit easier to think on my feet during a consultation - I already have some great ideas in my back pocket, and if one of those ideas might be perfect for you, then I can suggest it right away. While I often talk about the big wedding flower and decor trends around engagement season, this year I want to highlight some of the design concepts on my wish list!

A Floral Nest

Oh, how sweet would it be to say your vows, take your newlywed portraits, or enjoy your first dinner as husband and wife completely surrounded by flowers? These nest styles have been popular for a few years, and I’ve been dying to give my take. I can imagine a truly stunning indoor ceremony completely brought to life by layer upon layer of flowers - maybe in the Oak Room at the Manitoba Club, or a more modern space at the new Convention Centre that’s just begging for some freshness?

Florals by Max Owens Design, Photo by Charla Storey

Classic Ceremony Urns

I’ll never get tired of designing a beautiful arch for a wedding ceremony, but once in a while it’s nice to do something a bit different. I love the option of popping a couple of big urns with seriously statement-making floral arrangements at the front or back of your aisle, and whether you want yours designed with a classic, rounded shape or something a little more asymmetrical and garden-inspired, I can make it happen!

Florals by Moss Floral, Planning by Lindsey Brunk, Photo by N Barrett

Florals by Sweet Root Village

Wow Factor Head Tables

A lot of my couples are asking for something DIFFERENT than greenery across the front of their head table, and I do not blame them one bit. Chances are, if you’ve been to a wedding in the last 5 years, greenery was spilled across the front of the head table. Now there’s a good reason for this - it looks good! But it’s time for a change. Let me have some fun 😁

Budget tip: if you want the wow factor, but you don’t have a wow budget, consider opting for a sweetheart table for the two of you, instead of a table for your entire bridal party. I can make a major statement with far fewer flowers on a table for 2 vs a table for 12!

All designs below by Fairmaven Floral, who does a stunning job of wow factor head tables!

Modern Event Design

Have you seen Justin and Hailey Bieber’s wedding? (Never thought I’d mention them on my blog, lol!) Their wedding is the perfect example of modern event design done well: a crisp, neutral palette, black accents, repeated smaller floral arrangements in a modern style (please, please send your mason jars to the thrift store!), and nothing that feels cold or overly “glam” (that’s right, I don’t want to see a single crystal or blingy bit anywhere). I’d love a palette of black/nude/blush or black/blush/berry and I’m bringing in some gorgeous smoke glass candle holders that I know some of you are going to LOVE.

Siren Floral Co; Pinterest; Planning by Mindy Weiss, Floral by Mark’s Garden, Photo by Jose Villa; Floral Design by Blush & Bloom, Planning by Baum Event Company, Photos by Purple Tree Photography;

Scaled Back Bridal Bouquets

We’re seeing a gradual decline in the oversized, massive wedding bouquets that have been requested over the last 5 years. Now I’ll always love a big, juicy bouquet, but I’m totally on board with this trend for a few reasons: with a smaller bouquet you can show off your dress (and your waist!) more, your arms won’t be exhausted, and your flowers will feel a little more timeless. We’re still designing in a garden-inspired aesthetic, but a little sleeker in shape and texture - less of the wide, horizontally designed bouquets and more slightly manicured shapes.

Centrepieces that Require ACTUAL Floral Design

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that we are actually florists, with skill that sets us apart. Why? Because it can feel like people don’t value floral design. Now I understand that everyone values different things and that’s perfectly fine - and this is a different conversation for another day. But floral design is an art form, a living custom art form using perishable product - there is no chance that two floral arrangements can EVER be exactly the same, even if they have the exact same types of flowers and the exact same number of stems. And you know what this FLORAL DESIGNER wants to do? Actually design floral arrangements. lol! Greenery has its place, and I know it’s been trendy for a few years…but simply tucking greenery in and around some candles isn’t exactly art (which is not to say that anyone and everyone can do it, and make it look nice). If you appreciate floral centrepieces and you know that you want to place a gorgeous piece of living art on your wedding tables, I’d suggest budgeting from $125 - $175 per table for us to create something that looks remotely like the $500 arrangement you’ve saved on your Pinterest board 😂

Floral design by me, photo by Kayla Barker Photography

Warm Toned Colour Palettes

Whether you’re looking for a neutral palette or something a little more bold and colourful, I’m gravitating towards warmer undertones. This might mean a golden mustard accent to a mauve/purple palette, a base of taupe to an otherwise all-white palette, or camel tones added in with corals and rich greens. All of the pictures below are giving me SERIOUS inspo that I cannot get out of my head!

Florals by White Oak Floral CO, Photo by Purple Tree Photography

Florals by Siren Floral Co; Sweet Root Village

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The Wonderful Wedding Show is coming up this weekend! I won’t be there, but some of my flowers will be :) You’ll be able to see some of these trends in action.

Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?

2021 wedding dates are now booking! I might be 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! 

What's the Actual Cost of a Bridal Bouquet? Late Summer Boho Bouquet Breakdown

I’m often asked by brides-to-be on Instagram about the cost of a particular wedding flower arrangement that I’ve posted. I won’t lie - I often don’t hear back from those inquiries.

I can’t always give specific pricing because it’s not necessarily relevant to the inquiring bride’s date, or flower requests, or it might not be appropriate to share what an actual couple has invested in their flowers, so I generally give price ranges that someone might expect. For reference, my bridal bouquets start at $225 and often come in between $225 - $250. Couples who are attracted to my work generally fall within a similar design style (garden-inspired, romantic, floral-heavy), and that means incorporating certain types of flowers that start at a higher price point - garden roses, peonies, ranunculus are all examples. I wrote an entire blog series on wedding flower costs in Manitoba and if you want to know more, you can read that here!

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So, with all that said, I wanted to break down this actual bridal bouquet that I designed for a photo shoot at Manitoba Club in late August. I’ll be sharing the full shoot soon, so consider this a sneak peek!

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients

Zinnias*
Lisianthus*
Garden Roses
Cosmos*
Amaranthus*
Gardenia Foliage
Acacia Foliage
Lunaria

*Denotes locally grown here in Manitoba - yay!

Bridal Bouquet Cost: $285

You‘ll probably ask, what makes this bouquet $285? Like I said, most of my bridal bouquets come in between $225 - $250, and this one incorporates a lot of the typical types of blooms that I’m drawn to: garden roses as a focal flower, lisianthus and zinnias are the perfect secondary flowers (truly some of the best locally grown flowers available - they’re just totally delish!), and a few varieties of greenery.

You’ll be surprised to find out that one of the most expensive part of this bouquet is actually the lunaria - the unique, silvery white flat seed pods popping out here and there. I only included 3 stems - for a total of $45! I’m sure all of you would agree that they’re totally stunning, but even so, I doubt most of my clients would feel really strongly about including a few stems into their bouquets when they find out the cost.

On the other hand, the garden roses are also pricey but they play a more important role: garden roses are a more impressive and immediately noticed focal flower, and they really create the foundation of this colour palette. These garden roses come in at $18/stem, and with 7 stems in the bouquet, make for a total of $126 - just shy of half of the cost of the bouquet.

I also designed a couple of corresponding boutonnieres, a ceremony space, a completed reception tablescape, and some other accents (like a cute lounge and bar set up!), but you’ll have to wait to see the rest!

Vendors:
Planning and Venue: Manitoba Club Weddings ~ Photography: Black and Gold ~ Florals and Design: Stone House Creative ~ Linens and Chairs: Planned Perfectly ~ Stationery: Little Dove Calligraphy ~ Rentals: Trend Decor ~ Cake: Cake Studio ~ Dress: Bliss Bridal Boutique ~ Suit: EPH Apparel ~ Makeup and Hair: Fifth | Makeup: What’s Her Face Beauty | Hair: Hair by Abs

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Hire a Talented Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg

2021 wedding dates will be opened in the new year, and in the meantime, you can get on my waitlist! Couples interested in full event and floral design will be contacted first about their dates. I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!

The Number 1 Thing You Can Do To Get The Best Wedding Flowers Possible

Want to know the number 1 thing you can do to get the best wedding flowers possible? It’s actually really easy, and it has nothing to do with how much money you spend:

Give your floral designer some flexibility.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Maybe a little too easy to actually be the answer? It’s not - I promise.

Here’s the thing: when you work in the wedding industry, obviously you work a LOT of weddings. Depending on the year, I’ll take anywhere form 25 - 60 weddings. And the other thing about weddings is that they are very trend-focused, and trends are very cyclical. Thanks to wedding blogs and Pinterest, everyone getting married sees the exact same things and is inspired by them. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this - at the end of the day, when you’re happily married and loving life with your new spouse, all I want is for you to have loved your wedding day. But at the end of my day…I can get bored. 😬And I feel a little guilty for saying it out loud.

But hear me out: if I design florals for, say, 50 weddings a year, I can almost guarantee that about 1/2 of them will want basically the exact same things as each other - and that is the LAST thing that I want. I want you to love your flowers, and maybe you’d love pretty much anything that I give you! But I also want your flowers to be uniquely designed, for you. And when 50% of my clients bring in the exact same inspiration pictures, it gets pretty challenging for me to come up with unique combinations and ideas that will make your wedding flowers different than the rest.

So here’s what I’m suggesting: Give your floral designer some flexibility, and we’ll be in a much better position to design a gorgeous, creative, unique floral design for you. Bring us those inspiration pictures, yes, because we want to get a really good feel for what you like and what you’re drawn to (whether you’re aware of it or not! I love finding commonalities between a bride/groom’s inspiration pictures) - and then once we’ve looked at those together, say the magic words: “I’d love to hear your suggestions!”

We’ve always got ideas and things that we want to do. I keep a running “wish list” every year, of ideas I have and designs I have been dreaming up in my head and want to bring to life. Your wedding might just be the perfect place to create one of those floral designs, but if I don’t get the feeling that you’re open to ideas, I might not pitch it to you.

Here are some of my favourite things I’ve created when I felt like I had the client’s permission to be a little flexible:

These pictures are examples of designs that I had been dreaming about in my head and were on my “wish list" - so when those clients asked me for ideas, I was ready!

Somewhat coincidental that these were all at Cielo’s Garden…but not really. If you’re planning to open a venue, do your floral designers a favour and build a space that’s really easy to work and design in!
Left and middle photos by Ariana Tennyson, Right by my super iphone skills 😂

With this head table design at Pine Ridge Hollow, I had full creative control from the beginning. Meredith loved the idea of something over the head table, because she really wanted the wedding to feel as outdoors and garden-inspired as possible. She didn’t care what I did as long as it tied with the rest of the florals. I had so much fun coming up with this concept!
Photos by Camryn Elizabeth Weddings

These are all examples of playing with colour palette. I LOVE working with an interesting colour palette - whether it’s muted but layered, or vibrant and bold - I just feel like a great palette brings everything else to life.

First, you’ll see a fairly traditional white and blush bouquet - in weddings, we get asked for this palette a lot. I suggested that we add in the smallest caramel and raisin accents in the way of foliages. It’s still obviously a blush and white bouquet, and the accent colours don’t compete with that palette at all, but the additional touches add a little something extra.

Next up, this peach and coral number which I LOVED. This was a fall wedding, and I loved being able to compose this bouquet with a lot of peach hues, tucking in coral and orange. I also layered in some mauve and plum blooms deep into the bouquet, which provided unexpected depth and really set off the peach. Photo by Jaclyn Leskiw Photography.

Third, a more interesting take on neutrals. Why go all white when you can add in some very soft sandy tones for a little warmth? Depending on your overall wedding style, your venue, your dress - something like this could take your bouquet from just another white bouquet to a really well-designed statement. Photo by Almond Leaf Studios.

Finally, a delicious berry tone palette. I did a bit of colour blocking to make specific flowers and sections of the bouquet stand out. Any time a client asks me for something like this palette, I’m going to just eat it up :) Photo by Izabela Rachwal.

And I’ll wrap it up with two more colour palettes that I LOVED and that show you two very different ways of using colour. On the left, Lauda asked for a really vibrant palette that would fit with their late summer garden wedding. I used a lot of locally grown flowers and I loved the boldness of it. And on the right, Stephanie and I chose a more earth-tones palette of terracotta and sandy tones, with the accent of the lavender. Both of these are out-of-the-norm colour palettes that aren’t really muted AT ALL, and through comparing them you can see that you can go many, many different ways with colour.
Left by Sugar & Soul Photography; Right by Ariana Tennyson.

So bring your ideas to your floral designer, and then say those magic words: “I’d love to hear your suggestions!”

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Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?

Whether you’re planning a whimsical garden-inspired celebration or a formal ballroom fete, I think flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Maybe you already have a specific vision or you might want me to dream up something custom just for you - either way, 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!

Now booking 2020 weddings. Limited dates are still available.

The Modern, Garden Style Cascading Bouquet

2018 was definitely the year of cascading bouquets for me! We’ve been seeing a bit of a resurgence of the cascade shape for a little while now, but with a looser, more garden style than the horrendous pointy triangle bouquets of the 80s and 90s. I thought I’d share a little about this style of bouquet in case it’s something that interests you!

Photos by Casey Nolin Photography

1) To get the more organic, garden-inspired shape, these are handtied bouquets. In the past (and some older-school florists still do it this way), cascade bouquets were always designed in a bouquet holder. This is essentially a plastic handle that has a little cup at the end where a chunk of Oasis sits, for the flowers to be inserted into. I try to use Oasis/floral foam as little as humanly possible, as it’s terrible for the environment and is essentially plastic - and a carcinogenic! Yuck! I certainly don’t want you carrying around a bouquet that has the potential to make you sick. I also don’t think that the plastic holders are very comfortable to carry - they’ve always hurt my hands. I’d rather you hold onto the stems!

Photos by Charmaine Mallari

2) Because I don’t use a bouquet holder, it means that I need to use a LOT of stems to create the bouquet. So, not only is your bouquet going to be a little more expensive, it’s also likely to be pretty heavy. That might get a little annoying on the wedding day, but your biceps are going to look awesome in photos ;) Some florists will wire the flower heads to alleviate some of the weight, but with our super hot summers, I’m always a little worried that those flowers aren’t going to make it if they have no chance of being popped back into water throughout the day.

Photos by Sugar and Soul Photography

3) You’ll have to carry your bouquet slightly differently than you would with a traditional handtied bouquet. You can tell from some of these pictures that the bride’s hands are angled a little differently - the bouquet is in front of her like normal, but her hands are angled so the bouquet hangs down in front. I cut the stems as short as I can to allow for this to be as easy as possible for the bride, as you’ll want to hug the stems as close to your body as possible. This is really the one benefit of using a bouquet holder, as far as I’m concerned - the holder is designed to make it easy to design the bouquet’s shape, but the negatives outweigh that. So, angled hands you’ll have!

Photos by Sugar and Soul Photography

4) I have to be really specific about the flower and greenery types that I use. I like to use a few focal flowers, as I would normally, but then I’m also looking for stems that naturally have a vertical line or a curved line, to help create that cascade shape. And of course, vines and trailing greenery are a must to make the shape!

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Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?

My 2020 waitlist has already been started, and couples interested in full event and floral design will be contacted first about their dates. I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!

How to Take the Best Care of Your Wedding Flowers

Once in a while, I’ll read complaints on a Facebook group or something of the like of wedding flowers not lasting throughout a wedding day. So, here are some tips on how to take the BEST care of your wedding flowers!

Before I get too far into this, it really comes down to using common sense: remember that flowers are live things, and treat them as such. If you throw your bouquet around, the delicate petals will be damaged. If you leave it out of water on a hot day, it will wilt. If you leave it in an unheated car when it’s below zero, it will freeze. Think of flowers like skin, except those petals are even more delicate and they don’t have the ability to regenerate themselves!

Keep The Flowers Hydrated

After delivery or pick up of flowers, it is the client’s responsibility to keep flowers hydrated throughout the day to maintain freshness. Place bouquets into their water sources throughout the day to allow for hydration (I always deliver my bouquets in vases to give them the best chance). In hot weather, flowers should be kept out of direct sunlight as much as possible, which will cause them to wilt. Some flower varieties are more prone to wilting than others, and if you’re getting married in the heat of summer, there’s just honestly very little that we can do to protect those fragile blooms. Generally, keeping them in water and out of heat will be your best bet!

Think About The Temperature

In cold temperatures, flowers should not be exposed to air below or around freezing. Flowers will be delivered with a plastic covering; keep this closed over the flowers any time they are outside. Do not leave flowers in an unheated vehicle. Flowers will freeze and brown when exposed to freezing air - and note that this includes air conditioners! Last year I had a photographer friend text me a photo of a bouquet (not one of mine) to ask what happened to it, so she could try to help the bride. The white flowers had completely browned and gone mushy. I asked where it was placed - the photographer told me that the couple had picked up the flowers from their florist the night previous to the wedding, and they had left them right in front of the air conditioner. As much as we do want to keep the flowers cool, the air coming out of an air conditioner is often too cold when it’s directly on the flowers, and that poor bouquet froze. Once a flower is frozen, there is no going back!

One bummer about temperature is that we can rarely control it. This includes your venue! The first week that the heat goes on in the fall often ends up with the venue being SUPER hot. I hate to say it, but there’s just nothing I can do to combat the inevitable wilt of some of your flowers under that blowing heat. A few years ago, I had a winter wedding where the ballroom must have been at least 26 degrees Celcius - in other words, it was smoking hot. I think their plan was to warm up the room quickly so that they could turn down the heat once guests arrived, but of course that plays a major impact on the flowers. I was running around the room making sure that every stem was in water and replacing some stems that had already started wilting, but there was nothing beyond that that I could do. Tent weddings often have a similar situation - I would recommend that if you’re having a tent wedding, ask your venue coordinator or wedding coordinator to open up the side panels to allow for as much air flow as possible. There’s nothing like a dank heat settling in a tent to create that oppressive greenhouse effect that cut flowers do not often thrive in.

Travel Safely

One of the weirdest wedding mornings I’ve ever had was when the bride’s father came to pick up her bridal party flowers…with a full car. And it wasn’t just that there were dress bags or something in the backseat - it was full of PEOPLE. Like, there was literally no room in the car for the flowers. I asked him what his plan was, and he promptly popped the trunk. PEOPLE. Trunks are not air-conditioned, nor are they safe for something fragile to be bouncing around in. Please, please, please do not put your flowers in your trunk if you care about them at all! I told him there was no way he could do this and I suggested the people in the backseat hold the flowers on their laps (luckily, it was a very small order of just bridal party bouquets).

Now I know that on a wedding day, you’re rarely staying in one place all day long. You’re probably hopping into a limo to go off-site for photos at some point, and that’s perfectly fine! I deliver my bouquets in long cardboard boxes that are quite sturdy, and then packed really well with tons of paper in between the vases. The easiest thing you can do it just pop the bouquets back into their vases, have one person pick up each end of the box, and slide it into the vehicle. No trunks :) Do not leave flowers in a closed, un-air-conditioned vehicle.

Minimize The Flower Timeline

That’s a weird way of wording it, but if you’re facing a really hot day or you’re just worried about the longevity of the flowers, don’t have me deliver your bouquets at 8 am. If all of your pictures are taking place between the ceremony and reception, I can deliver your bouquets to you shortly before you leave for the ceremony location, which means that they’ll be able to stay in my cooler for longer! Most photographers don’t care to have the flowers in every photo, anyways, so you won’t need them all day long.

Similarly, opt to have the flowers picked up or delivered on the day of the wedding as much as possible, and not the day before. Rarely does this happen in my business, and usually only when the wedding is out of town so I understand that sometimes we need to make an exception and have the flowers picked up the day before. But generally, I do my very best to avoid this! Again, the longer they can stay in my cooler, the better for the flowers.

Keep Flowers Out Of Harm’s Way

What is in “harm’s way,” you might ask? Pets, curious little kids, overbearing mothers or wedding coordinators... Some pets will have a tendency to sniff a little too closely or even try to take a bite out of a bouquet. Little kids might tear through the getting ready space and knock a bouquet down, or get their hands right into the flowers and rip apart those fragile petals (though I will say, the ring bearer at one of my weddings this year tried to eat a flower out of his mom’s bouquet while she carried him down the aisle, and it was adorable). The occasional mom or wedding coordinator will think they know best and attempt to “perfect” the piece that’s already been perfected by your designer. At the shop I used to work at, we once had a wedding coordinator (truth be told, she was NOT a professional wedding coordinator, but someone the family knew who was a little overly bossy and wanted to be involved) who called us to re-make a bouquet 3 times on the morning of the wedding. Why? Because she thought that the petals weren’t perfect enough, and picked off all of the “damaged” petals - aka she made the bouquet bald, twice, before learning her lesson. Luckily, a retail shop often has enough leftovers to re-make a bouquet and we made it work for that bride but we had to tell the coordinator HANDS OFF!

The most important thing to me is that your flowers look beautiful on the day of the wedding. My job is to make sure each bloom is at it’s very peak on the day of, and in most flower varieties, they look their absolute best shortly before they die. Of course I would LOVE for your flowers to last a week after your wedding, and very often they do - but the after isn’t what matters the most.

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Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?

My 2020 waitlist has already been started, and couples interested in full event and floral design will be contacted first about their dates. I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!

All photos in this post by Charmaine Mallari Photography.