DESIGNING YOUR COLOUR PALETTE

One of the first questions that any bride-to-be will hear from friends is, "What are your wedding colours?' And girls, let me tell you something awesome: gone are the days of picking one (maximum two!) colour, pairing it with white, and plastering that single shade everywhere. Let me tell you why this isn't a good idea: 

1) It's totally boring.
2) There is absolutely no life to the aesthetic side of your wedding.
3) If the various shades of that pre-determined colour don't match from item to item (ie. from invitation to flowers to tablecloths), then it's going to look like barf - and some colours are harder to find than others.

So, here's what I think you should do when designing your palette:

1) Select 2-3 main shades. Yep, 3. These are the colours that you're going to be using most often - stationery, bridal party attire, flowers, tablescapes, etc. 

2) Add in 2-3 complimentary colours, which coordinate with your main palette. These will be used as accents to tie the rest of your palette together, in smaller details: ribbons, place cards, table numbers, and so on. 

3) Add in a texture or two - this is what's really going to give your palette life! Whether you lean towards a metallic or love the whimsy of watercolour, want to bring the richness of velvet or prefer the organic, raw touch of linen, this texture is going to ensure that the rest of your colour palette and overall design actually make your aesthetic choices FEEL how you want them to. The texture is what will give your guests a tactile experience.

So go for it! Try on some major colour and see how much easier it's going to be to pull everything together. Some shades I'm craving right now? Burgundies with peach and a golden caramel, complimented with deep plum foliage, the softest pink, and the ever-popular metallic gold, and of course, lots of jewel-tone greeneries!

Need help with your palette? I also offer Event Design services for a limited number of weddings each year. I'd love to talk with you about your wedding! Shoot me an email at stonehouseweddings@gmail.com and we'll chat!

The Making of a Bridal Bouquet

This August, I was delighted to visit an amazing town in Atlanta, called Serenbe. I was there with my team at Once Wed, which is the other company I am delighted to work for - and brides, if you haven't already hit up Once Wed for wedding inspiration, do it now. I'm telling you, you won't regret this. Do it. Seriously!

Anyways, this little town is seriously perfect and provided a wonderful backdrop to play with flowers. My darling friends Linda and Stephanie and I took some time to play, and I love these images from Stephanie that show a bit of the behind-the-scenes making of a bouquet!

First, you clip some greenery from the neighbour's backyard...oops!

...And then you steal some of their hydrangea, too! If anyone in Winnipeg needs their hydrangea "pruned" during the summer, just call me. I will take care of that sucker for ya!

Studly Flowers

Studly flowers…sort of an oxymoron, right? Here's the thing: boutonnieres can be pretty dated and boring (and corsages as well, though the awfulness that some corsages can be is a whole other topic). I really hate boring boutonnieres. Why should they be anything other than awesome? Detailed boutonnieres are proof that even the smallest of details should be attended to in a special manner. I like to pull together different elements out of the bouquets to dress up a boutonniere. Oh, and one last thing - just like a tie finishes a man's look, so a touch of ribbon finishes up a boutonniere nicely. I'm sure you'll agree!

Top Photos: Heather Payne Photography
Bottoms Photos: Brittany Mahood Photography

Make a Statement

Your wedding bouquet should make a statement - this doesn't mean that you have to have a crazy bouquet making a crazy statement, but I think that a bride's wedding bouquet should be her absolute favourite accessory. It should emphasize your style - be it classic, elegant, modern, bohemian or whatever, one of the best ways that I love to make a statement with a bouquet is with gorgeous ribbon that perfectly completes your look. 

I personally have a love affair with ribbon. I have considered asking my husband for a ribbon budget instead of birthday presents (can I have both please, Chad?). Silk ribbon, grosgrain ribbon, striped ribbon, lace-edged ribbon…I love it all. Some people like it simple and tidy, some people like long, trailing streamers. Whatever your style, the way you wrap that bouquet completes your look.

I may or may not have gone a little overboard on this one. But the combination of velvets, silk, and the ribbed satin  was too much for me to resist. 

This scalloped ribbon is simple with a feminine style. It would look just as great as a tassel!

I absolutely loved using metallic glitter streams here along with the blush satin. It added such a sweet, feminine feel!

This natural muslin is a great texture to add in - and I've got it in a lot of colours!

Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography
Styling by Ashley Nicole Design
Florals by Stone House Creative

Trash the Dress Bouquet

It's not everyday that a bride trashes her dress - and in my mind, it should be no day that a bouquet gets trashed :) Anyways, earlier this summer the lovely Jennifer and Matt asked me to design a bouquet for their trash the dress session with kampphotography. There was a lot of rain on their actual wedding day, so they were looking forward to getting some beautiful photos without soggy weather.

For this bouquet, I needed to break the rules that I had made for myself. It's important to me that I always stretch and grow my skills and style, and when I started off making this bouquet it was classic and traditional. Then, I realized that I was super bored with what I had made. It was lovely and likely would have been perfect for someone else, but it just did not feel like me. So? I foraged in the back lane, popped in lavender and scabiosa from my garden, and created a much more interesting shape and colour gradation. Loved it in the end!

Ingredients: Garden roses, spray roses, astilbe, local sweet pea, lavender, scabiosa and nigella.