Erika and Marcus' Stunning Winter Wedding
Working with Erika was a dream! To start, she hired the wonderful ladies at Soiree Event Planning and they were full of fabulous ideas. When we started working on her floral plan, Erika didn't know what she wanted. She'd been over a few ideas already and couldn't seem to figure out what she wanted. Sometimes this makes it easier, and sometimes this makes it harder -- in Erika's case, it took us a few tries to get it right, and once we came up with a great plan, it was full steam ahead. And with direction from Soiree, their winter day was truly stunning. It was all the more special to me because this was my first completed solo wedding! I just love these gorgeous photos courtesy of Victoria Anne Photography.
A Quick Preview
The last three weeks have been very exciting for Stone House! I completed my first three weddings in back to back weekends, each of which was totally beautiful in its own right but also completely different from the last. From a stunning white, green and gold evening at the Manitoba Club, to a candlelit reception at the Fort Garry Club with a lot of very chilly Southerners in attendance, to an all-white winter wedding in the country, it's been a great month.
I'm looking forward to sharing more, but here is a quick shot of Stephanie's bridal bouquet from the lovely Kat Willson Photography. This entire day was just lovely (and frigid) and I can't wait to see the film captured of the beautiful bride!
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.
Connecting with your Vendors
I cannot stress enough how important it is that you connect with your vendors - especially those who are working on the aesthetic elements of your day (florist, decorator, stationery designer) - but I'm serious when I mean that you should connect with ALL your vendors.
I'm not saying that you need to become best friends with them. What I am saying is that you should have a fundamental respect for what they do and get along well with them. When you're meeting with your vendors for the first time, consider how much you actually like them - it's important to like their work, yes. But it's just as important to like them as well. Why? They'll be taking care of you on this really big, important day. I can't emphasize how much you especially need to get along with your photographer - he or she will be there the WHOLE time. If he irritates you, guess what you're going to remember from your day?
There's another layer when it comes to the vendors who deal with the visual components of your day, like your florist. A few weeks ago, I met with a bride who had a really hard time communicating to me what she was looking for, but because of the connection that we had, I could say "I've got you!" and she knew that it was true. Her stress just melted away. You shouldn't be concerned about making sure your florist "gets" your style or what you want to do - if she connects with you and you with her, it's going to work out! There have also been a few times when a bride and I just can't get on the same page, and I've had to tell her that I'm just not the right floral designer for her. I can pretty much guarantee that the florist/event planner/designer that has you stressed out and constantly feeling the need to oversee is the one who's not going to do the best job for you.
Still looking for your florist or event designer? I have limited availability throughout June - October of 2015, but lots of spring dates are still available! Shoot me an email if you want to talk - stonehouseweddings@gmail.com. Can't wait to talk with you!
Photo by Victoria Anne Photography for the upcoming Wed Prep Workshop, which you should definitely attend! :)