Wedding Event Design 2.0 - The Reception (and the Frequently Made Mistakes by Brides & Wedding Planners)

When we talk about overall event design and decor planning for a wedding, most of our attention is focused on the reception. This is where you spend the most amount of time, and the most amount of money, so it makes sense to focus on the way your reception looks and feels!

Here are the two biggest mistakes I see brides make (and event wedding planners or decorators!) when it comes to planning their wedding decor: 

1) Not paying attention to the venue and what suits it. 
Every space has a particular style. The architect or interior designer have purposely made decisions to create an overall aesthetic, and when it comes to wedding venues, these aesthetic details are often VERY obvious, and sometimes "theme-y." This might be in style or in colour palette. For example: say you've chosen to have your wedding at a rustic barn. Guess what doesn't belong here? Mod white leather chairs. Crystals and bling. Formal linens and draping. It just doesn't GO. That doesn't meant that there isn't a place for those things; it just means that there isn't a place for these things at YOUR wedding. And that's okay!

Here's another example: we've all walked into venues with carpet, and thought, "what the heck were they thinking with this carpet!?" You know what's way worse than that gold-and-maroon patterned carpet? Textured coral table linens with whimsical light blue flowers on top of that gold and maroon carpet. Guys: pay attention to the space! Maybe gold and maroon aren't your favourite colours - but if you've chosen this venue for your wedding, then your overall event design is going to look the best if you find a way to incorporate the venue's colouring into your wedding's colour palette. 

In the same way, notice the most beautiful aspects of your venue and highlight them with your event design choices. Is there a gorgeous fireplace? Position your head table in front or beside it. Is there a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows that let in beautiful natural light? Don't ever think of covering those up with draping! 

Pay attention to the characteristics, limitations, and features of your venue. 

2) Paying too much attention to Pinterest. 
I recently sat down with a bride and her wedding planner to talk about her wedding flowers. Both the planner and I cringed (inwardly, of course!) when the bride mentioned one specific Pinterest trend that she thought she might like to incorporate (in this case, it was baby's breath - and lots of it). After we explained that it was becoming a very tired trend, nor did it really fit with her personal style in any way, she mentioned: "I guess I saw baby's breath on Pinterest a year ago when I first started planned my wedding, and I think it must have just been starting to be stylish then." This was really interesting to me, because baby's breath started to resurge in 2011! All this to say: remember that when you see something "new" on Pinterest or on wedding blogs, at least 10,000 other brides-to-be are seeing the EXACT SAME THING. That means that anything trending on Pinterest is not in the least bit unique or personalized to you and your style. That's not to say that Pinterest doesn't have its merits, though!

Here's the thing about those pretty little details and touches that you see on Pinterest or on wedding blogs: they're so pretty because they were first designed with one specific, incredible couple in mind. I very firmly believe that a unique design does not come from already completed weddings. If you hope to have a wedding that looks and feels unique to you, then we need to start fresh, WITHOUT Pinterest.  

A large part of the wedding event design process is focused on the reception design. How can we make your wedding look and feel amazing? What are the important things to consider? How can your wedding be unique?

So what next? If the way your wedding looks and feels is important to you, but you're struggling to figure out what to do or how to make it happen, connect with me. I'd love to help! I get a serious high from working alongside you to design a beautiful, personal, and fun wedding experience. 

PS I loved working with Prairie Film Co on this video. If you're looking for an amazing wedding videographer, contact them ASAP.

Beautiful Ideas for Floral Wedding Cakes

Confession: I didn't have a cake at my wedding. Instead, we went for a dessert buffet that was entirely chocolate-themed, and that worked for us. But, that meant that we didn't get to have anything as beautiful as these wedding cakes commanding our guests' attention. I love using fresh flowers on wedding cakes - we can use them to create such gorgeous designs and bring depth and life to a cake table. Here are some of my favourites!

Photo by Kayla Barker from the Bows & Arrows workshop; cake by Sugar Bee Sweets.

This one is hands-down my favourite: a simple cake design accented by an amazing amount of florals. This floral wreath at the base of the cake is absolutely stunning: peonies, pieris, frittilaria, roses, lisianthus, scabiosa, and bleeding heart. I seriously want to do a floral wreath at the base of EVERY. SINGLE. WEDDING. CAKE. 

Photo by Moore Photography, cake by Chocolate Zen.

Christine combined this cute calligraphy-inspired cake topper with a floral accent. Ivy stems, a spotlight garden rose, a few ranunculus blooms, and some baby's breath perfectly tied together her bridal bouquet, centrepieces and the cake!

Photo by Kat Willson Photography

I LOVE a good buttercream cake. Touches of floral accent the tiers of this simple buttercream cake in a sweet, simple way that also brought a bold pop of colour.

Photo by Gabrielle Touchette Photography, cake by Laugh Love Cakes, planning by Feast & Festivities.

Emily from Feast & Festivities had a fantastic vision for this baby shower cake. It was dripping in yellow (white) chocolate and Kayla from Laugh Love Cakes added fresh orange ranunculus and red alstroemeria with plenty of foliage to create a fun, vibrant, and kid-friendly design. I loved it!

Photo by Rachwal Photography, Cake by High Tea Bakery

This wedding had an elegant feel, so I really liked working with High Tea Bakery to add these floral touches to a buttercream cake. Marsala toned roses with touches of blue eryngium and blush spray roses created a really pretty effect!

Photo by Pantel Photography, Cakes by Laugh Love Cakes

I LOVE this sweet display of naked cakes (that's what it's called when there isn't a ton of icing on the cake...see? They're naked!). Kayla from Laugh Love Cakes baked up this beautiful assortment of cakes and all I did was leave her a bunch of flowers and greenery to play with. I love that each is a little different!

What is Event Design, and What Does it Have to Do With Weddings?

What is event design? Good question - it's one that a lot of brides ask me as the whole category of "wedding event design" isn't something that's really moved north of the border yet!

Photo: Brittany Mahood Photography Stationery: Keeks Paper Co, Design: Stone House Creative

Think of me as an interior designer for your wedding: I don't build the house, but I make it look and feel good. Reeeeallly good. As an architect has to figure out which walls are supporting and where to put the plumbing, so a wedding planner deals with logistics (budgets, guest counts, timelines, etc). So, as an interior designer helps a house become a home, so an event designer helps a couple to create a vision for their wedding that is unique, considerately planned, and thoughtfully styled and executed in a personal way. Through the event design process, I deal with the way your wedding looks and feels. 

I love taking all of the bits and pieces that a couple has imagined and lend my experienced eye to bring it together into a cohesive, well-designed event. Developing your style, figuring out what it is that will make your day special, unique and personal, and then pulling together all of the vendors who will be a part of that - linens and decor rentals, lighting, stationery, cake design - is all part of the process.

I very firmly believe that a unique design does not come from already produced work. Rather than spend hours scrolling through Pinterest to see what every other bride has already done, I'm going to walk with your through your venue, pointing out the best parts of it and the areas that we want to minimize. We're going to talk about the best floor plan options, and determine how we can use lighting strategically to enhance the atmosphere. I'm going to take your favourite colours and expand them into a cohesive palette that evokes a specific mood. I'm going to help you communicate this vision to your wedding vendor team: linens, stationery, decor rentals, lighting, and so on - anything that's visual plays a big part! And yes, I'll help you find those perfect vendors, too :) I'll be there on the day of your wedding to oversee your set up, ensuring that everything is going according to our visual plan.

Even better, as a floral designer, I'm the perfect person to trust your event design to. Flowers are a huge part of overall wedding event design - even if you want minimal florals - and I love the way that these two aspects of wedding planning come together and merge to help you create an amazing celebration.

If this resonates with you, then I'd love to connect with you. If you're already one of my floral brides, it's not too late to add event design on. I can work with what you've already got planned, or we can scrap it all if you want to. Or, if you're just starting out in the planning process, then this is the perfect time to bring me on board. 

Event design is about designing beyond the flowers. To me, a beautiful event isn't one that has every single little detail that Pinterest shows you, but rather a wedding where the design components are considerately planned, and thoughtfully styled and executed in a personal way.

PS I loved working with Prairie Film Co on this video. If you're looking for an amazing videographer for your wedding, then check them out ASAP. 

Kaeleigh and Craig's Berry Toned Wedding at Bridges Golf Course

GUYS. Any time you tell me that you want berry tones, or any kind of rich and vibrant colour palette, I'm going to get seriously excited. When we started planning Kaeleigh's flowers, she pulled out a stack of paint colour swatches to show me the vibrancy and pigmentation that she wanted. I LOVED it. Magenta, plum, raspberry, lilac, fuchsia, and a delicate touch of blush combined to create just the most perfect colour palette for a summertime wedding (and worked beautifully with her soft blush gown!).

SERIOUSLY. Am I right, or am I right? I looked forward to designing this bouquet for a long time :) Kaeleigh's bridal bouquet featured stock, anemones, locally grown ranunculus, spray roses, several varieties of standard roses, and my favourite - delicious, rich foxglove. The reception was held at Bridges Golf Course, where I added colour to the tables with wreaths and lanterns. 

Special thank you to Izabela from Rachwal Photography - she's awesome! If you're looking for a wedding photographer, look her up!

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Faith roses, Morisca Roses, Blueberry roses, stock, foxglove, ranunculus, anemones, spray roses, Italian Ruscus, and silver dollar eucalyptus.

Fiesta Garden Party Wedding with Amanda Douglas Events

This was another of the fun wedding inspiration designs that I got to be a part of through the Wedding Planners Styled Editorial I organized with Host Winnipeg at Cielo's Garden. 

Amanda Douglas Events conceptualized a fun, modern, fiesta-inspired garden party. I've really been desiring bright, bold colours and the way Amanda used bright tones mixed with natural textures and coloured glass was so much fun. 

Photos: Victoria Anne Photography | Event Design: Amanda Douglas Events | Floral Design: Stone House Creative | Venue: Cielo's Garden | Bridal Gown: Bliss Bridal Boutique | Makeup: Makeup Expressions by Rimpal | Hair: Krystle Taylor | Model: Vanessa Kolthof

Bridal bouquet ingredients: magenta peonies, several varieties of pink garden roses, cool water roses, hot pink ranunculus, butter yellow stock, blue cornflower and delphinium, light pink larkspur, purple sweet pea, and purple wax flower.