Beach Engagement Session with Full Floral Crown
Not every girl can pull off a big, full flower crown. Jessica certainly can! I made this lush crown for her for her beach engagement session with Andrei, and it was sort of a trial run for her wedding day, to make sure that she liked the way the flower crown looked and felt on her.
A large flower crown like this can be challenging - I'm always worried that it's going to cast a shadow on the bride's face, and take all the attention in a photo. I want to see a bride's face in her photos! But, these images from Kampphotography of Jessica and Andrei were just beautiful!
By the way, I just love engagement or wedding photos at the beach! For Jessica and Andrei it was the perfect spot, as they love to spend time at the lake. But no matter where you vacation, beaches are a beautiful backdrop for photos. The calming colour palette of watery blues, stone greys, and sand, the endless shoreline...it's photo gold!
More from their wedding day coming soon :)
Christine and Brent's Wedding at The Gates on Roblin
Christine's bridal bouquet was one of my absolute favourites of the year! It was just so much fun to put together. I chose so many fantastic flowers for her, and she loved everything ruffly and girly. It was such a pleasure to be a part of this wedding! Oh, and seriously - not that I need to point it out because I'm sure that every one will already see it...but how hot is this bridal party!? Special thank you to Curtis from Moore Photography for the great images!
PS An extra special congratulations to Christine and Brent whose next big adventure is parenthood!
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: peonies, garden roses, ranunculus, spray roses, astilbe, Queen Anne's Lace, baby's breath, and eucalyptus.
Photos: Moore Photography ~ Linens: Planned Perfectly ~ Venue: The Gates on Roblin
Christine found a really cute assortment of white lanterns, which we accented with a simple greenery wreath and a few pops of light pink floral.
Wedding Event Design 3.0 - Designing a Beautiful Ceremony Space
Over this last year, my favourite thing to design has definitely become a gorgeous ceremony space, and I've found this to be a really major part of the event design process.
Sometimes, despite the intimate words that are spoken during the ceremony, I find that the setting still feels impersonal. Chances are pretty good that the place where you're saying your vows wasn't built just for the two of you -- most likely, countless other couples have gotten married there, too. There's no problem with that at all, but it does mean that we have to work a little harder to make the space feel personalized to the two of you.
So, I aim to design a space for the two of you - maybe it's defined by an installation hanging above the two of you, or I create something to mark around the space where you'll say your vows. Maybe I can incorporate plenty of foliage and flowers to create a piece that appears that it's been growing there for years, enveloping you in it's secret garden-esque feel. I love getting my hands dirty here, working with more than just flowers and foliage! I'm not afraid to get out the power tools and build something, either!
Crafting a space that allows the couple to feel grounded and connected, a place that allows them to cherish each other and remind themselves of the focus of the day, is such a special opportunity and one that I love to have.
Video made by Prairie Film Co.
Below are some examples of different ceremony spaces that I've designed, all in the beautiful chapel at Cielo's Garden, but each feels different. I want my couples to know that I'm going to get creative and inventive for them, designing something different for them than they've seen before or different from what their friends have had. I'm working on some incredible designs for the same space next year, and can't wait for them to become real!
Photo by Pantel Photography / Designing this piece was one of the happiest projects of my wedding season this year!
Photo by Simply Rosie Photography / Loved bringing a garden feel indoors here.
Photo by Rachwal Photography / I was so happy when the bride told me butterflies were attracted to the flowers throughout the ceremony!
Photo by Keila Marie Photography / Designed with Amanda Douglas Events
Photo by Victoria Anne Photography / Setting designed by bride with Stone House flowers
Photo by Mackenzie Jean Photography / I collected the branches to build this piece for months!
If you'd like me to create a beautiful ceremony space for you, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Jungle-Inspired Dinner Party
Man, am I ever late on blogging this amazing dinner party! Early this spring, Emily from Feast & Festivities contacted me about a dinner party she was planning. She wanted to do something different - an industrial jungle theme it was!
I know that most people don't want to spend a fortune on decor for a dinner party, so Emily's idea was to use simple, jungle-esque greenery to pop on the table. It's a great idea - it doesn't take up a lot of space, provides a rich pop of colour, and is so simple to do! using different heights and sizes of cylinder vases, along with different types of tropical leaves, created a varied look with lots of interest. Emily also crafted some really cute DIYs and a signature cocktail called the "Jungle Rumble." Get her top tips for hosting a great dinner party on her site, here!
See more from this dinner party featured on Host Winnipeg!
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.
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.