2018's Top Wedding Colours
Trying to narrow down your wedding colour palette? Maybe you've got an idea of one main tone you like or what colour you want your bridesmaids to wear, but can't decide on accent colours. Well, I'm here to help with my predictions for the top wedding colours of 2018.
Forget ultra-violet (to be honest, I don't usually like the "colour of the year" that Pantone chooses). The top wedding colours for 2018 will be all in the dusty tones. Dusty rose, mauve, cornflower blue, even a butter yellow. Here are some of my favourite go-to dusty toned flowers!
Dusty Rose
Dusty rose is probably the most commonly requested colour I'm seeing for 2018 weddings. It's a bit deeper than the blush palettes of the past few wedding seasons, but still very much in line with the romantic trends we've been working with. The good news? For those of you want dusty rose, there are PLENTY of really good floral options.
Above, we've got cafe latte roses (not easy to get here in Winnipeg, but the perfect unique rose gold tone when we can get them!), faith roses, and rice flower. Below, a combination of quicksand roses, rice flower, earl grey roses, and astrantia. And at the bottom, an antique toned hydrangea with a classic blush ranunculus.
Mauve
I am seeing a LOT of mauve being used an accent colour for 2018 weddings, and my favourite go-to is the amnesia rose. It's unique and has a really one-of-a-kind colour. I can't think of anything better for mauve!
You can also see the amnesia rose in action below on the left - it pairs gorgeously with those soft peach roses and fresh green buds on the white ranunculus. And on the right, we have fritillaria. It's a very unique shape and bloom, and to be honest, kind of smells like skunk, but they're pretty cool nonetheless!
Cornflower Blue
Cornflower blue (aka dusty light blue) is another great tone that is a beautiful accent. There aren't a lot of naturally blue flowers, so if you're wanting a lot of blues at your wedding, then I would suggest choosing a dusty blue linen to play centre stage at your reception while tucking in some of these flowers into your bouquets! On the left, we've got muscari, which is a personal favourite of mine. It's got a short stem and a small bloom so this is definitely an accent flowers, but seriously, can you get any cuter? And then in the middle, delphinium - one of my favourite natural blue flowers. You can see it working its magic in the bouquet on the right!
Still trying to figure out your wedding colour palette? Here are some more tips:
-I love the way that a few well-placed bold accent tones can enliven an otherwise neutral palette. Click that link to see some seriously gorgeous flowers!
-Looking for a way to modernize the traditional blush wedding palette? Pair it with peach and mauve for a modern, feminine take.
-Don't forget to take into account these 7 things you HAVE to think about when choosing your wedding colour palette.
-Finally, avoid making any of these mistakes that brides make when selecting their wedding palettes!
Work with a wedding event designer who loves creative colour palettes!
Along with floral design, Stone House Creative offers full Event Design Services to a limited number of wedding clients each year. This process allows me to go deeper with you, designing beyond the flowers, to help you create a celebration that truly looks and feels like you.
Cassy and Matt's Jewel Tone Wedding at the Fort Garry Hotel
I can't believe that it's January and Cassy and Matt's fun jewel tone wedding at the Fort Garry Hotel was in July! It feels like it was just weeks ago. I loved the opportunity to work with so much colour for an otherwise fairly traditional wedding - Cassy wanted rich jewel tones, and I was more than happy to oblige! Rich pinks, peaches, vibrant greens, berries, and a hint of light blue made for a delicious palette. I also got to work with Amanda Douglas Events (I love working with wedding planners!), who did a great job of tying together different aspects of Cassy and Matt's individual styles and dreams for the wedding - for example, Matt really wanted his favourite colour (lime green) to play a role, and Cassy's love for Disney needed to find a place as well (which was incorporated into cute sketches on the guest table numbers).
Amanda Douglas Events ~ Luckygirl Photography ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Two Chicks and a Bag of Makeup ~ Niakwa Golf Course ~ Fort Garry Hotel ~ Platinum Productions ~ Buttercream by Alareen
GUYS. I love love loved Cassy's bouquet, and making it. And holding it. And I may or may not have wanted to keep it! I loved this combination of jewel tones and textures, rich greens and unique touches.
Bridal bouquet ingredients: garden roses (several varieties), standard roses, spray roses, delphinium, sweet pea, and dahlias with several types of greenery.
The ceremony was held at Niakwa Country Club (which they normally only do when they have receptions at the club, so this worked out really well for Cassy and Matt!), and in the summertime, it is so vibrant and lush there that we didn't need to add any flowers. But, Cassy had this cute idea to add some light, airy floral garlands onto the sides of the wagon that the little kids were pulled down the aisle on. It was so cute and worked out so well!
Amanda from Amanda Douglas Events came up with a really beautiful, unique floor plan in the Provencher Room at the Fort Garry Hotel (for the record, it's my favourite ballroom in the city!). She combined both wide, rectangular tables with round tables to create an elegant space that was also effective at directing guests around the room. They chose these gorgeous cross-back chairs and lace overlays from Planned Perfectly, which formed the right kind of neutral base for the space - especially since Cassy wanted me to go vibrant with the flowers! For the long tables, the floral centrepieces were in a long wood box, and for the round tables, I used a short stone urn.
We re-purposed the floral garlands onto the sweets table and I love the way it turned out!
Sara and Brent's All-Greenery Wedding
When it comes to simple weddings, I don't think there's anything quite so simple and pretty as an all-greenery wedding. Sara and Brent's wedding was such a fun one to be a part of - it was an intimate wedding, without need for too terribly much floral decor, so Sara chose to go with tons of greenery and texture instead!
Wedding Planner: Amanda Douglas Events | Photos: Kamp Photography | Venue: St Norbert Arts Centre | Linens: Dream Day Decor | Lighting Backdrop: Event Light
I love the St Norbert Arts Centre. It is such a cool place for weddings! It's pretty small so it's ideal for intimate weddings like this one, and it's also such a neutral space that you can go really minimal OR you can go super bright and colourful. For Sara and Brent, we kept greenery on all the tables but alternated styles - half with a full garland and half with just really loose greenery laid down the length of the table, tucked in with candles.
We did a very simple sweetheart table design for them, with a greenery garland. The showstopper was definitely the cafe light string backdrop behind, from Event Light!
Why May is the Best Time for a Wedding
May is, hands down, the best time of year for a wedding if you're a flower lover.
Before I start, I have to say: I actually really love weddings at any time of year (except maybe March, because let's be honest: March in Manitoba is either still snow-covered or just mucky. It's typically not that gorgeous). But May? May is probably the best time of year for a wedding if you're obsessed with flowers, and I'll tell you why.
1) Peonies. Duh.
There are lots of other phenomenal spring flowers that I love to use, but the glory always goes to the peony, and for good reason.
2) COLOUR!
For the first time in forever (thanks, Frozen! Now you're in my head all day long...), we finally have fresh green growth outside, and a little bit of colour popping up in gardens. And after a long, cold winter, we are all craving some freshness and there is no better way to bring freshness into your wedding than with a fun colour palette. That can be with expertly paired pastels, or it can be bold and full of vibrancy - whatever you like!
Victoria Anne Photography / Styled by Amanda Douglas Events
3) The Feeling of Spring in the Air
Let's talk about the ambiance that a little chill in the air creates. The sun is warm during the afternoon for your ceremony with an early-ish sunset for the perfect photos, and then comes that chill in the air after the sun has set, bringing with it a desire to cosy up and a feeling of intimacy. And that is just the BEST for a wedding.
So guess what. I happen to still have a lot of dates available in May 2018 for wedding bookings! If you want to chat wedding flowers, be sure to click the contact button below to get in touch! Can't wait to hear from you!
How to Maximize Your Wedding Flower Budget: Part 3
I wish that more people would ask me how to maximize their floral budgets! This goes hand in hand with saving money on your wedding flowers and making the best decisions for lower cost budgets. We can make some seriously good things happen if we make the right choices!
This is Part 3 in a 3 Part series on wedding flower budgets. We've already talked about How Much Wedding Flowers Cost in Manitoba, and Misconceptions about Wedding Flower Pricing. If you have any questions or thoughts about these topics, send me an email to info@stonehouseweddings.com and I'll try my best to address it!
I wish that more people would ask me how to maximize their floral budgets! This goes hand in hand with saving money on your wedding flowers and making the best decisions for lower cost budgets. We can make some seriously good things happen if we make the right choices!
This is Part 3 in a 3 Part series on wedding flower budgets. We've already talked about How Much Wedding Flowers Cost in Manitoba, and Misconceptions about Wedding Flower Pricing. If you have any questions or thoughts about these topics, send me an email to info@stonehouseweddings.com and I'll try my best to address it!
1) Choose 1 focal area and keep the rest simple (bonus points if that focal piece can be used in both the ceremony and reception).
It sounds a bit counter-intuitive, but seriously: spend a big chunk of your budget on one key piece and keep everything else simple. The theory behind this makes a lot of sense: one emphasized focal area does an amazing job of creating the ambiance that you're after. This could be an exaggerated hanging installation above the head table (like at Jynelle's wedding, which was also used for their ceremony!), or it could be a gorgeous, over-sized arrangement at a guest book or entrance table to welcome guests in. I've always wanted to do an incredible, statement-making design around a cake table, set in the middle of the room, so if that sounds like something you'd like, then email me!
2) Use greenery, sparingly.
Fully bound garlands are pretty costly, because they take a lot of product, a lot of time, and because the designer always gets poked by the wire. Kidding ;) That doesn't get factored into the cost but I can't tell you how many times I have cursed a garland for making me bleed!
An awesome alternative is to lightly lay greenery down the tables. You still get that fresh green look while eliminating the high cost. For this wedding, I also included some flower "confetti" - loose blooms and petals tucked in with the greenery for some touches of colour.
3) Opt for bud vases or mini arrangements.
Sometimes all a table needs is a pop of colour. In that case, you don't need to go over the top with a full floral arrangement (and sometimes, those long, rectangular harvest style tables don't even have enough space for a full floral arrangement!). A few bud vases clustered in the centre of a table featuring the accent colours in your palette will make just enough of a statement without breaking the bank. You can expect to spend $5-$15/stem vase.
4) Use a coloured table linen.
Okay, I realize that the table linens actually have nothing to do with the flowers, but this is one of the event design rules that I live by: the biggest impact you can make in a room is with the table linens. Why? They take up SO MUCH visual real estate, that they really set the tone for everything that you see. If you're on a lower flower budget, upgrade from the basic table linen (whether that's with a texture, a metallic, or a pop of colour) to make a statement in the room, and then your florals can be scaled back a bit.
Flower Cost Comparisons
I thought I'd offer you some more specific pricing on some of the most popular wedding flowers and some lower cost alternatives that make for great substitutes!
Left: Peony | Right: Pink O'Hara Garden Rose
This may not be my wisest substitute, since garden roses are still costly flowers, but they are definitely the closest thing to a peony that you can get! Peonies usually range from $15-$18 per stem, while an O'Hara garden rose is a little more reliable at $10-$12 per stem.
Left: Juliet David Austin Garden Rose | Right: Peach Lisianthus
Yes, the garden rose is always going to be the king. But if you're just concerned about getting the right colour, then lisianthus could be a great substitute! The David Austin garden roses are a high-end, very carefully bred family of flowers that will ring in at about $18 per stem, while lisianthus will be more like $5-$7 per stem.
Left: Ranunculus | Right: Spray Roses
Everyone's favourite loonie-sized flower is ALWAYS a ranunculus, but they're pretty stinking expensive and not the most reliable. They have a hollow stem, which means they're more prone to rot. Often out of a bunch of 10, I'll only be able to use 5-7 blooms! This little baby will be around $7-$10 per stem, while the similarly sized and shaped spray rose (with a HUGE range of colours and usually 3-5 blooms per stem!) is a much easier to manage $5 per stem,
Hire an excellent wedding florist in Winnipeg!
Getting married in Manitoba? I might be biased, but flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Whether you already have a specific vision in mind or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!
