Lise and Brad's Dreamy Brunch Wedding
I cannot tell you all enough how awesome Lise and Brad's dreamy brunch wedding at Cielo's Garden was. It was on a Sunday morning in late May, and they clearly spent a lot of time identifying what was important to them because every little bit of their wedding was impeccable - but it wasn't the typical wedding! First of all, brunch. BRUNCH, people! The menu (catered by Stella's) looked phenomenal, the donut bar smelled unbelievable (I didn't really care for donuts much before I had to go gluten-free, and now? Now I want them all the time), and so many more details that went into creating a whimsical, enjoyable atmosphere.
Ariana Tennyson Photography ~ Cielo's Garden ~ Stella's ~ Bronuts
Lise had beautiful ideas for her wedding. When she first inquired about her wedding date, she described her dream wedding as a whimsical garden party, based off the midsummer celebrations in Scandinavian countries. Her ideal would have been to have a Maypole - and I loved it all! She had a soft palette of light corals and peaches, with lots of whites and greens. She wanted to keep her personal flowers on the lighter side, and bring in those corals and peaches in the decor. So, we kept her bouquets all white and green, tucked a bit of peach into her flower crown, and had a little more fun with the colours in the decor flowers.
Bridal bouquet ingredients: We kept Lise's bouquet VERY simple. White ranunculus and white peonies were the only blooms, while olive foliage, spiral eucalyptus, silver dollar eucalyptus, and leather leaf fern rounded it out.
We weren't originally going to add any flowers to the chapel, so as to keep the focus on a hanging installation planned for the reception tent, but as we got closer to the wedding, Lise's vision changed. She asked me to come up with something that would tie it all together and feel fitting. You'll read more about the Maypole-inspired design I planned for the reception a little further down, but for the ceremony, I decided to keep it along the same vein while changing it up a bit. Knowing Lise loves a whimsical feel, I thought that hanging strands of flowers and ribbons would be a simple backdrop for the ceremony that would pack a lot of visual punch. And I LOVE the way it came together. Simply hung, in several shades of peach, pink and coral, the ribbon streamers and carnation strands were a cost-effective option that looked amazing!
Over at the reception, Lise wanted to keep the guest tables on the simpler side so that we could have a lot of fun with a focal point: I chose to do a fun floral chandelier positioned over the head table, as a sort of take on a Maypole design. We obviously couldn't add a full Maypole into the tent, but I thought this was a pretty cool way to interpret it! There is something about hanging, dripping flowers that I just LOVE so I couldn't have been happier with the way this piece became the focal point for the room. I chose to alternate strands of carnations, strands of roses, and ribbon streamers. The guest tables were kept really simple, with stem vases lining the tables with alternating stems of pink and peach blooms or greenery sprigs.
Here's the original sketch I dreamed up to convince Lise that this would be a cool idea :)
Looking for a wedding florist in Winnipeg?
Getting married in Manitoba? Whether it's a whimsical garden party inspired celebration or a formal ballroom fete, I think flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. Maybe you already have a specific vision or you might want me to dream up something custom just for you - either way, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!
Limited fall 2019 wedding dates remain available. Click below to check your date!
Emily and Adam's Romantic Pineridge Hollow Wedding
Emily made such a beautiful bride, and has such great style - as evidenced in the romantic wedding at Pineridge Hollow she planned for herself and Adam! One of my favourite things about their wedding was the palette I got to work with: light but still moody, elegant, and somewhat dramatic. Neutral but still interesting! And I LOVE that Emily chose a soft, dove grey wedding gown!
Kamp Photography ~ Pineridge Hollow ~ Buttercream by Alareen
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Earl Grey rose (such a lovely, delicately tinged rose that's almost white but is slightly grey/lavender), plum ranunculus and scabiosa, locally grown anemones, iris and foxglove, yarrow, stock, and sweet pea along with mixed foliages including foxglove and Israeli ruscus.
The freckles on the foxglove worked as the perfect transition between the softer tones and the plum, and the addition of the peachy pink yarrow and the stock just added some more femininity. The locally grown iris was a last-minute find at my wholesaler that I'm sure I'll never be able to get again, and technically I hadn't budgeted for it but I just had to include it! It was the perfect shade of softest blue that tinged more towards the grey and was perfect with her dress. I finished the bouquet with trailing grey ribbons, in silk and pleated satin. I loved this bouquet!
Emily also asked for a floral crown for herself. I made it with soft pink and white spray roses and yarrow, and it looked really lovely on her. It just added to the feminine, romantic vibe she was going for.
The reception was at Pineridge Hollow. Emily chose long tables (if this is the way you go, just keep in mind that their tables are very narrow!) and collected a variety of mismatched antique china teacups for centrepieces. I loved the petite arrangements that I got to do in them - soft pinks and lavender tones, with mostly locally grown flowers. A bonus to this day was that I ran into my sister and her daughters while setting up, and my little nieces so desperately wanted to help me set up the wedding! It was the cutest thing - my 4 year old niece Penny went straight to my flower box and started pulling out centrepieces and carrying them over to tables. Not to be outdone, 9 year old Lily very quickly came to my aid as well!
Buttercream by Alareen provided the cutting cake, and I had so much fun adding the fresh flowers to it. This picture below is a little sideways - the flowers cascaded down the front, with ivy trailing with them. Every baker has different preferences about whether or not they want to add the flowers themselves to the wedding cakes, but I'm perfectly happy to do it. I'm totally comfortable making the stems foodsafe and I'm a bit paranoid when it comes down to it - I don't want any flower "juices" making their way into your delicious cake, let alone any chemicals that might on the blooms themselves.
Looking for a 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 or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!
Limited summer 2019 wedding dates remain available. Click below to check your date!
Planning Your Wedding Long Distance
Planning your wedding long distance? A lot of couples get a little worried, thinking that planning their wedding, set in Winnipeg, from somewhere else is going to make it a lot harder on them. And here's the thing: it can be harder, but it doesn't have to be. And I'm happy to help!
Sure, there will be differences in your planning, depending on where you're planning from and if you're able to travel back to Winnipeg at any point throughout your engagement process. You might not be able to visit your venue in person or have a menu tasting, you might not be able to interview your photographer in person, you might need to transport your dress! But the flowers? The flowers can still be easy!
I've worked with couples planning their Winnipeg weddings from around Canada and throughout the world! Along with living across Manitoba, some of my couples have hailed from:
Nunavut
Saskatchewan
Alberta
British Columbia
Ontario
New Brunswick
Seattle, Washington
New York City
New Zealand
England
China
Ireland
How to Plan Your Wedding Flowers Long Distance
Whenever I get an inquiry from someone who is not local to me, the process changes a little bit, but not a ton. Here's how it goes:
1) Instead of an in-person preliminary appointment, we'll schedule one for Skype or Facetime! We can also do it over the phone, but I prefer to be able to talk with you and look at you at the same time. It gives me a better feel for your personality and your style. For an in-person appointment, I'll ask you to prepare by bringing along colour swatches and inspiration photos. If we're meeting over Skype or Facetime, I'll ask for those things in advance, along with a general list of everything we'll be talking about. It helps me to be more prepared and get a good feel for what you're looking for - which is particularly important because Wifi connections can be a little spotty sometimes.
2) After we wrap up our conversation and I feel like I have a good understanding of your vision and your style, I'll move on to the proposal process. Usually during an in-person consultation, I like to show examples of different flower varieties that I think you'll love. I always include a digital flower board in my proposals so that you can get a visual for what I'm planning and I think this is helpful to ensure you understand how I'm suggesting we interpret your plans for the wedding. I'll also include a breakdown of everything that we discussed, as well as copy of my standard contract. If needed, I'll include pictures of vases and rentals to complete your look.
3) From here on out, everything is basically the exact same as if you were planning in town! We'll communicate via email to make any necessary adjustments to your proposal, and you can sign your contract and make payments online. Easy! After your date is officially booked, unless there are major revisions that need to be made, you can consider me all good to go until 1 month prior to the wedding, at which point I'll follow up to confirm that everything is still correct. Once we're confirmed, I'll place your flower order and we'll be all set!
When it comes down to it, I really just want to make this process as easy and enjoyable for you - and if you're planning from afar, I think you'll find that a LOT of Winnipeggers are like this. Many of our local wedding industry business owners have fantastic reputations and we just want you to have an awesome wedding! Earlier this spring, I worked with a couple from BC who were planning a fairly last-minute wedding due to family health issues. They remarked that if they were getting married in BC, they thought that there was no chance they would have been able to pull together as great of a wedding with as great of an experience. Our city has some pretty good people in it!
Looking for a wedding florist in Winnipeg?
So, getting married in Manitoba? I might be biased, but flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. No matter where you're planning from, I'm going to make this as easy and enjoyable as possible for you, culminating in a gorgeous floral experience for your wedding day!
Limited summer 2019 wedding dates remain available. Click below to check your date!
2019 Wedding Season Availability Update
It never fails to amaze me how I look forward to each wedding for what feels like SO long (and often, that's 9-16 months before the wedding, so it IS a long time!) and then wham, that wedding has come and gone. Somehow I'm already more than halfway through my 2018 wedding season, and that is blowing my mind!
With that comes an update on my 2019 wedding season availability! My wedding availability has a tendency to book up really far in advance, and 2019 is no different. I was astonished to realize this weekend that I only have about 4 remaining wedding dates for the summer 2019 months! (I do have a lot of flexibility still in October through December of 2019).
Photos by Ariana Tennyson Photography
So here's the deal: if you want to work with me for your wedding flowers, reach out - like, now. If I'm available, I want to hear as much as possible about your wedding plans and get excited along with you! If I'm not available, I will happily refer you to my network of amazing colleagues whose work I admire!
Here's what I'm looking for and hoping to work on in 2019:
-Interesting colour palettes with depth, vibrancy, and cheerfulness.
-Ceremony spaces dripping with flowers to create a one-of-a-kind ambiance.
-Spotlight moments throughout your reception, whether that be an incredible guest book table or a sweetheart table that makes an enormous statement.
-Unique combinations! I'm feeling a bit of a tropical vibe lately and would love to explore that with someone cool.
-A rich, amazing FALL wedding (hellllooo October couples! It's the perfect time for this!). A lot of fall weddings are Crayola coloured...I'd love to do something that takes fall in a more luscious, dramatic direction.
-Coloured table linens. Ha! This might sound a bit weird because it's not a floral wish at all, but I LOVE it when a couple chooses the perfect table linen. Different venues and different styles lend themselves well to different linens - I'm dreaming of rich greens, velvety textures, soft corals...something different than what everyone else is doing. Your table linens take up SO much visual real estate in a room and are worth investing in if you want to make a decor statement!
-Generally, I really love working with couples who are creative and stylish, but who are also comfortable putting their trust in me to pull off their vision and make it even more than what they imagined.
Please note that during my busiest season (June through September), I accept only full weddings with a minimum $2000 investment. "Full" weddings means that I don't take orders that are only for bridal party flowers, but prefer to design for weddings where I can work on ceremony and/or reception decor as well. This is for several reasons:
1) as a studio florist, I have to place bulk flower orders and it doesn't usually make financial sense for me to have to place a large bulk order only to use some of those stems and not have a retail location where I can sell off the rest of the flowers, and
2) I really love being able to design a complete space to really make wedding day a totally amazing experience. Weddings where I get to play a larger role make me really excited and I leave feeling so fulfilled!
Here's a few testimonials from 2018 clients:
“Just want to start this off by saying: you - are - amazing! Seriously, your creativity, passion, and dedication is so evident in your work and it was an amazing experience to be one of your brides.When Dan and I got engaged, it was going to be YOU without hesitation and our guests were IN LOVE with the florals. And that ARCH! Wahoo! It turned out so beautifully! Thank you, Lauren! You deserve all the success in the world!”
Photo by Megan Steen Photography
“Thank you so much for the stunning floral designs...!! They were INCREDIBLE and exactly how I imagined they would be. I can’t tell you how important the florals were to me and my day would have been nothing without them. I talked about the flowers all night and received so many compliments on them!!”
Photo by Camryn Elizabeth Photography
“I would absolutely recommend Lauren to anyone. She created the most beautiful arrangements. I gave her minimal direction and really wanted her to just work her magic, and wow, did she ever! Everyone was blown away by her work, and I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Photo by Sugar & Soul Photography
So, engaged couples getting married in 2019: I would LOVE to hear from you! Simply click the button below, fill out my contact form (the more detail, the better!) and I will be in touch!
A Mediterranean Inspired Love Story: Styled Shoot
I've been taking a bit of a break from styled shoots for the last little while, but when Sheila from Inspired Elegance Events and Casey Nolin Photography reached out with this fun colour palette and giving me total flexibility on the flowers earlier this spring, I could not say no!
I feel like I'm always talking about how much I love colour and this was no exception. Sheila told me that she wanted orange so I chose to expand that into an analogous palette of oranges, corals, and peaches. Fun, right? And it looked great with the slight additions of blue on the table.
Even better: Our cute couple got engaged a few weeks later!
~ AS FEATURED ON THE PERFECT PALETTE ~
Photos: Casy Nolin Photography ~ Planner: Inspired Elegance Events ~ Florals: Stone House Creative ~ Tabletop Rentals: C&T Rentals ~ Table Runner: Simply Perfect Decor ~ Chair Rentals: Floral Fixx ~ Venue: Trappist Monastery ~ Invitations: Keeks Paper Co ~ Bridal Gown: Chic Nostalgia from Bliss Bridal Boutique ~ Makeup: Made Beauty Company ~ Hair Piece: Luna and Stone ~ Jewellery: Vandenberg's Fine Jewellery
My floral order made everyone else at my wholesaler jealous that week :) I'm jealous just looking back at it!
Bridal bouquet ingredients: garden roses, ranunculus, poppies, godetia and THE MOST incredible tulips!
I wanted to keep the ceremony space simple. The ruins at the Trappist Monastery are really something, and all of those old stone foundations create such an incredible ambiance. My goal here was to bring life back into the space, and what better way to do it than create a vine-like, overgrown-inspired focal piece.
Sheila had a fairly specific vision to create this Mediterranean look. Rustic bread, olives, and olive oil at each place setting make for an inviting tablescape, and the Trappist Monastery ruins were a natural choice for the setting as here in Winnipeg there aren't many spaces with an abandoned villa feel. She pulled it all together from there!
Looking for a 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 or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to Stone House Creative for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!
Limited summer 2019 wedding dates remain available. Click below to check your date!