The Modern, Garden Style Cascading Bouquet
2018 was definitely the year of cascading bouquets for me! We’ve been seeing a bit of a resurgence of the cascade shape for a little while now, but with a looser, more garden style than the horrendous pointy triangle bouquets of the 80s and 90s. I thought I’d share a little about this style of bouquet in case it’s something that interests you!
2018 was definitely the year of cascading bouquets for me! We’ve been seeing a bit of a resurgence of the cascade shape for a little while now, but with a looser, more garden style than the horrendous pointy triangle bouquets of the 80s and 90s. I thought I’d share a little about this style of bouquet in case it’s something that interests you!
Photos by Casey Nolin Photography
1) To get the more organic, garden-inspired shape, these are handtied bouquets. In the past (and some older-school florists still do it this way), cascade bouquets were always designed in a bouquet holder. This is essentially a plastic handle that has a little cup at the end where a chunk of Oasis sits, for the flowers to be inserted into. I try to use Oasis/floral foam as little as humanly possible, as it’s terrible for the environment and is essentially plastic - and a carcinogenic! Yuck! I certainly don’t want you carrying around a bouquet that has the potential to make you sick. I also don’t think that the plastic holders are very comfortable to carry - they’ve always hurt my hands. I’d rather you hold onto the stems!
Photos by Charmaine Mallari
2) Because I don’t use a bouquet holder, it means that I need to use a LOT of stems to create the bouquet. So, not only is your bouquet going to be a little more expensive, it’s also likely to be pretty heavy. That might get a little annoying on the wedding day, but your biceps are going to look awesome in photos ;) Some florists will wire the flower heads to alleviate some of the weight, but with our super hot summers, I’m always a little worried that those flowers aren’t going to make it if they have no chance of being popped back into water throughout the day.
3) You’ll have to carry your bouquet slightly differently than you would with a traditional handtied bouquet. You can tell from some of these pictures that the bride’s hands are angled a little differently - the bouquet is in front of her like normal, but her hands are angled so the bouquet hangs down in front. I cut the stems as short as I can to allow for this to be as easy as possible for the bride, as you’ll want to hug the stems as close to your body as possible. This is really the one benefit of using a bouquet holder, as far as I’m concerned - the holder is designed to make it easy to design the bouquet’s shape, but the negatives outweigh that. So, angled hands you’ll have!
Photos by Sugar and Soul Photography
4) I have to be really specific about the flower and greenery types that I use. I like to use a few focal flowers, as I would normally, but then I’m also looking for stems that naturally have a vertical line or a curved line, to help create that cascade shape. And of course, vines and trailing greenery are a must to make the shape!
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
My 2020 waitlist has already been started, and couples interested in full event and floral design will be contacted first about their dates. I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!
Flower-Filled Lake of the Woods Wedding
I love Lake of the Woods weddings, and Kailee and Stephane’s was such a special one. Fair warning, this post is going to be a little photo heavy because 1) the photos are AWESOME and 2) Kailee told me right off the hop that she loves flowers and wanted lots of them - so I made that happen :)
Kailee and I never actually met in person, which is often the case for my out-of-town clients. They live and work in Kenora, so it just wasn’t really convenient for them to come into Winnipeg just to meet with me about flowers. We did everything over Facetime and email. I generally find that this process works really well for out-of-town couples, particularly when they trust me to do a great job for them. Kailee told me her favourite things (she really, really loves roses!) and her colour palette of blush, cream and black, and I took it from there. Originally she envisioned very classic, round floral designs but towards the end of the planning, she asked if we could loosen things up. The designs should still have a fairly formal feel, but with a looser shape that suited the outdoor wedding a little better.
Taliah Leigh Photography ~ Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club ~ Posh and Pixie Salon
Ah, Kailee’s bouquet. I loved it! It was a huge, huge bouquet with a soft blush, peach, and cream palette.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: white o’Hara garden roses, quicksand roses, and mother of peal roses with white ranunculus and calcynia. I’m telling you the truth, this might be my favourite combination. The colour variation was subtle enough for a blush palette but thanks to the really delicate touches of peach, it was more interesting than the typical blush and cream. I had a really hard time letting this one go!
Can you imagine this boat as your getting ready location?
I had already booked another wedding in Winnipeg for the same weekend, which meant that I wasn’t able to drive out to Kenora to deliver and set everything up for them. It’s always my preference to be able to do it myself, but sometimes with out of town weddings, that’s just not do-able! So, one of Kailee’s brothers pulled up to my place the day before the wedding. We arranged for him to bring a van, they lined up an air conditioned to keep the van cool over-night, and we packed that thing full to the top with flowers! I was actually quite anxious that there wouldn’t be enough space, as the original plan was for them to rent a cargo van but they ended up needing to use a mini-van. We played some serious Tetris that morning, and miraculously, it all fit in.
I always love dock ceremonies at the Royal Yacht Club because that view is just incredible. In this case, the couple had this wooden arch made and I designed these large floral pieces to frame them in. I filled them with lots of roses, Kailee’s favourite, and they were like lush floral clouds for them to get married under.
I love that lake weddings mean you get an unconventional walk down the “aisle!”
The Royal Yacht Club at Kenora has an indoor facility, but it’s not very large. Kailee and Steph erected a tent on one of the tennis courts instead, which allowed them to move from indoors to out really easily at different points throughout the evening. I designed a mix of low and tall arrangements, which were scattered on the tables and around the Yacht Club. I love the rose gold accents that Kailee brought in with the candleholders and flatware.
If this last photo doesn’t do the perfect job of telling you why lake weddings are the very best, then I just don’t know how else I could say it. 💕
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
Getting married in Winnipeg or the Lake of theWoods? 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!
I’ll be opening up appointments for 2020 wedding dates very soon - but be sure to get on the waitlist in the meantime!
Modern Greenery Wedding at Hut K
Kristin and Mike’s wedding was fairly simple as far as the florals go (in fact, I didn’t use a single flower throughout the entire wedding! Just greeneries!) but it was one of my favourites of 2018 nonetheless. Why? Because the clean, modern design perfectly reflected their cool style and in the end, their wedding was just exactly what they wanted: an intimate celebration of marriage with amazing food, good wine, and a phenomenal atmosphere.
Brittany Mahood Photography ~ Hut K ~ Amanda Douglas Events ~ Event Light ~ CHEW ~ Freshair ~ C&T Rentals
Like I said, this entire wedding didn’t contain a single flower. Everything I did was using foliages, and while I’m normally a flower devotee, I really loved how Kristin’s vision came together. Her bouquet was composed of olive, seeded eucalyptus, silver dollar eucalyptus, leather leaf fern, and plumosa fern. Her bridesmaids carried smaller versions, which brought a bit of freshness to their gorgeous dress palette of mixed pale pinks, taupes, and berry tones.
The ceremony and reception took place in the same space, and Hut K’s gallery isn’t a large space to begin with, so they had the majority of the guests seated at their dining tables, with a few family members up at the front (later, the head table would be placed in that space). We tossed around a few design ideas that I loved, and in the end Kristin chose to stick to her minimalist core, with a simple greenery wall installation to bring a bit of natural wildness into the modern, clean venue.
I love the way this reception is laid out, don’t you? I didn’t actually put anything on the tables as centrepieces! The couple knew all along that they wanted to have platter after platter of incredible food lining each of the tables, so they made the smart decision to keep them as empty as possible. There’s nothing more challenging at a wedding than trying to find space for platters of food served family-style when you’ve got a garland lining the table or flowers everywhere - and that is coming from a florist 😂All that to say, make decisions that actually make sense based on your wedding plans and what will make the best experience for your guests!
The one thing I did add to the tables was a sprig of locally grown organic rosemary at each place setting. The herb/greenery touch on plates is always popular, and I always suggest that we use a chemical-free sprig. I would hate to leave behind something that could potentially make someone ill - and the same goes for cake flowers!
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
I’m already booking appointments for 2020 wedding consultations! I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!
How to Take the Best Care of Your Wedding Flowers
Once in a while, I’ll read complaints on a Facebook group or something of the like of wedding flowers not lasting throughout a wedding day. So, here are some tips on how to take the BEST care of your wedding flowers!
Before I get too far into this, it really comes down to using common sense: remember that flowers are live things, and treat them as such. If you throw your bouquet around, the delicate petals will be damaged. If you leave it out of water on a hot day, it will wilt. If you leave it in an unheated car when it’s below zero, it will freeze. Think of flowers like skin, except those petals are even more delicate and they don’t have the ability to regenerate themselves!
Keep The Flowers Hydrated
After delivery or pick up of flowers, it is the client’s responsibility to keep flowers hydrated throughout the day to maintain freshness. Place bouquets into their water sources throughout the day to allow for hydration (I always deliver my bouquets in vases to give them the best chance). In hot weather, flowers should be kept out of direct sunlight as much as possible, which will cause them to wilt. Some flower varieties are more prone to wilting than others, and if you’re getting married in the heat of summer, there’s just honestly very little that we can do to protect those fragile blooms. Generally, keeping them in water and out of heat will be your best bet!
Think About The Temperature
In cold temperatures, flowers should not be exposed to air below or around freezing. Flowers will be delivered with a plastic covering; keep this closed over the flowers any time they are outside. Do not leave flowers in an unheated vehicle. Flowers will freeze and brown when exposed to freezing air - and note that this includes air conditioners! Last year I had a photographer friend text me a photo of a bouquet (not one of mine) to ask what happened to it, so she could try to help the bride. The white flowers had completely browned and gone mushy. I asked where it was placed - the photographer told me that the couple had picked up the flowers from their florist the night previous to the wedding, and they had left them right in front of the air conditioner. As much as we do want to keep the flowers cool, the air coming out of an air conditioner is often too cold when it’s directly on the flowers, and that poor bouquet froze. Once a flower is frozen, there is no going back!
One bummer about temperature is that we can rarely control it. This includes your venue! The first week that the heat goes on in the fall often ends up with the venue being SUPER hot. I hate to say it, but there’s just nothing I can do to combat the inevitable wilt of some of your flowers under that blowing heat. A few years ago, I had a winter wedding where the ballroom must have been at least 26 degrees Celcius - in other words, it was smoking hot. I think their plan was to warm up the room quickly so that they could turn down the heat once guests arrived, but of course that plays a major impact on the flowers. I was running around the room making sure that every stem was in water and replacing some stems that had already started wilting, but there was nothing beyond that that I could do. Tent weddings often have a similar situation - I would recommend that if you’re having a tent wedding, ask your venue coordinator or wedding coordinator to open up the side panels to allow for as much air flow as possible. There’s nothing like a dank heat settling in a tent to create that oppressive greenhouse effect that cut flowers do not often thrive in.
Travel Safely
One of the weirdest wedding mornings I’ve ever had was when the bride’s father came to pick up her bridal party flowers…with a full car. And it wasn’t just that there were dress bags or something in the backseat - it was full of PEOPLE. Like, there was literally no room in the car for the flowers. I asked him what his plan was, and he promptly popped the trunk. PEOPLE. Trunks are not air-conditioned, nor are they safe for something fragile to be bouncing around in. Please, please, please do not put your flowers in your trunk if you care about them at all! I told him there was no way he could do this and I suggested the people in the backseat hold the flowers on their laps (luckily, it was a very small order of just bridal party bouquets).
Now I know that on a wedding day, you’re rarely staying in one place all day long. You’re probably hopping into a limo to go off-site for photos at some point, and that’s perfectly fine! I deliver my bouquets in long cardboard boxes that are quite sturdy, and then packed really well with tons of paper in between the vases. The easiest thing you can do it just pop the bouquets back into their vases, have one person pick up each end of the box, and slide it into the vehicle. No trunks :) Do not leave flowers in a closed, un-air-conditioned vehicle.
Minimize The Flower Timeline
That’s a weird way of wording it, but if you’re facing a really hot day or you’re just worried about the longevity of the flowers, don’t have me deliver your bouquets at 8 am. If all of your pictures are taking place between the ceremony and reception, I can deliver your bouquets to you shortly before you leave for the ceremony location, which means that they’ll be able to stay in my cooler for longer! Most photographers don’t care to have the flowers in every photo, anyways, so you won’t need them all day long.
Similarly, opt to have the flowers picked up or delivered on the day of the wedding as much as possible, and not the day before. Rarely does this happen in my business, and usually only when the wedding is out of town so I understand that sometimes we need to make an exception and have the flowers picked up the day before. But generally, I do my very best to avoid this! Again, the longer they can stay in my cooler, the better for the flowers.
Keep Flowers Out Of Harm’s Way
What is in “harm’s way,” you might ask? Pets, curious little kids, overbearing mothers or wedding coordinators... Some pets will have a tendency to sniff a little too closely or even try to take a bite out of a bouquet. Little kids might tear through the getting ready space and knock a bouquet down, or get their hands right into the flowers and rip apart those fragile petals (though I will say, the ring bearer at one of my weddings this year tried to eat a flower out of his mom’s bouquet while she carried him down the aisle, and it was adorable). The occasional mom or wedding coordinator will think they know best and attempt to “perfect” the piece that’s already been perfected by your designer. At the shop I used to work at, we once had a wedding coordinator (truth be told, she was NOT a professional wedding coordinator, but someone the family knew who was a little overly bossy and wanted to be involved) who called us to re-make a bouquet 3 times on the morning of the wedding. Why? Because she thought that the petals weren’t perfect enough, and picked off all of the “damaged” petals - aka she made the bouquet bald, twice, before learning her lesson. Luckily, a retail shop often has enough leftovers to re-make a bouquet and we made it work for that bride but we had to tell the coordinator HANDS OFF!
The most important thing to me is that your flowers look beautiful on the day of the wedding. My job is to make sure each bloom is at it’s very peak on the day of, and in most flower varieties, they look their absolute best shortly before they die. Of course I would LOVE for your flowers to last a week after your wedding, and very often they do - but the after isn’t what matters the most.
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
My 2020 waitlist has already been started, and couples interested in full event and floral design will be contacted first about their dates. I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!
All photos in this post by Charmaine Mallari Photography.
Muted Cotton Candy Pastel Wedding at Pineridge Hollow
My favourite thing about Janelle and Kenny’s summer wedding at Pineridge Hollow was hands-down the colour palette: we chose a watery, muted oyster palette with dusty pinks, light blues, and lavenders. When I picked up my flower order and saw how the flowers were starting to come together, I got REALLY excited. Like, really excited. It was like a cotton candy dream come true! And just look at how beautiful the colours with the bridesmaids’ dresses were!
I think it’s pretty obvious why I loved these flowers :) It was such a lovely combination! Janelle wanted her bouquet to be a pretty good size but not too huge, and designed in a modern cascading style. The bridesmaids carried simpler handtied bouquets, all to coordinate with Janelle’s - isn’t that cotton candy pastel palette to die for?
Bridal Bouquet ingredients: several varieties of roses, dahlias, locally grown lisianthus and zinnias, delphinium, blue bells, and globe thistle with this gorgeous trailing jasmine and nagi foliages to help create that cascading shape. It’s pretty hard to choose a favourite ingredient in these bouquets, but I think it’s a tie between the “zinderella” zinnias and the globe thistle for me!
The wedding ceremony took place in front of the gardens at Pineridge Hollow, which were beautifully in bloom! I really went for it with this large, asymmetrical floral piece added to the arch. I loved adding in the very long, full branches of white poplar - they add a ton of texture thanks to the leaf’s shape and colour variegation, and of course, the shape that the full, arching stems creates can’t be beat. Mauve roses and pink lisianthus filled out the florals! We also added simple greenery bouquets down the aisle. I don’t normally recommend doing too much down the aisle as I personally prefer to keep the focus at the front, but these guys were super cute and definitely added to the woodsy feel.
Inside the tent, Janelle created a really great floor plan with a mix of both rectangular and round tables. White linens, mahogany chivari chairs and gold accents set the perfect neutral backdrop. The round tables had a low floral arrangement, with a touch more vibrancy than the bouquets but overall a very similar palette, and the rectangular tables featured loose greenery tucked along the length of the table (PSA the tables at Pineridge Hollow are quite narrow, so just keep that in mind if you’re planning a wedding there!) with individual roses in blush and mauve and gold candleholders added in. It was a very full table, but looked beautiful!
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
My 2020 waitlist has already been started, and couples interested in full event and floral design will be contacted first about their dates. I offer a limited number of dates for event design each year, in order to allow me to work closely with each couple. Combining event and floral design is the perfect option for couples who live out of town, or couples who feel they need a little extra help in creating the visual plan for their wedding day. Click this link to learn more!