Warm and Cosy Fall Wedding at Whitetail Meadow
We’re looking forward to sunny days right now, but the weather this past September was super weird - when we normally would have mild temperatures, often with some serious heat still coming through when the sun is high, we instead got rain and snow. I can’t be the only one who thought it was a major bummer! Mackenzie and Brendan planned their wedding for the end of September, and they woke up to a windy, chilly day with sprinkles of rain throughout…so what did they do? Switched around their plans and decided to make their Whitetail Meadow as warm and cosy as possible!
We’re looking forward to sunny days right now, but the weather this past September was super weird - when we normally would have mild temperatures, often with some serious heat still coming through when the sun is high, we instead got rain and snow. I can’t be the only one who thought it was a major bummer! Mackenzie and Brendan planned their wedding for the end of September, and they woke up to a windy, chilly day with sprinkles of rain throughout…so what did they do? Switched around their plans and decided to make their Whitetail Meadow as warm and cosy as possible!
Luckily, Whitetail Meadow’s indoor space is really beautiful, with several options for layout if you need to do your ceremony indoors. Mackenzie decided to make the fireplace the focal point, and with the warm autumn tones that we were already planning for the flowers, it worked perfectly. I was so happy they decided to move the ceremony indoors - not just because it would have been cold for me to design outside, but because I think the backdrop they ended up with indoors is gorgeous!
We went really textural and deep for Mackenzie’s bouquet, focusing on the deep reds, plums, and touches of oranges with plenty of deep greenery. I loved the cascading foliages and the movement they brought! We kept things simpler for the bridesmaids, focusing more on the greenery with just touches of the fall tones tucked in.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Several varieties of roses, dahlias, mums, sweet William, scabiosa, and amaranthus with pepperberry and ruscus foliages.
You can see why it was a good call to move the ceremony indoors! While it was raining outside, guests were treated to a warm, cosy atmosphere inside with a crackling fire. I loved designing the mantle piece - Mackenzie just let me do whatever I wanted, which in my opinion is always the best move! I repeated a lot of the floral elements that we used in her bouquet, adding in lots of texture through the use of sedum and amaranthus and then adding in the focal points of the different toned red roses and rust mums. The couple had collected all of these old family wedding photos from the various sides of their families, some going back a LONG time, and it was a nice touch to tuck those in as well.
I also added a garland-style piece to the top of the staircase that became the aisle, so those shots of the bride walking down the aisle would have a beautiful touch, along with large arrangements in stone urns and varied sizes of potted fall mums to mark the aisle itself. Mini pumpkins and gourds were tucked in throughout as well!
We decided to design two complementary table styles for the reception. The long wood tables at Whitetail are so pretty, so to emphasize that and pick up on the warm tones, one table was a moss runner with touches of flowers tucked right in, and the other featured repeating long arrangements in rustic wood boxes with arrangements that coordinated with the bridal party flowers.
I just had to include this one of me and the babe. Luckily this was my only wedding on this day, because that baby was feeling HEAVY. Little did I know it could get sooooo much bigger and heavier 😂You don’t quite realize how much bending and lifting a florist does until you have this massive weight throwing you off balance and making you exhausted!
Looking for a Wedding Floral and Event Designer in Winnipeg?
Whether you’re planning a whimsical garden-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!
Now booking 2020 wedding dates!
Now Booking 2020 Weddings
Getting married in 2020? Now’s the time to check flowers off your list!
I’m back from having taken off the last few months with my newborn babe and am really excited to be starting to dig back into flowers and meetings and making things happen for all of you awesome couples. So, if you’re getting married in 2020 - I'm now booking weddings for the 2020 season!
Getting married in 2020? Now’s the time to check flowers off your list!
I’m back from having taken off the last few months with my newborn babe and am really excited to be starting to dig back into flowers and meetings and making things happen for all of you awesome couples. So, if you’re getting married in 2020 - I'm now booking weddings for the 2020 season!
If you were on my waitlist, you’ve likely been contacted already but I may have inadvertently missed someone. If I haven’t contacted you, feel free to reach out again.
I know it seems crazy to be booking your wedding flowers so far out, but we tend to have long engagements here in Winnipeg with couples that like to plan their weddings far in advance. But don’t worry - I don’t expect you to have the answers to every single question that I’m going to ask. In fact, I think that one of the best things you can do is leave your mind open for a while and not feel pressured to make every single decision right off the hop. My favourite weddings to design tend to be the ones that come together more organically, after having had time to really think on what you love and not just what happens to be popular on Pinterest at the time when you start planning!
If you're looking for a floral designer for your wedding in Winnipeg or the surrounding area, here’s what I do:
-Full floral design AND full event design, for a limited number of clients each year.
-Weddings in Winnipeg and area, including Steinbach, Stonewall, East St Paul, Oakbank, Selkirk, along with Kenora (and area), Clearlake, and Gimli!
-I love working with couples who value creativity, great style, and want to work with professionals who will take excellent care of them. I love to create something unique for each of my couples, placing a high priority on creating a design that will be different from what your friends have had at their weddings.
Set Up Your Complimentary Consultation Now!
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!
Click below to check your date and set up your initial meeting!
Mother's Day Flower Class Registration Now Open
I always have SO much fun teaching people how to arrange flowers and I think Mother’s Day is the perfect time to do just that. Bring your momma, your mom friends, your own kids, your grandma - whoever you want to treat this Mother’s Day! My goal is to create an engaging, comfortable atmosphere where you’ll have fun learning how to put together a beautiful spring floral arrangement.
I’m super excited to announce my next round of flower classes, for Mother’s Day!
I always have SO much fun teaching people how to arrange flowers and I think Mother’s Day is the perfect time to do just that. Bring your momma, your mom friends, your own kids, your grandma - whoever you want to treat this Mother’s Day! My goal is to create an engaging, comfortable atmosphere where you’ll have fun learning how to put together a beautiful spring floral arrangement.
WHEN: Saturday, May 11 / 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
WHERE: Prep Collective
WHAT'S INCLUDED:
-flowers and vase for you to make an arrangement to take home
-supplies for you to use during the workshop
-instruction from Lauren of Stone House Creative
COST: $100 + tax per seat
It’s going to be such an awesome time. Seats are limited so grab yours today!
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!