Charming Backyard Wedding in Ste Anne
Oh, how excited I was to design for Brenna and Michael’s charming backyard wedding in Ste Anne! This was yet another wedding with a few twists and turns in the planning thanks to Covid and a venue change, but Brenna’s vision for a Southern Charm style event never wavered.
I’ll never forget the first time we sat down to chat — we barely even talked about flowers. She’s one of those people who you can just talk with, connect with, and enjoy your time with. Finding out that she has dreamy style and knows how to execute it just made it even better.
Oh, how excited I was to design for Brenna and Michael’s charming backyard wedding in Ste Anne! This was yet another wedding with a few twists and turns in the planning thanks to Covid and a venue change, but Brenna’s vision for a Southern Charm style event never wavered.
I’ll never forget the first time we sat down to chat — we barely even talked about flowers. She’s one of those people who you can just talk with, connect with, and enjoy your time with. Finding out that she has dreamy style and knows how to execute it just made it even better.
Photos by Simply Rosie Photography
This colour palette was feminine, soft, and kind of water-coloured: soft pinks, butter yellow, soft blue, lilac. She started a lot of the design work with this custom painted picture of their home in Ste Anne, and their dogs, which they incorporated throughout the invitation suite. The bridesmaids dressed in the palette, and Brenna found this gorgeous double-faced satin ribbon that we decked out the bouquets with.
Now look below, and you’ll see some of the setup from the cocktail hour. When you arrived at the house and went around to the back (where the ceremony overlooked the river), you first stepped into this cute cocktail hour area, complete with fringed umbrellas and this delightfully cottage-core welcome area.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: O’hara garden roses, quicksand roses, lisianthus, ranunculus, sweet pea, forget me knot, and feverfew.
Set on the grassy hill and overlooking the river, Brenna and Michael walked down the aisle underneath a canopy of trees to their ceremony, and said their vows under this perfect arch.
We framed the entrance to the aisle with baskets of flowers, potted plants, and lanterns. It was so romantic!
The arch was like a secret garden, with subtle colour blocking and somewhat overgrown in style. This is one of my favourite arch styles to date.
Feminine, romantic, Southern charm, detailed — everything about the tablescapes was just completely Brenna.
Velvet table numbers, bamboo flatware, vintage brass bells at the tables, wooden candlestick holders with pale blue taper candles…this all just added up to a gorgeous design and a refreshing ambiance. And looking at these images, you’d never know that the wind was putting a real kink in our plans. But, that’s just outdoor weddings in Manitoba.
Brenna is so creative. Their home is absolutely gorgeous — it’s like walking into a classic Southern charm show home, honestly. Multiple pieces of their furniture found their way into the wedding design, in fact! So, of course she would come up some very clever details for the wedding reception design.
One of my favourite details: the linens. Which weren’t table linens, but actually BED LINENS. I literally would never have thought of this, but Brenna did!
THE CAKE. The fricking cake. There’s obviously something to be said for a simple cake (this one was carrot cake and it smelled so good) and some seriously decked out florals. And this perfect table, that we plucked from Brenna’s living room.
It’s evident that I love this floral cake surround. It’s one of my favourite design elements I’ve ever created. And even better, this was done in a non-toxic and earth-friendly way! We created this using hidden vases and chicken wire sausages, that we tucked florals into, rather than inserting the flowers into the cake itself.
If I could do a wedding over and over again out of pure happiness and love for a couple, I’ll tell you what, it would be this one. Brenna was just a true delight to work with and seeing this wedding FINALLY happen after a Covid reschedule and a venue change, was just amazing.
Simply Rosie Photography ~ Deer & Almond ~ Something Borrowed ~ Stella’s Bridal ~ Baked Expectations ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Velvet RAptor ~ Eph Apparel ~ Nomad Box Bar
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
My 2024 calendar is now open!
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!
Sweet Simplicity Spring Wedding at the Pavilion
Last May, I had the pleasure of designing two weddings at the Pavilion at Assiniboine Park. The first was kind of a modern take on a garden-inspired design, and the second was Gwen and Gavin’s simple, intimate, blush and peach wedding.
Gwen’s style is very feminine and romantic, and she wanted her ceremony arch to be the centrepiece of the floral design.
Last May, I had the pleasure of designing two weddings at the Pavilion at Assiniboine Park. The first was kind of a modern take on a garden-inspired design, and the second was Gwen and Gavin’s simple, intimate, blush and peach wedding.
Gwen’s style is very feminine and romantic, and she wanted her ceremony arch to be the centrepiece of the floral design.
Photos: Brittany Mahood Photography
It’s always good to keep a bride’s frame in mind — I knew that Gwen was petite with tiny hands, and we didn’t want anything too large. And when I gave her her bouquet, I was astonished because what looked so small in my hands looked full and large in hers!
Bridal bouquet ingredients: ranunculus, sweet pea, sweet escimo roses, freesia, baby’s breath, and sahara sensation spray roses.
Oh I loved designing this arch! I really like the deconstructed arch base — it’s so easy to do so many different designs on it. Gwen wanted a lot of baby’s breath and we went with a modern garden style, tucking in peach and light pink florals with lots of stem length.
With about 30 guests, the room had more than enough space to keep the ceremony and reception in the same room. The morning ceremony was followed by brunch, and we decided on 4 banquet tables set with Planned Perfectly’s toffee linen (see how nicely they can skew pink?) with gold chivari chairs. We decided on mixed pink, peach, and white florals with an airy feel. Sweet, simple, lovely!
Photos: Brittany Mahood ~ Venue: The Pavilion at Assiniboine Park ~ Video: KT Films ~ Linens and Chairs: Planned Perfectly
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
2024 wedding dates are now booking! 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 for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!
Modern, Organic Wedding at St Norbert Arts Centre
Every wedding that I’m hired for full event design for is a special project for me. Chantal and Avo were planning from out of town (she’s originally from Manitoba) and we had a few bumps in the road thanks to Covid causing us to postpone a year AND their venue closing a few short months before their wedding.
The creative brief called for a calm, intimate atmosphere (Avo wanted it to feel like a family dinner) with a modern, organic vibe. Whites with cool mixed blues and greys, warmed up with a few wood accents felt so good.
Every wedding that I’m hired for full event design for is a special project for me. Chantal and Avo were planning from out of town (she’s originally from Manitoba) and we had a few bumps in the road thanks to Covid causing us to postpone a year AND their venue closing a few short months before their wedding.
The creative brief called for a calm, intimate atmosphere (Avo wanted it to feel like a family dinner) with a modern, organic vibe. Whites with cool mixed blues and greys, warmed up with a few wood accents felt so good.
Photos by Esther Funk Photography
I really hit the flower jackpot the week of Chantal’s wedding! The ranunculus was gorg, the spirea was delish, but the icing on the cake was that we were able to find some white lilac — Chantal’s fave that I just never guarantee because if I get it in wholesale, it always craps out. But if it’s blooming locally, then we’re good! And my friendly neighbourhood flower farmer, BLD Gardens, had these gorgeous lilac AND the most mind-shattering tulips that blew all of Instagram’s minds that week.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: white lilac, ranunculus, tulips, sweet pea, and spirea, with a few touches of olive and stalks of wheat to remember Chantal’s late father with.
The stationery suite! We worked really closely with Meredyth from Leech Letter Co to design this custom suite, in both French and Lebanese. I wanted to create this watercolour ombre effect on the vellum overlay, with a blue fade. We kept the rest of the design quite simple, with just a minimal branching touch.
Nothing to do with flowers, but Avo’s first look reaction was just amazing. This deserved to be memorialized.
Everything was out at St Norbert Arts Centre. I wasn’t confident that there was enough space on the lawn to fit their smaller guest list, but the chairs were angled to kind of work around some tree stumps and it actually fit just fine!
Originally, we were going to be at the the former Cloakroom Wellness, which was a downtown venue with an industrial vibe. Obviously the very natural setting of SNAC is pretty different than the original vision, so we tweaked the design plan. We were always going to use a lot of greenery, but instead of ground-based pieces that curved around a window nook, we went up, creating some greenery pillars to frame the couple in.
And now inside! I love the feel of SNAC (though it can get really hot there, as it’s not air conditioned, so just a word to the wise!). The only thing I don’t like is the red beams. Whyyyy anyone would use red as an interior colour is beyond me, especially in a space that is otherwise white/wood/light brick. Those red beams were the first thing to address.
I worked with Planned Perfectly to add some draping between red ceiling beams down the centre of the room — it didn’t perfectly hide the beams, but it softened and somewhat camoflauged. And it would have made for a lovely rain plan for the ceremony as well, to walk beneath the drapery as an aisle.
The next thing I wanted to do was camoflauge the red posts that greet you at the entrance. In the original venue, we were going to have greenery boughs suspended from the ceiling, hanging above all the guest tables. We basically took all that greenery and funnelled it into these central posts. It looked gorgeous!
I loved the way we used the small entryway to welcome guests in, with this lovely blue seating chart and floral piece along with a small cocktail table for guest cards.
We brought in all of the wood tables and crossback chairs (which were planned for the original venue), which brought in some much needed warmth.
The centrepieces were simple and minimal, leaving enough space for family style platters of food (the menu looked incredible, tying together specialities from both their heritages). We cannot use real flame candles as the venue is a heritage building, but I don’t mind the battery-powered tealights when they’re tucked inside a coloured glass votive holder! Textured white florals in ceramic stem vases featured sweet pea, spirea, and tulips.
I always want to make sure there’s a beautiful place setting — there’s just something about them that I love. Layering a charger and a dinner plate can feel wasteful if budget doesn’t allow, but with family style meal service, they’re super functional. The salad was served on a small grey salad plate, which was then layered with white and grey plates. An oatmeal linen napkin and blue water goblet were added, with personalized menus added to each.
Looking for a Wedding Floral & Event Designer in Winnipeg?
2024 wedding dates are now booking! 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 for stunning bridal bouquets, truly unique ceremony backdrops, and beautiful floral centrepieces to create the perfect ambiance for your wedding!
Make Your Wedding Cake a Focal Point
My wedding design philosophy centres around creating focal design moments that will be memorable, interactive, and highly photographed. These are also where you’ll end up investing chunks of your budget. Choosing to invest in focal moments helps ensure that you’re not going to blow your budget overall by spending on every little thing, but rather giving your spending a focus.
i know people have their ups and downs with wedding cakes and whether they’re a priority or not. in my mind, it comes down to this: if you’re going to invest in a wedding cake, then make 👏🏻 it 👏🏻 a 👏🏻 Moment 👏🏻
If you’re going to invest in a wedding cake, then MAKE IT A MOMENT.
Madeline Kate Photography
My wedding design philosophy centres around creating focal design moments that will be memorable, interactive, and highly photographed. These are also where you’ll end up investing chunks of your budget. Choosing to invest in focal moments helps ensure that you’re not going to blow your budget overall by spending on every little thing, but rather giving your spending a focus.
i know people have their ups and downs with wedding cakes and whether they’re a priority or not. in my mind, it comes down to this: if you’re going to invest in a wedding cake, then make 👏🏻 it 👏🏻 a 👏🏻 Moment 👏🏻
AKA, let’s make some floral magic happen.
Looking for more? I’ve also created a Pinterest Board rounding up some amazing wedding cake focal moment designs. Check that out right here!
Fresh Florals + Sugar Flowers = CAKE LOVE
Alright, so I’m pretty confident that I’ve never seen a more gorgeous wedding cake than this one. Everything about it was divine, but just overall the way Jenna styled the fresh florals with sugar flowers and fruit was just glorious. Totally, totally glorious. It took centre stage on an equally beautiful dessert table and we didn’t add any extra major floral moments, because the cake itself was perfection.
Of course you’ll want to see this entire wedding at The White Poplar, which you can find here.
Little Cake, Big Style
This was just a simple Baked Expectations carrot cake but we really went for it on the flowers. This was a completely floral foam-free cake surround — I don’t like foam ever, but I would never use it near a cake. It’s just straight up cancer chemical plastic…no bueno. So this was designed in mixed sizes of vases and little chicken wire rolls! Here’s a look at how we designed it!
Bonus: If you’re an interior design lover, then shop your home! This table is from Brenna’s living room and it was totally perfect.
Slide it Under the Arch
Well, this is one we’ll never forget! The ceremony arch was set up in the Concert Ballroom at the Fort Garry, and then dinner was in the Crystal Ballroom down the hallway. That gave the perfect amount of time to flip the ceremony space into an afterparty and slid the cake under the arch.
Hot dang you guys. The cake itself was a remarkable 6 tiered showstopper, and under this 12 foot tall arch, it was a SERIOUS moment.
See more from Karleigh and Matt’s luxurious Fort Garry Hotel wedding here!
Re-Using Your Ceremony Setting
If your ceremony and reception venues are in the same space, then you literally have to think no further than adding a cocktail table with a gorgeous linen to use as a cake table, and sliding that right under or in front of your ceremony floral feature.
Set at The Novella, this editorial shoot featured a super cute circular ceremony platform with a hanging floral installation above. It was a no-brainer to re-use this as the perfect setting for the gorgeous cake (but if it was your wedding, you’d probably want those ceremony chairs taken out!).
Pies and Flowers
So if you’re doing a dessert table of any kind (in this case, pies and donuts), you have the opportunity to make it a fun and interactive display, more than just a buffet line like you’d see at a social.
First, I love the way the treats are all displayed on various crates and cake plates to give height and visual appeal.
We added ground-based floral pieces to both sides of the table, kind of moving around the front of the table. Lots of movement and height, super textural, tying through the colour palette…it looked gorgeous, if I may say so myself.
If you’re doing large aisle pieces, this could be the perfect way to repurpose them!
See more from Stephanie and Tiff’s rainy fall wedding at Pineridge Hollow here!
Simple and Romantic
Even if your cake is on the simpler side, you don’t need to scrimp on style! The hand painted petal detailing on the cake was light and romantic, so we wanted to mimic that with a frilly petal design on the cake table itself.
This was also a cute way to fill the table, without adding a ton of cost to your budget! And of course, it also makes for a super pretty addition to those champagne tower pouring photos 😍
More coming from this editorial soon!
Summer Colour
I loved the juicy pops of colour on this cake! I wanted to create a partial floral surround and just load it full of colourful blooms, and I used a lot of locally grown deliciousness for it.
This is a great design if you’re opting for the traditional cake-cutting moment, because you’ve got easy-access to most of the cake but still have the eye-catching florals.
See the rest of this cute and colourful editorial here!
Rose Garden Vibes
Marisa requested a straight-up rose garden for her wedding cake. Ummm YOU GOT IT.
This would be another perfect way to repurpose those aisle flowers! You’ll just want to make sure that your floral designer and your wedding planner connect regarding the scale — the florals can’t be too low to the ground, the cake table can’t be too high, etc.!
See more from this lovely all-white wedding at St Charles Golf Course here!
looking for a wedding floral and event designer in winnipeg?
My 2024 bookings are now open!
Call me biased, but I think flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. I would love the creative challenge of taking your wedding vision and spinning it into a reality that you never could have dreamed of.
Rainy Fall Wedding at Pineridge Hollow
After a Covid postponement and an intimate wedding the woods, it felt like it was high time for Tiffany and Stephanie to be able to celebrate their wedding with ALL their loved ones. It was mid-September, with a moody and rich colour palette, and some surprise rain.
After a Covid postponement and an intimate wedding the woods, it felt like it was high time for Tiffany and Stephanie to be able to celebrate their wedding with ALL their loved ones. It was mid-September, with a moody and rich colour palette, and some surprise rain.
The design was rich, dramatic, and warm — and also completely cozy.
Photos: Megan Steen Photography
Their Covid wedding was also GORGEOUS. It was an intimate day at Wild Skies Resort — see it here!
One of the things I really admire about the way Emily from Feast & Festivities designs is the strategic way she uses colour. Take this magenta, for example: she wanted to use this bright pop, but obviously it’s the type of colour that can very quickly take over a palette. So we added just a few touches into the florals, and like how totally perfect is that velvet ribbon around the invite?
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: This was another bouquet that was mostly locally grown — woo woo! Zinnias, scabiosa, lisianthus, amaranthus, ninebark, yellow and burgundy smoke bush, and I added in imported garden roses, pepper berry, and viburnum berries.
Welcome to Pineridge Hollow like you’ve never seen it before.
It can be hard to re-envision a space that has been doing weddings for so long. We certainly don’t want your wedding to look or feel like every other wedding, so we’ve got to find ways to bring your style into it.
For this wedding, the floor plan, the tent entrance, and the ceiling greenery and lights made the biggest differences. Steph and Tiff (and their guests) aren’t huge dancers, so instead they set up multiple cozy lounges for hanging out. The mix of banquet, round, and cocktail tables brought a lot of visual interest and depth through mixed (but still elegant) linens. And the ceiling greenery, well. Chef’s kiss, right there. A huge thank you to Event Light for adding the cable for us to work from!
I love this floor plan! I’m always down for a mix of table shapes, because it creates a lot of interest and movement, and also allows people to interact in different ways. A sea of the same thing over and over gets really boring, really quickly. It can also be a clever way to maximize your space.
Okay friends, here are the elements of this wedding that you’re going to want to steal if this is the look you’re going for: romantic lighting and plenty of candles, velvet textures, moody linens (these deep emerald linens are gorgeous!), and a few pops of something jewel toned in the flowers to bring it all to life. Once again, CHEF’S KISS.
Megan Steen Photography ~ FEast & FEstivities ~ Pineridge Hollow ~ Stone House Creative ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Event Light ~ Trend Decor ~ Bailey Vanderveen ~ Hair by Guy Lemieux
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?
2024 wedding dates are now booking! Whether it’s an intimate wedding for 30 or a celebration the likes of which have never been seen before, 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!