Modern Meets Whimsical Wedding at the WAG

Jess and Nick’s wedding took place on the literal hottest day of 2023. 🫠 But we loved it anyway!

The overall design vision called for a modern, intimate feeling wedding (yet with a full guest list) that incorporated garden-inspired whimsy.

With the venue being at the Art Gallery, we didn't have a clue what the exhibit was going to be in the gallery where the reception would be, so we just had to roll with the designing and hope that it worked out in the end — the clean, feminine design style ended up working really well with the bold and colourful exhibit, and the last minute addition of hints of lime added a lot of fun that played off the artwork really well.

Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography

With all the florals, I wanted to warm up whites with taupe and added in accents of lime. The bouquets ended up looking so fantastic with the selection of bridesmaid dresses!

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: white dahlias, sahara roses, white lisianthus, brown lisianthus, white iris, green amaranthus, white sweet pea, and phalaenopsis orchids.

Jessica's gown is an Alex Perry gown, which she selected from LOHO Bride in LA. It was the perfect combination of classic A-line meets super chic, with a sleek bust line.

Each of the bridesmaids wore a unique dress from different designers, in a kind of mushroom palette (cream, taupe, mocha). They were all floor length, but different silhouettes. The girls looked so great that you'd have no clue it was the hottest day of the entire summer! 

We fully sought to blend modern, classic, and garden-inspired design at Jess and Nick's wedding, and the florals and decor were a major component of this.

I love a groom who sheds a few tears. My husband bawled our entire wedding day so seeing Nick tear up is so sweet to me!

The ceremony took place on the WAG rooftop, focusing on a classic black garden arch with whimsical, locally grown florals growing up and around. We included plenty of lime amaranthus, green and white hydrangea, white and brown lisianthus, and Queen Anne's Lace. Several arrangements were also clustered together at the front of the aisle, both had their fair share of work contending with the wind to stay where we wanted them. 

And hello to that cute petal toss bar! Prior to guests walking onto the WAG rooftop statue garden, they stopped at a Petal Toss bar, filling up paper cones with cream and blush petals. Luckily one of the photographer assistants reminded a few guests to actually go ahead and toss them, and it made for such a sweet ambiance while the newlyweds walked down the aisle.

And now to downstairs! The reception took place in the former Eckhardt Hall on the main floor of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, featuring a clever floor plan utilizing banquet tables and round tables, and a combination of grey smoke acrylic chairs, gold chivari chairs, and grey banquette seating.

Have I mentioned frequently enough how much I LOVE an interesting floor plan? It creates so much interest in a room, allowing the eye to move or pause, prompting conversation or comfort or dancing depending on where you are in the room.

Notable design elements include: a double-sided seating display (I LOVED the placement of the seating chart at the front of the room!), statement bar florals, fruit incorporated into the tablescape to satisfy Jess's last minute request for some lime green accents, ribbed glass elements, and primarily white florals.

We repurposed the ceremony arch to the cake display (see below!) and the aisle arrangements to the base of the seating chart.

One of the things we need to consider when repurposing an arch is accounting for additional stems to allow us to replace flowers that are spent — especially when the ceremony was outdoors on a hot day. We spent about half an hour moving the ceremony florals from the rooftop down to the main floor, and then refreshing the arch with new blooms.

This might be something that needs to be budgeted for extra, or it might just be something your florist will include in the cost of the arch. Just know that it’s something you definitely want!

The cake and desserts display was set up in the entrance to the Hall, cleverly planned to repurpose the ceremony florals behind while taking up as little space in the floor plan as possible. Trays of mini cheesecakes, cookie sandwiches, cupcakes, and chocolate-dipped pretzels were styled on black and glass shelving and on cream and black ribbed pedestals. 

A small vintage-inspired cutting cake (funfetti flavour!) was set on a pedestal, under their repurposed ceremony arch, which made for a super cute photo opp.

Brittany Mahood Photography ~ Soiree Event Planning ~ Winnipeg Art Gallery ~ Karta House ~ Union Table ~ Event Light ~ Beyond the Lounge ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Trend Decor ~ Prep Hair ~ Bailey DelBigio ~ Rhyme & Rhythm

---

Looking for a Wedding Floral & Event Designer in Winnipeg?

Dates at the Winnipeg Art Gallery book quickly, and we’re one of their top designers! Reach out to inquire about your date availability.

Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to find out how we can create the perfect ambiance for your wedding.

15 Winnipeg Wedding Vendors You Need to Know

Okay listen. I’m a little anxious about publishing this blog post because there are a LOT of great wedding vendors in Winnipeg (and the surrounding areas). It pains me to not include everyone that I love working with because there are MANY of you. I thought about breaking this out into vendor categories, or doing it as more of a list style, and when it came down to it, I thought:

I’m going to include the vendors who I feel go out of their way to consistently elevate their work, and thereby elevate our industry as a whole.

Brittany Mahood Photography

This is a huge point for me. The wedding industry and Winnipeg are kind of the same in that they’re “big small worlds,” if that makes sense. There’s not many of us, but there’s also a lot of us. There are automatically different levels of professionalism, different levels of service, different groups of vendors who frequently work together, different styles and aesthetics. I’m always seeking excellence in my own work, and I want to be surrounded by other professionals who also seek a similar excellence.

We have an incredibly talented industry. These are simply vendors who I love and have noticed doing amazing, amazing work.

I also need to give the caveat that I have next to no interaction with many vendors whose work happens DURING the wedding — caterers, bar service, DJ, etc. As a result, I have not included these types of vendors.

There are so many other incredible wedding professionals in this town and if you need a referral for anything, don’t hesitate to ask! For example, photographers and videographers. There are easily 5 other photographers I could have included on this list, who I love working with and always do an amazing job. I say it again, if you need a referral, ask away!

If you’re searching for your wedding venue, you can find a list of all my favourite Winnipeg and area wedding venues here.

Brittany Mahood Photography

Event Light

Event Light is PHENOMENAL. And they do a lot more than just lighting (though they do that exceptionally!). Here’s why I love Event Light:

They are behind most of the rigging that I’ve created hanging installations on. Cam, the owner, is just brilliant and has done such an amazing job of figuring out what is needed to create a structure for me to work on. I trust him implicitly. And he didn’t make fun of me when I terribly drove around a scissor lift for this tent wedding (at least not to my face).

The Event Light crew is pretty decently large, and they’re all so great! They’re efficient, kind, hard working, and they always know what they’re doing. They also seem to always be having a great time and to genuinely enjoy working with each other.

Lighting. Obviously. As well as the audio visual side of things. They just know what they’re doing, how to do it, and they do it all REALLY REALLY WELL. And what they do, always elevates the event in question.

Brittany Mahood Photography

Planned Perfectly

It’s very rare when I work on a wedding that Planned Perfectly isn’t. There are a lot of reasons why.

First, Kylee and her team are awesome. They’ve always got a smile on their faces and a joke at the ready. They’re also courteous and aware of what’s going on around them, so they do their best not to hold up anyone else’s work, resulting in a much more streamlined day for you (whether you know it or not!). Their day-of service is unparalleled.

Planned Perfectly’s inventory is really lovely — they’re the best at draping, their linens are high quality and current design styles, and they regularly update their products (though they’re not always reflected on their site — be sure to reach out to them for all of the details on what they have). For example, they have a fantastic collection of glassware, flatware, and dishware, along with their linens, chairs, and finishing touches.

Their smoke glassware is my personal favourite and I cannot tell you how many times I’ve used their taupe panama table linen!

Brittany Mahood Photography

---

Paper & PalM

Really fantastic custom wedding stationery has always been hard to consistently find in Winnipeg. We’ve had a number of great designers over the years, but for one reason or an other, they’ve left the industry. We’ve also got a lot of great stationers who will take your idea and replicate it really well, but searching for truly custom, with inspired ideas and elevated taste, has been a harder find. When I came across Paper & Palm at the Wonderful Wedding Show last winter, I got so excited. I’d seen Paula’s work on instagram beforehand, but seeing it in person was fantastic.

Paper and Palm’s work features high end details, creative touches, elevated style…it’s everything that you want. I’ve only worked with her a couple of times, but I hope for many more opportunities to tag team weddings and events together!

Michael + Melanie Photography

---

Beyond the Lounge

Beyond the Lounge doesn’t have an enormous inventory appropriate for weddings (lots of great options for corporate events and trade shows), but what they do have is awesome. Their smoke grey acrylic Lotus dining chair is one of my favourites.

Even better, they do an incredible job of maintaining the quality of their inventory. They take such careful care so there are no scratches, dents or dings.

An extra note — I’ve seen and heard Kari and her team during setups and tear-downs. She speaks so kindly to them, training them well and treating them with respect. It doesn’t always seem like that’s a guarantee these days, so this is an extra perk of Beyond the Lounge in my opinion. The photos below are from one of my favourite weddings I’ve ever done.

Joel & Justyna Photography

---

Soiree Event Planning

I’ve been working with Soiree since my very young days, when I was working at a local wedding magazine and not even in flowers yet! From Soiree’s inception, owner Andrea has set the standard in Winnipeg for event planning. Her team is constantly upping the game, with very high touch service and are highly regarded in our industry.

While I appreciate all things logistical that they excel at (and they certainly do excel at the communication and logistics side of their job!), one thing I noticed consistently this year more than ever before is their team’s creative designs. I’ll be honest with you, it’s not the easiest job to design amazing wedding after amazing wedding and still keep things fresh (especially when you’re working in a smaller market with a smaller rental inventory available at your disposal, like ours!). I’m constantly amazed at how great of a job they do taking the same pieces but reinventing them to create a completely unique design. They’re not interested in giving their clients something that other couples have had before, so they work really hard in this regard.

Brittany Mahood Photography

---

Rae & Dot

Hello fun and modern design!! I don’t know why the wedding stationery world seems to favour trite, dated, and quite frankly, tacky invitation styles. Lexi and Robyn have a current, fresh design style and know what little details to use to create an invite suite that just looks good.

Rae & Dot offers both custom design and a semi-customizable collection, each with different colourways and paper shapes, so even if you don’t have it in the budget to do a custom suite, you can create a custom-feeling piece. A few years ago, they designed a custom suite for one of my couples and we included stickers and they were just the fricking cutest things.

Then they’ve also got all the little stationery pieces that really tie an event together, like signage and menus and so on.

I actually designed Lexi’s wedding flowers this past summer, and she did such a fantastic job of curating the entire event design, and you know when a vendor has excellent personal style that they’re going to be able to hone in on something amazing for you, too.

Kass Donaldson Photography

---

Big City All Star Band

So I don’t ever actually get to be part of the reception, and have no idea what goes on once the evening starts. BUT I’ll tell ya this: if I were getting married now, a live band would be a priority for me. And then I’ll tell ya this: I get to listen to a lot of warmups and sound checks, and I always have the MOST fun when Big City is on the stage.

Carlin and his crew do an awesome job of basically any type of music. They’re also friendly, fun, and high energy, which is exactly what you want from a band.

Photos by Brittany Mahood / Planning by Harlow Events

---

Brittany Mahood Photography

I don’t think any of you would be surprised to find Brittany’s name on my list here, because I absolutely love her (both as a person, and as a photographer) AND because she’s amazing.

Brittany’s skill is incredible. Her galleries never miss. You’ll fall in love with her portfolio and the way she captures people, places, and things (especially light), and then you’ll be so thrilled to find out that all of her work is of the same high calibre.

Her work has been recognized nationally and internationally, and it’s always well-deserved.

Brittany shot my maternity photos, she’s taken our family photos, she came to Hawaii for my sister’s wedding…basically I love Brittany. You will, too.

Brittany Mahood Photography

---

Feast & Festivities

I love Emily from Feast & Festivities, and have so much admiration for both how she does her work, and the final product. I know it’s kind of strange to hear your wedding referred to as a “final product,” but when you have a creative at the helm who pours herself into conceptualizing every single element and detail, it’s the right phrase. Your wedding is the result of a LOT of hard work.

Emily is really easy to get along with. She’s got a fantastic and surprising sense of humour and a really nice energy. She’s calm and kind, a necessity for couples who are feeling stressed out and need someone to lead them in their planning.

Another of Emily’s strengths is her ability to design a wedding. Dang, is she ever good at this. She truly does think of every single thing, and really excels at bringing YOU into your wedding design. It’s not just a good looking event; it’s YOURS. She also works on a lot of custom projects for her weddings, particularly in personalizing stationery and signage elements.

Emily only takes a small number of weddings each year, and she just pours her heart into each of them. I know she’s booked for 2024 but if you’re looking for 2025, you should reach out asap.

Megan Steen Photography

---

Lovenote Bride

Excuse me — Canadian designed and made wedding dresses? And they’re stunning?

While not based in Winnipeg, Lovenote opened a Winnipeg store about a year and a half ago. It’s in the Johnston Terminal at the Forks, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. Modern, chic, filled with natural light, TONS of space in the fitting rooms.

Their gowns are stunning. That’s all I can say.

OH and the store manager just so happens to be a friend of mine, Erika. She’s a truly wonderful person, and does an amazing job of making women feel as beautiful as they deserve to.

Aimee De La Lande Photo

---

Jenna Rae Cakes

Do I have a slight bias because I’ve been close friends with Ashley for almost 15 years, or because I was Jenna’s first part-time employee when she opened the bakery? Yes. Does it matter? No. And here’s why.

Everything that JRC does, including but not limited to their weddings, is done with excellence. The production value is incredibly high, and while I know that “production value” of a wedding is not (and should not be) the most important thing to you on your wedding day, it should also be an incredible relief to know that you absolutely do not need to micromanage, worry, or concern yourself about anything where Jenna Rae Cakes is concerned.

Unfortunately, I have a gluten allergy. That means I haven’t been able to eat anything of Jenna’s in about 9 years. But back in those days…woah baby. Was I a happy girl! If I were getting married now, and I didn’t have a gluten allergy, I’d promptly be ordering a lemon raspberry cake from JRC — that lemon curd is SO GOOD.

Izabela Rachwal Photography

---

Cathy Wiebe Clothes

Custom wedding gown and accessory design unlike anything you’ve experienced before. And I guess if you haven’t had a custom made gown before, then of course you’d have no experience to compare it to, but I can tell you from personal experience: Cathy’s level of service and her skills are incredible.

Many many years ago, Cathy made my high school grad dress. I loved it. And I’m telling you, it was a really really long time ago. In the almost 2 decades that have passed since then (☠️), she’s refined and practised her skills and really come into her own. I can always tell a Cathy gown when I see one. She’s not afraid to tell you about the late nights and the chaos that comes with her job, which I actually really appreciate — the art of a true artist isn’t necessarily completed in a typical 9-5 working day.

One of Cathy’s amazing skills is embroidery. Several of my past clients have had her embroidery work on their veils and dresses, adding flowers (including specific flowers I was using in their bouquets to tie it all together!! Talk about that customization!!) and even words and monograms into her bride’s pieces. These are literal works of art.

Also, and this may sound strange (I’ll have to hear what Cathy says about it!), I find Cathy’s work on sleeves to be really amazing. Look at Vanessa’s belled sleeves below and tell me this is anything short of divine and I won’t believe you.

Kass Donaldson Photography

---

Megan Steen Photography

Megan is one of those people who can see the beauty in anyone and everything around her. She’s refreshingly true and kind, and I think that filters through her camera. She’s welcoming, and not in your face, and isn’t going to make you pose awkwardly. All perks :) She’s down to earth and comfortable to be around. And she often has a pretty quick turnaround time on photos!

Something that’s unique about Megan is the way she loves the world. She loves people, yes, but she also loves the earth and she’s pretty vocal about it. I’m always seeking to work as environmentally-friendly as possible (it’s surprisingly hard in the floral industry!), and Megan prioritizes a very low-waste approach to life and work. She also loves being in nature, and that translates through her photos. You can just SEE her love for the natural world in her imagery — even if you’re the focus of the photo.

Megan and her partner also run another business, Wild Skies Resort. It’s an eco-friendly glamping resort that is incredibly beautiful and cool. I’ve had multiple couples take their honeymoons here, and have absolutely loved it. She’s another one of those professionals who only take on a few weddings each season, and she travels widely, so be sure to get in touch.

---

Alli Mae Events

I LOVE working with Alli. When clients ask me about her, I often describe her as the tiniest person who gets the most done. She’s this tiny bundle of incredible energy and strength.

Alli and her team are fun to be around (a vendor team who has a good time working on your wedding is a major plus! That’s the kind of atmosphere you want) and they’ve always got an “I can do this” attitude, no matter how big the task is.

I appreciate how organized Alli Mae Events is. You’d think, “shouldn’t all wedding planners be organized?” And the answer is yes. But Alli’s got a really great system, which empowers all your vendors to be able to do their job to the fullest, while also freeing up her own time on the wedding day so she can focus on what SHE needs to get done, and not just answer questions from everyone else.

---

MYUZ Artistry

Winnipeg has a lot of phenomenal makeup (and hair!) artists. Like, so so many. One of my favourites is Myuz.

If you’re a skincare aficionado, or if, like me, you have struggled with acne (or something else skin related) for most of your life, then Myuz needs to become part of your regular budget. Whether you’re getting married or not, healthy skin makes a person feel so much more confident and Myuz is the top for skincare. But if you ARE getting married, then you also need to check them out for makeup.

My clients who’ve chosen to work with Myuz are often the happiest with their makeup, and very frequently I have asked someone, “who did your makeup?!” and the response has usually been, “Tina!”

---

LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

We’re connected with many of the best wedding professionals in Winnipeg. We can partner with them to create the wedding of your dreams!

Call me 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! 

Energetic, Colourful Wedding at the Gates on Roblin

If you’re a lover of colour and fun design elements, then get your pinning fingers ready because you’re going to love Erin and Daniel’s wedding at the Gates on Roblin.

They hired me for full floral and event design and I was so excited to get started. I collaborated with their event planner, Alli Mae Events, who took such awesome care of all the logistics so I could focus on the visuals. It was a dream.

The most fun couple, the life of the party. Just wait til you see their chaotic and sweaty dance floor pics.

Photos by Picture & Poet

Helllloooooo super fun and dramatic ceremony!

The ceremony design was Erin’s first priority, and in fact, when we first met to discuss their flowers and overall event design, the only inspiration images she had were of ceremonies. They wanted The Gates to not look like The Gates. We had some logistical challenges to figure out (namely, the ceremony and reception were taking place in the same room and would require a complete flip during cocktail hour).

I immediately knew that I wanted to create a really cool aisle. At first we looked into building a platform aisle and painting it in this magenta tone, but that wasn’t a logistical feasibility. Then, knowing that the aisle would also become the dance floor, we decided to explore a patterned decal. We worked with Two Fold Paper Co on all the stationery, including the pattern for the aisle (we just adjusted the scale of it to ensure it wouldn’t make people dizzy on the aisle!).

My original plan was also to hang flower clouds above the aisle, but I didn’t end up pitching it due to budget constraints. Cue my excitement when, maybe 6 or so weeks before the wedding, Erin asked if we could add hanging flowers above the aisle. HELLO. Yes. The answer is yes. The BTS of how I made this is actually my highest performing reel of all time, in case you want to check it out here!

Now, I am no photoshop or canva expert. In fact, we all laughed at the rendering I put together below (it’s like my favourite ugly child…like it’s kind of pathetic but I’m also so proud of it and it took me forever lol) BUT can we acknowledge that the mockup was SO close to reality? I’m so pleased with this before/after and how this ceremony design all came together.

We had Creating a Scene custom-paint the seating chart signs in the palette, which we actually installed double-sided so we could have the late night treat menu displayed on it.

For the bridesmaids (all Erin’s beautiful sisters!), we designed single-variety bouquets and I love how chic they were with the women’s black dresses.

Have I mentioned before how much I love a room reveal moment? Eek ✨✨ The middle image above is Erin and me locking eyes and both being so freaking excited about how gorgeous and how perfectly them it all was.

Once the ceremony was over, the drape came down to reveal the dining tables, which we had to shift into place and finish setting during cocktail hour. There was a lot of running around, but it worked so smoothly.

We chose a combination of long tables and round, with coordinating dusty rose velvet linens and toffee belize linens. I chose a white chivari chair for its' clean, classic appeal, and added in taper candles in 4 coordinating shades of the palette.

We wanted to add touches of the wavy stationery trend, so we played with that on the personalized menus, and we backed the table numbers with the same graphic print as the aisle decal.

The party was of utmost importance. They wanted fun food, killer music, and an amazing dance party. As you can see, mission accomplished. I wish I was there for this part — they obviously had the best time. I love the enormous cut outs of their head (my husband suggested we also make decals of their faces to stick on the bathroom mirrors but that got vetoed), and we really went all for it with the late night snacks. All their favourite junk food was served, including McDonald’s blizzards with custom E&D wrappers.

This was truly such a fun wedding to get to be part of. The couple knew that having a great time (both for themselves and their guests!) was their top priority and really let that influence all the design related decisions that we made. They are also enjoyable people to be around and to work with. Thank you, Erin and Daniel, for trusting me with your design and being such wonderful people!

Once again, I absolutely couldn’t have done this alone! A big thanks to my team who worked a long day to make this amazing design happen; Deanna, Vanessa, Emily, Fareedah — you guys are the MVPs!

Picture & Poet ~ Alli Mae Events ~ Stone House Creative ~ The Gates on Roblin ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Creating a Scene ~ Collective Rentals ~ Spark REntals ~ Something Borrowed ~ Union Table ~ Myuz Artistry ~ Fifth ~ Big City All Star Band ~ Two Fold Paper Co

---

LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

Dates book fast at the Gates on Roblin! Contact us today about availability.

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! 

Top Trends for 2024 and 2025 Winnipeg Weddings

I always love forecasting wedding trends, so here we go!

---

Writing my annual wedding trends post is one of my favourite posts to work on. It’s fun to see how many of my couples of digging into “trends,” and TBH it’s also kind of fun for me to hate on trends that other people are talking about. Not all trends are good trends, friends.

I focus on the design-related trends here. There are lots of other cool trends you might consider adding to your wedding — the audio guestbook, for example, or having a content creator with you all day long. I’m just going to stay in my lane, and talk about pretty things.

Photo above by Three Photography

---

As always, before I jump into some of my favourite trends that I hope we’ll see in 2024 and 2025 weddings, here are a few things that are always at the top of my list:

• Environmental Responsibility

• Quality Over Quantity

• Locally Grown Flowers

• Doing Things Your Own Way

I just read a quote the other day encouraging couples planning their weddings: “You can’t please everyone, so please yourself. Trying to make every family member and guest happy can lead to a wedding that doesn’t reflect you two as a couple. Focus on what makes you happy.” So my friends, if you don’t like what I have to say here, that’s TOTALLY FINE. You do you, my friends. Make your wedding the greatest it can be, for you.

Oh, and I am still obsessed with the trends that we talked about last year; in fact, I inclulded a few of them here again! Check that out here if you want.

And now, let’s get into the pretty and inspirational! (And PS — if you’re newly engaged, congratulations! If you’re new here, welcome! I share a deep look into my real weddings, along with sharing planning advice and tips!)

---

Photo by Liz Andolina / Design by Trille Floral and Winsome Floral

Sculptural Floral Design

We’re seeing unique shapes, funky ingredients and textures and REALLY letting the flowers shine. There’s no micromanaging with this — we’re beholden to what cool ingredients we can get, so a client cannot be particular if this is the style they want. 

And after so many years of “just a little greenery,” I cannot tell you how truly thrilled FLORAL DESIGNERS are to see a return to actual floral design. 

Flower.Rzy

LVB Design House / Paige Vaughn Photo

Focal Design Moments

Let’s favour a few focal floral features and minimize other elements. I always look to Australian wedding trends; trends often start there and work their way here — and we’re seeing a lot of abundant, over the top hanging installations, focal floral arrangements, and then somewhat minimized tabletops for banquet tables. Statements moments like a hanging piece, a killer entrance moment, a spectacular cake set up…chef’s kiss.

Sweet Root Village / Grit & Grace / Abby Jiu

Mono-Bloom Bouquets

We’ve been seeing mono-bloom bridesmaid bouquets popping up more and more on Instagram, and I’m all for it. Basically, this means we take one specific flower type for each bridesmaid, giving them each a unique bouquet, and then tying it all together with your bouquet.

I really love that we can create very different vibes with this — whimsical and gardeny, modern and sleek, obviously hitting different parts of your colour palette…it’s all good and I’d love to do more of it.

We’re also still scaling back on bouquet size, aiming for a more petite feel.

Fontana Florals

Creative Seating Plans

An amazing floor plan is like a love language to someone who works in events. A plan that creates visual interest in the room and allows for multiple different design elements, at the same time as allowing for excellent flow, is the absolute dream.

We’re talking differently shaped and sized tables, mixed cocktail and full size tables, introducing interesting seating elements (as long as they’re still comfortable!) and you have got yourself one heck of a good base for your event design.

The Lillipillian

Colour

Neon.

K now don’t get too worried — this isn’t going to be a widespread trend. But I’m really excited to see some hints of neon working their way into fun, bold wedding palettes. Note that this will be hard to do with flowers, so this is something to consider bringing in with candles, vases, stationery, and so on.

Are these acrylic place mats not DIVINE?!

Outside of just neon, I’m thinking we’re going to keep seeing a lot of orange — mostly just in accents, but it’s presence will be felt.

The Naked Florist

Meandering Aisles

This isn’t exactly anything new, but I’ve been noticing more and more ceremony designs making use of the space they have by creating a meandering aisle. This means that your chairs are not perfectly aligned, instead creating a wave pattern that then allows your floral designer to tuck floral arrangements into. Note that you’re going to need a lot of space to do this, and it will not work in every setting as a result.

Always Yours Events

Unique Draping

This one is a bit harder because it really hinges on your venue, but I’m seeing a lot of really interesting, unique draping installations and I’m HERE for it. Why?

Draping can create a really cool ambiance, and completely change the vibe of the space. Dreamy, modern, organic, clean…all things possible with drapery. And no unsightly venue walls to contend with.

Photography by Jolaika / Sugar & Salt / Feast & Festivities

Bow Creative / Merve Togan

Bows

This one comes to us from my friend Emily at Feast & Festivities:

Bows are a timeless design (they're never out of style), but this year they are making a statement. Big bows and dainty bows, you'll find them tied around the stems of champagne coupes, on the shoulders of gowns, on wine bottles, and adorning anything from menus to cakes and floral installations.

---

looking for a wedding floral designer in winnipeg?

We can design an incredibly beautiful wedding for you, trendy or not.

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!

---

Colourful and Fun Winnipeg Art Gallery Wedding

It’s always fun to design for someone I know! Katelin is my brother-in-law’s sister, so I was excited about this Winnipeg Art Gallery wedding from the start. It also became the perfect combination of elements — an art museum, juicy colour, a collab with Soiree Event Planning, my cute niece and nephew as the flower girl and ring bearer…everything was awesome!

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you’ll know I’m an unapologetic colour lover. This wedding shows you exactly why!

Photos by Cojo Photography

Another day, another one of my favourite colour palettes 😍😍 Katelin was totally on board for colour and I was thrilled. She was really drawn to oranges, and Soiree created this lovely palette of lavenders, peaches, a pop of orange so it wasn’t overwhelming, and a nice base of soft pinks. Some people think neutrals are only white/grey/beige…in my opinion, soft pink is totally a neutral.

Another bonus of August weddings — the LOCAL FLOWERS. Ugh they just make all the difference in the world. We had a ton of locally grown goods for this wedding.

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Locally grown foxglove, sweet pea, zinnias, and lisianthus along with cafe latte garden roses, anemones, and ranunculus.

(Pause for a moment to notice my ADORABLE (sassy) niece as flower girl!!)

This ceremony arch was so delicious. We’ve designed similar styles many times, but never in this palette and it was SO juicy and yummy. We wanted it to be fuller at the base and lighter at the top, in part because we were on the WAG rooftop, so we needed to heavily weight the base and ensure it was sturdy enough to not blow over.

Those orange dahlias were total perfection, and added just the right change in texture to pop in here.

Excuse the interruption while I tell you WHY YOU ABSOLUTELY WANT TO HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER. There’s no knowing what’s going to happen at your wedding. For example, there might be a wasp infestation…

While we were setting up the ceremony, there were a few wasps buzzing around and then a few more and then a few more…and I thought “this seems like more than usual” while Deanna was this close to losing her ever-loving mind over them. I walked over to the stone/tree area along the side of the rooftop, and realized I could hear a lot of buzzing. There were hundreds of wasps. I’m known for exaggeration, but there were HUNDREDS.

I went to Andrea from Soiree right away and let her know that we had an issue. And professional that she is, they took care of it. They had to call in an exterminator, who came in SO quickly, and move the cocktail hour from the rooftop to the Skylight Gallery. There were still wasps buzzing around during the ceremony BUT not a single sting because they had been sprayed and were on their way out. Soiree took care of all of this behind the scenes, and didn’t even worry the couple with the details.

SO YEAH. Hire a wedding planner. I’ve got a few recommendations for planners that we love, if you want (and yes, Soiree is on that list!).

Can we take a moment to talk about HOW LUCKY we got with the artwork in Eckhardt Hall?! Dang. One of the things about having a wedding in an art gallery is that you never know what the artwork itself is going to be. I know this very vibrant, colour-celebrating exhibit isn’t ideal for everyone but it was incredibly perfect for Katelin and Derek.

One of the design elements I was MOST looking forward to for Katelin and Derek’s wedding was the base palette of monochromatic pinks at the reception: light pink linen, pink glassware, pink vases, and then of course, tying pink into the flowers with vibrant pops of orange and lavender.

I LOVE how this gave a soft and fresh feeling base for the entire event — definitely something to consider for yourself!

A lot of the time, people get stuck in the idea of “white plus my accent colours” or “our main colour is x and therefore that’s what our linen needs to be.” That’s not necessarily true — I think it can work a lot better if you choose something as your neutral, and use it heavily as a base throughout. Then add your primary colour as a focal point but in fewer areas, and that’s what’s going to pop! Like here, the neutral is the soft pink, and the focal colour(s) are the lavender and orange.

Katelin comes from a family of dance-loving people — I wish I could have been there to see it in person! I am a horrible dancer, but I do love it and wish that I could. At my sister and brother-in-law’s wedding, their parents and friends just had their way with the dance floor and it was so impressive.

A huge thanks to my amazing team of freelancers who helped make this floral magic come together! My associate designer Deanna, Andrea from Addison Taylor Designs, and Andrea from Cameo Flowers. The WAG has a shorter setup timeline (which makes sense, they are open to the public during the day!), so when it comes time to setup, it’s GO TiME and all hands on deck. So grateful for these hands and the way they made my vision come together.

Cojo Photo ~ Soiree Event Planning ~ Winnipeg ARt Gallery ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective event rentals ~ Event Light ~ Bailey Delbigio ~ Taylor Neufeld Hair ~ DJ Sir Charles ~ Keith MacPherson

---

LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

Getting married at the WAG? Stone House is one of their preferred vendors, and in our completely biased opinion, we’re the best at bringing the space to life 😎

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!