How Much Do Wedding Flowers Cost? Warm Neutral Wedding Reception at Novella

It’s not all that frequent that I get to design the entire reception from start to finish, and I really enjoy digging into that complete process. For this warm, neutral wedding reception at Novella, I started with a brief overview of the colour palette and textural elements I wanted to highlight.

As I got going, I knew I wanted to share a glance at the real life costs behind a reception design like this. Many of my clients come to me asking for designs like this, but have no frame of reference for pricing. So, let’s jump into the design and then the cost!

PS - If you’re wondering, YES, I do offer event design services where I can do this for you! Find more info here. I take on a maximum of 3 event design clients per year and I do require that I’m designing your florals, too.

Photos by Vanessa Renae Photography

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The Design Plan

Below you’ll get a glimpse at the brief visual overview I created to help guide my decision making. I find this to be a really important step that a lot of people overlook when planning their weddings. Anyone can make a pinterest board but it’ll likely still feel disparate, disjointed because it’s usually lacking that thread that ties everything together. A single page, just a few images and colour swatches, is one of the first things I do when working through event design, to set the mood, confirm colouring, and keep my design goals in mind.

For this wedding reception design, I had a few things in mind: mostly warm, neutral tones with touches of cool blue added in, multi-tonal drapery above the tables to soften the industrial ceiling and warm up the white walls, and bringing in natural textures through stone elements.

When it came to the floor plan, I really didn’t need to go this all-out as this was an editorial shoot. But, I believe strongly in doing things right the first time (when I’m tempted to be lazy, this always rings through my thoughts!) and I think that a photo shoot with 1 single table looks, quite frankly, dumb. It doesn’t give a potential couple a proper frame for how the entire wedding could look, and it doesn’t give the wedding professionals imagery that actually reflects the reality of our work.

Novella works amazingly as a single space for both ceremony and reception for an intimate wedding, and the floor plan below is just one example of how you can utilize the space.

A few things I knew right away: I wanted to use Collective’s black bentwood chairs because I love them, and the Melodia glassware because they really elevate a design with a subtle, elegant air. I wanted to layer in stone fragments, and thought this would be a great way to catch any candle wax drips.

The Completed Design

Normally I am fully invested in colour, so choosing to work in a neutral palette felt a little out of left field for me. I really enjoyed the warmth that I was able to create — this isn’t yet another basic white and green wedding. The short cappuccino toned candles (I wanted them as stumpy as I could get them) picked up on the brown veining in the pieris and the tulips. This kind of blending and colour play is essential, no matter what your palette is.

Layering in taupe napkins and sand toned vessels added more warmth, and the black cutlery and lamps tied through to the chairs in a clean, simple way.

How Much Does a Wedding Tablescape Cost?

It's important to note that every tablecsape is going to be different in terms of the elements included, the quantities, and additional rental items. For our purposes today, I've included everything that came from me: florals, vases, candles. The glassware, flatware, lamps, napkins, linens, chairs, and stationery would be in addition.

I also want to note that if you're looking to save on your floral budget, long tables may not be the best choice for you. There is simply more empty space on long tables, which makes them really fun to style but would also be more costly.

For each 8 foot table, I included:

1x fuller, low floral arrangement
2x petite flower frog arrangements
2-3x stem vases
4x chunky pillar candles and stone remnants for styling

8 Foot Table Cost: $345

When I first approached Kayla from Sugar & Salt Bakeshoppe about this project, I shared my full design board and asked for a simple, textured buttercream cutting cake. I didn’t want to be an imposition when she was likely already busy. Her response? “Let me put a spin on it and challenge myself!” And look at this stunning masterpiece inspired by the wedding dress we used! What incredible art.

The Bar

Including a bar feature was a must-have for me, to show how we can extend a design further. Collective’s Waverly collection was perfect. We added a champagne tower (one of Vanessa’s only requests!), layered in some stone vases, and repurposed florals from the ceremony aisle to the base of the cake table to make it a moment.

I hope this was helpful to you in your planning! I’ll link a few more budget-related posts below to assist you in building a realistic wedding flower budget. It’ll either come down to “I will pay what I need to in order to get what I want” or “I have $xx to spend, what can I get within that?” My top advice for couples is to be open about your goals and budget when you’re talking with a floral designer. Knowing which way you lean means we can get creative and make sure we’re proposing the best things for you.

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Lead Photo & Host: Vanessa Renae Photography
Floral and Event Design: Stone House Creative
Venue: The Novella
Rentals: Collective Rentals
Drapery and Linens: Planned Perfectly
Stationery: Rae & Dot Studio
Cake: Sugar & Salt BakeShoppe
Hair: Isabel Nayet
Makeup: Jessica K Artistry
Dress: Vintage J Mendel
Jewellery: Mokada Jewelry
Models: @meghanheppner and @brendanzebrynski

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL and Event DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

I love taking a venue and making it into anything but ordinanry.

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! 

Design Notes: Textural Wedding Ceremony Florals at Novella

Last spring, I designed an editorial for Vanessa Renae Photography and a group of photographers who were itching to get creative, and practise some new photography techniques. Vanessa had found this gorgeous blue vintage dress, and then she asked me to take the reigns on the overall design. Needless to say, I had a lot of fun.

Warm browns paired with cool blues, layers of natural textures, minimalistic yet elevated stationery, a dreamy meandering aisle, multi-tonal drapery, it was all so good. A total dream day ✨

Today, I’m sharing some design notes focusing on the ceremony design, featuring textured florals and a natural style.

Photos by Vanessa Renae Photography

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The Design Plan

Every element of this design was envisioned around the dress. I allowed that to take the lead and then found that everything else came together really easily: I wanted to incorporate a lot of airy and natural textures (floaty florals, stone elements) and soften the entire space with modern drapery.

The Completed Design

Layered and multi-tonal draping, a curved aisle, and an organic focal feature at the front were the pieces that came together to really make this ceremony design.

The Novella is a really, really white space. I didn’t want to go fully white with the drape because it would just feel too stark, so Planned Perfectly added panels of this oatmeal toned drape along with the white. The ceilings are Novella are perfect for this! The draping also made for a really cool photo opportunity that I’d encourage photographers to play with a bit.

I came across these pleated paper stands on Amazon and really liked the idea of their shape and texture — ideally they would have been a bit taller, but beggars can’t be choosers all the time. Incorporating large rocks was part of my vision, BUT as we were shooting in the winter, it was a bit tricky. I actually dug these all up from the snow and ice at my parents’ farm! I would have loved even more, to tuck into the aisle, but the rest were fully frozen.

The Aisle

I love a meandering aisle!! That refers to the curved chair placement, instead of lining up all the chairs in straight rows. This gives us a slightly more dynamic walk down the aisle, typically lending a more casual look/less formal. With the shifts in the chair placements, it also gives us varied amounts of space for aisle florals, so you’ll notice that some of these pieces are smaller, some are larger. I personally love the dynamic and visually intriguing effect this creates.

We added in the floor length blue satin bows to the chairs to bring a hint of that watery blue tone, which was great because I didn’t want to use actual blue in the flowers. I kept the aisle floral pieces very airy and textural, primarily using fillers with a few elongated stems here and there to give a floaty butterfly vibe.

(Photo grid above by Kate Elizabeth Photography)

One of the great things about a ceremony design composed of multiple pieces is that gives you lots of options for repurposing at the reception.

We wanted the champagne tower to really be a moment here, so we added 4 mixed size pieces to the base of that table.

I had a few mixed cocktail tables and coffee tables available from the Waverly collection via Collective Event Rentals, and so I popped a few on those tables as well to give it a little more oomph.

Love this bouquet as much as I did? Click the image above to take you a post where I break down the cost and the flowers included!

Lead Photo & Host: Vanessa Renae Photography
Floral and Event Design: Stone House Creative
Venue: The Novella
Rentals: Collective Rentals
Drapery and Linens: Planned Perfectly
Stationery: Rae & Dot Studio
Cake: Sugar & Salt BakeShoppe
Hair: Isabel Nayet
Makeup: Jessica K Artistry
Dress: Vintage J Mendel
Jewellery: Mokada Jewelry
Models: @meghanheppner and @brendanzebrynski

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL and Event DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

I love taking a venue and making it into anything but ordinanry.

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! 

Elegant Fall Wedding with Fun Colour Palette

I’m continuing to catch up on sharing stories from last fall’s weddings, and today we’re looking at Tatiana and Kevin’s! They planned an elegant fall wedding, with a fun colour palette and some moody details.

One of my personal highlights from the day was setting up the ceremony arch. We were working in the garden, enjoying the flowers, and just peeking through the fence at the wedding party taking their photos. They were so happy, so chill, the bridesmaid dress selection was gorgeous, and it looked like they were having just the best day — which is exactly how we want you to feel!

Photos by Brittany Mahood Photography

See what I mean about a fun colour palette and a great combination of bridesmaid dresses? Everything feels rich, layered, with a cinnamon-and-spice vibe. The varied textures and fabrics of the dresses are gorgeous, too, and I happen to think the flowers look quite delicious in those hands.

The Flowers

Moody, elegant, and romantic. Tatiana wanted the flowers to do a lot of the work within the overall design. She liked gardenesque shapes and luscious flower-filled designs. I designed a pretty large bouquet for her, with smaller, coordinating bouquets for the bridesmaids.

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: nina roses, salmon ranunculus, toffee roses, plum scabiosa, plum dahlias, antique carnations, ninebark and nandina foliages.

The Colour Palette

One thing I love about fall weddings is the saturated colour palettes. Now, don’t hear what what I’m not saying: just because it’s fall, doesn’t mean you need to do a Crayola bright orange/red/yellow palette. I will almost never suggest this, because it mostly looks like a Dollarama wedding and that’s just not the vibe.

What I AM saying is, go for the colour. Add in richness and depth with deep shades, add in vibrancy and warmth with something bold, and blend it all together with variegated foliages.

For Tatiana and Kevin’s palette, we planned to use 70% bright and deep reds, with 30% accents of salmon/toffee/blush pink. Her bouquet would not have looked or felt the same without the deep reds/burgundies in there. That result would have been a lot less moody, and it would have been more difficult to create a feeling of elegance. You need some variation and depth to bring that about.

The Ceremony

Let’s pause for a moment and talk about how adorable this flower girl is!! Walking down the aisle and scattering her petals, only to walk back and pick them up. So sweet!

The ceremony was held in the Bonnycastle Gardens at the Manitoba Club, to the sounds of a very cool live jazzy/punk trio and with a fair bit more wind than I like to have 🫠 The welcome sign kept blowing over (granted, it was very lightweight, as they almost always are) but the arch was well weighted down and it stayed put (thank goodness! I could always do without wind!).

The arch was always going to be a focal point. The Garden has a perfect nook that overlooks the Upper Fort Garry gate, and it’s just a really lovely setting! I went for full greenery coverage (with the most delicious nandina foliage) and we went for a little more dark burgundy as the base here, so the golden toffee tones and the bright reds stood out more. One of my favourite elements was the really dark lilies — adding in a star shaped flower here and there can really bring a design to life!

The Reception

Reception time! The reception was in the Provencher Ballroom on the main floor of the Fort Garry, which is conveniently right across the street from the Manitoba Club. This meant that we could set up the reception while the ceremony was going on, then pop across the street to grab the arch post-ceremony, and wheel it into the Provencher Room on trolleys! I’ll tell you what, it’s pretty fun crossing the street with a big floral arch! It feels very New York.

We repurposed the arch behind the head table, to which we added a low, lush floral piece that coordinated. Guest tables were all round, and they chose toffee linens from Planned Perfectly with gold chairs from Collective. This was such an elegant base and looked perfect with the Provencher Room’s warm neutral walls.

We elected to go with 2 coordinating styles of table centrepieces: on half, a low, lush floral arrangement in a hammered copper bowl, and on the other half, a trio of stem vases with black taper candles. Both looked awesome, adding pops of colour and flickering candlelight throughout the room.

One look at this photo to the right, and you’ll understand my plea to never have coffee cups pre-placed on the tables. See how much space these things take up? If it’s a brunch wedding and you know that everyone’s going to have a coffee, then sure. But otherwise, ask your venue if you can have coffee service at the bar/tableside, or if there can be a coffee station set up!

Brittany Mahood Photography ~ Tricia Bachewich Events ~ The Manitoba Club ~ The Fort Garry Hotel ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals

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Looking for a Wedding Floral Designer in Winnipeg?

Flowers are the best way to make a statement at your wedding. 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! 

Modern, Sculptural Wedding at The Winnipeg Art Gallery

Happy anniversary to one of my very favourite weddings of all time! Jacqueline and Michael were married last October in a moody, modern wedding at the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

They wanted to create the atmosphere of really intimate dinner party, but with a full guest list of 130. Their style tends toward the modern and they weren’t afraid of using rich, deep reds and burgundies, so you know I had a ton of fun planning out at then executing the floral design.

Photos by Michael & Melanie

Planning and design by Soiree Event Planning

The Bridal Bouquet

I remember Jacqueline telling me that she wasn’t that fussed about her bouquet. And I was like, “well, I’m fussed.” ha! Bouquets are definitely one of my favourite things to design and the moment of handing it over to you on your wedding day is so thrilling — many brides cry, realizing that the day is really here.

So all that to say, Jacqueline gave me a lot of creative freedom. I wanted to go a bit restrained in size, create a cool, sculptural shape, and dig into the rich tones. The bridesmaid bouquets were composed on hanging green amaranthus and black anthurium, so I repeated those ingredients into the bridal bouquet. I added in ruby peonies, cymbidium orchids, long stemmed white nerine lilies, and a base of pieris. We all loved it!

The Chuppah

The moody vibes kicked off for the ceremony under the skylight. Taupe wall draping and a deep, deep plum aisle runner added so much drama to the otherwise very light space, which felt so good. It was such a great way to ensure this space felt different than it does for most other weddings.

The chuppah itself came from Creating a Scene, and we added sculptural but minimal pockets of floral to it. I wanted this to feel really cool, but restrained — sometimes, more is not better, and in this case, we wouldn’t have been able to create that sculptural design style if we had gone with full coverage on the chuppah. I also find that when a client is asking for a more modern design, limiting the number of floral ingredients is a key choice. Too many bloom styles and you lose that feeling of sleekness. Finally, adding in long stemmed white agapanthus felt SO GOOD.

We also added sculptural floral pieces to the aisle, being very careful not to take up too much space because there wasn’t any space to spare! I kept these arrangements in keeping with the rest of the floral design: deep, saturated, and sculptural. Again, the white agapanthus had a lot of fun being the stars.

Jacqueline’s grandma walked her down the aisle, and those moments were just so sweet and beautiful. And what a chic ensemble!

The Ambiance

Creating an intimate feel and a fun ambiance was a top priority for the couple — they really wanted their wedding to feel like a cool dinner party. That’s not the easiest thing to do when you have 130 people on the guest list, so Soiree got to work making sure all the decisions made would fit that dinner party vibe, with a moody style. Food, wine, flowers, and decor were top priorities to make that happen.

With that as our goal, I knew I didn’t want all of the tables to look exactly the same. I created a very specific, colour-coded centrepiece map that outlined the 7 different centrepiece styles I planned. This allowed us to repeat similar elements, which streamlined our design time, but creating unique feeling tablescapes so no one would ever look around and see the exact same thing over and over again.

The repetition of black and smoky accents were such a great design choice to add that oomph to the moodiness. Black chairs and flatware, candle trays, smoke glassware, and black and smoke glass vases did the trick!

The Floral Waterfalls

Is that what we should call these floral features? It seems to fit. We debated on a few different design ideas, and I’m so happy we landed on this. With the 4 long dining tables on full display as guests entered the WAG, Jacqueline loved the idea of a spotlight floral moment that would make her guests feel wowed.

We designed these babies lush, full, and dramatic. I LOVE designing with a saturated, rich colour palette like this in the fall. It just feels so delicious! It did take me a while to get them all done, so ensuring that there’s ample on-site time is necessary!

With long tables, we don’t typically have a ton of space to add a lot of floral to. We did bump these tables up to a wider size (which I always recommend to couples going for this style of floor plan!) which added a lot more roominess, so I could add a few scattered large floral centrepieces mixed in with candles and petite arrangements.

We had such a delicious mix of ingredients for these lush arrangements — really deep antique burgundy hydrangea, dark roses, almost black anthurium, pieris, and we tucked in touches of reflexed white tulips or nerine lilies for a sculptural shape and visual interest. We also created petite sculptural pieces made entirely of burgundy button mums, and scattered burgundy amaranthus trailing down the tables, too.

One of my goals is to ensure that, no matter what your aesthetic preferences are, your florals and design are polished and details are not left unfinished. It’s easy to do that when working with a planning team like Soiree! I loved the symmetry of the desserts display below (and I desperately wanted to dig my fingers into that Jenna Rae Cakes buttercream!! lol!) and the lounges were so beautifully laid out that all we needed to do was add some gorgeous spotlight florals and a clustering of candles, and they were perfect.

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It’s always a pleasure to work with an incredible team of professionals to create an elevated event. Any one of them would be an excellent hire for your wedding!

Michael & Melanie Photography ~ Soiree Event Planning ~ WInnipeg Art Gallery ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective event rentals ~ Event Light ~ Creating a Scene ~ Trend Decor ~ Union Table ~ Sugar & Salt BakeSHoppe ~ Brides Eye View ~ Lineage House ~ The Aesthetic Makeup ~ Sign Source ~ Luminous String Quartet ~ Keith MacPherson ~ Tempo Collective

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

Getting married at the Winnipeg Art Gallery? We happen to know the space REALLY well, 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! 

Moody, Stylish Fall Wedding at Niakwa Country Club

You know when the wheat fields and aspen trees turn golden, and the sky is a moody grey blue? That was my starting point for Leanne and Kyle’s moody, stylish fall wedding.

They wanted to create intimate restaurant vibes (within a golf course banquet room), so I leant into a combination of playful, moody, and autumnal design elements. I cannot wait to dig into this one with you!

Photos by Ariana Tennyson

The Event Design

Leanne hired me for full-scale event design along with floral design. From the beginning, we had a few goals we hoped to accomplish: create an intimate restaurant vibe (despite being in a golf course banquet room), bring in a moody autumnal feel, and keep it all in the same space.

Colour palette always plays a big role for me in any design. Leanne was open to my suggestions, and had a few inspiration images that included the coral and plums. I had been ruminating on our gorgeous prairie skyline in fall, when the wheat fields are golden and the skies are a moody grey blue. I wanted to keep that as the base for my palette: golden + moody grey blues, and then layer in the coral and plum overtop.

The Floral Design

Leanne let me have a lot of fun with the flowers! Guided by the colour palette and the desire to create a lot of warmth and vibrancy, I played with the contrast between warm and cool tones.

Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Golden mustard roses, dahlias, tweedia, ranunculus, butterfly ranunculus, calcynia, sweet pea, scabiosa, and ninebark.

The Ceremony

The best view in the room is a wall of windows, which is also where the head table is usually positioned. I didn’t want direct light from the windows, and I wanted to soften the crispness a bit so I had Planned Perfectly install oatmeal toned drapery along the entire wall. It felt warm but still neutral.

I created a focal point for the altar, utilizing 3x modern pleated wood pedestals topped with foliage and floral pieces, and combined that with a few ground-based floral pieces. I wanted to explore the full colour palette in a modern, garden-inspired way.

The Floor Planning

So, when you’re working with a single space, and you need to have both the ceremony and the reception in it, AND you don’t have multiple hours to re-set the room completely between ceremony and reception, you have to get really organized and very creative. Niakwa has one of those partition walls that folds into the wall, or can extend to break the overall room into several smaller spaces.

We utilized that partition wall to create a back space, where we pre-set the lounge and the reception tables, ready to pull out as soon as the ceremony was cleared. It was a very tight squeeze, but was highly functional!

Once the ceremony was over, guests went into the lobby and outside for cocktail hour, and we went to work. The wall was pushed in, the chairs were pulled out, and tables moved into place for final details.

To create that restaurant vibe, one of my thoughts was to use different orientations and sizes of tables. We used some long banquet tables, full size rounds, and small rounds. I also added a lounge to the back corner with a cool lighting feature to add that moodiness.

Tabletop Styling

• Centrepieces, fruit, candles

• Personalized photos at each guest’s place setting

• Rich linen and velvet tablecloths in cool grey and blue tones

• Dim lighting — while technically nothing to do with the tabletops, it was a crucial element to creating the ambiance in the space! Event Light always does the perfect job. I told them the overall vibe I wanted to create, and let them make all the decisions.

One of the sweetest moments of the wedding came from a completely personalized design element that Leanne came up with. She had seen a tiktok where guests walked into a wedding and found personalized notes to every single guest from the couple. She and Kyle worked so hard to find a picture of each guest with either or both of the couple. Guests were so stunned when they walked in to find these at their place settings!

Adding in a lounge corner with soft seating, a lighting feature, and well-styled details was one of the elements I used to create that laidback, restaurant type of ambiance they wanted. A great restaurant almost always has that cozy seating element somewhere, some cool furniture pieces, and lots of candlelight. I love the way this one came together, from the furniture selections to the lighting feature Event Light created (they are THE best).

I’m really grateful for Kayla Lagos Events! Leanne wanted a wedding coordinator, and I recommended they talk to Kayla. She has a really calming personality, is so easy to talk to, and does such a great job of staying on top of things and making it all happen. It was great to work with Kayla on the wedding day to execute everything!

Ariana Tennyson Photography ~ Kayla Lagos Weddings & Events ~ Karta House ~ Niakwa Country Club ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Event Light ~ Trend Decor Winnipeg ~ Luxe Linens

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LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FLORAL AND EVENT DESIGNER IN WINNIPEG?

I offer full scale event design along with florals for about 3 dates per year. 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.