Weddings in Winnipeg Magazine

The newest Weddings in Winnipeg magazine has arrived and it is beautiful! I love the cake by Cakes by Shelley that appears on the cover, and you can read my article about cake trends and ideas on page 26 or check it out on the Weddings in Winnipeg website.

Last Minute Wedding Details

When I got married, I spent the days before the wedding running around doing last minute errands, decorating for the ceremony and reception and sleeping very little. Relatives were in town from across Canada, and besides a quick "hellothanksforcoming" at the wedding, I didn't see them at all. My maid-of-honour, soon-to-be husband, parents and in-laws were also running around, and although I loved it, I wish I'd been able to take some of the pressure off my family, and had a chance to visit with the out-of-town guests. The truth is, the last minute details took a lot longer than I bargained for, and I wasn't in the planning industry at the time so I certainly didn't have the experience or education that I do now!

If you are planning a wedding for this summer, you are likely starting to get into planning the details. We at With a Flourish offer a nice little service where we help out for the month before the wedding. We can take care of any details you'd like to throw our way, put together a wedding day timeline, help with decorating, give any last minute guidance and coordinate the wedding day if you'd like! We'd love to get together for a cup of coffee and chat about your wedding plans and how we can help you get rid of some of the stress of wedding planning and take care of those last minute details and decorating so you can do things like visit with out of town guests and get some sleep before your big day!

Tweet...Tweet...Tweet...

I can be a bit of a luddite. I don't do anything with my cell phone except call people, and besides writing word documents, checking my email, and google searches, I don't know how to work my computer. Last week I changed the batteries in our wireless mouse several times before my husband told me that the problem wasn't the mouse - our computer was turned off. Honestly, if Sam wasn't so technologically inclined and our computer broke down I would sooner walk half an hour every day to use the computer at the library than try to fix it on my own. I thought myspace was a waste of time, facebook was a waste of time, and twitter was a waste of time.

Despite my resistance, and I know I'm about a year late here, I've seen the benefits of twitter and have gone and set up an account. I'm going to do my best to be interesting and consistently updating. And, if my computer breaks or I forget to turn it on, I'll be "tweeting" from the library:)

Please follow me here, or look for latest updates on the right side of this blog!

Wedding Flower Donation Program

The very first thing I did to advertise With a Flourish was to write an article for Weddings in Winnipeg about the flower donation program that we offer. I thought it would take several months of advertising for me to get a phone call, and perhaps I'd have a serious inquiry by January. I was shocked to get not one but four phone calls the day after the article ran. In August.

Flower donation is something that people have seen over the past 10 months as being something simple and inexpensive that they can do to help spread their wedding joy. I've had a few dates on my calendar for flower donation for nearly a year already, but I do have some 2009 days still available, both for wedding coordination and for flower donations. Please contact us to arrange a pickup, and read this article for more information about the flower donation program.

Weddingbells Website Update

A few weeks ago, Weddingbells launched their new website, and I've just had a chance to go through it so I wanted to share. It looks wonderful and is loaded with great wedding planning tips, forums, and photos, so please check it out for some inspiration, or look through "local resources" to find vendors in the Winnipeg area.

Enjoy! Click here to go straight to the Eco-Wedding Guide page.

With a Flourish on Video

A couple of months ago, I met Sean from A Moving Picture Studios over the best chai latte I've ever had (Roca Jacks on Portage), and he offered to shoot a video for me, to help promote With a Flourish. I'm always excited to have a new tool to use in advertising, and video is a great way for clients to get a more personal look at who I am and what I do, so I thankfully agreed. A couple of weeks ago, we got together to shoot the video, and I'm happy to announce that it is finished and can be viewed here.

Besides the fact that I don't like watching myself on video (do I really look like that? Do I really sound like that??), I really like the video! I love my job, my brides and the people that are part of the Flourish team, so it's pretty easy to plug our services.

I'm also a big fan of A Moving Picture Studios, whom I had the pleasure of working with about a month ago at a wedding. Sean went above and beyond, showing up for the rehearsal and very early on the wedding day to get to know the space and do a bit of shooting. He stayed on the sidelines and captured each and every moment beautifully. Sean advertises his business as "Winnipeg's freshest wedding cinematography" and I think that's pretty accurate - his product is something that I haven't seen before, and judging by the great response that his business has had so far, the Winnipeg market is ready for something fresh!

So thanks Sean! And readers please let me know what you think of the video, and check out more of Sean's work on his site!

Green Lily Blog - Check it out!

I've just received an email from Cassandra at Green Lily, letting me know that my blog post is now up on their blog. Please check it out here. And Cassandra, especially considering it was snowing this morning in Winnipeg, I would LOVE to come down to Texas!

Guest Blogger - Green Lily Events

I'm always interested in weddings and especially green weddings in other areas so I can steal ideas from other companies and bring them to Winnipeg:) Cassandra from Green Lily Events in Texas was game to be a guest blogger (and I will be a guest blogger on the Green Lily blog sometime soon as well), and I'm excited to share her blog post with you! Thanks for the fantastic post, Cassandra, and readers, please leave a little bit of blog-love for her in the comments section!

Green Lily Events is an event planning firm that specializes in creating unique, elegant contemporary events. They are recognized as the design trendsetters in Texas. Green Lily opts to use nature's elements and beauty to design events that compliment the environment. From recycling to organic foods to sustainable decor, they plan parties with a purpose so that they create events with a lighter carbon footprint! Their environmentally friendly and innovative designs are what sets them apart from everyone else, and they have extensive knowledge in all things eco-chic!

Green Lily's Top Five Green Wedding Trends in Texas:

1. We have seen a growing trend in our clients finding ways not be wasteful in their wedding reception, and one of my favorite trends comes in the re-using and re-cycling of floral décor. Minimize the amount of cut flowers you use by opting instead to use earthy and romantic plants. Natural Manzanita branches, birches, twisted willow, fruit pods, and even cinnamon sticks all have an essence of natural beauty to them that will leave your guests speechless! You can find some of these items at Nettleton Hollow. The Sunday Brunch that is typically held the day after the wedding can be a garden party in which you invite all of your out of town guests and family over to help you plant your décor from the night before. Instead of wasting flowers, you and your guests are building a garden that not only adds beauty to your home, but also to the Earth!

2. Another fabulous green trend that we have seen is the use of environmentally-friendly liquor being served at the reception. There are a lot of great organic, sustainable, and all natural wines and liquors out there that are delectable and add a great touch to the wedding. One of our personal favorites and a guaranteed crowd pleaser is 360 Vodka. You can create some great signature cocktails from a vodka with a conscious! The bottles are made from 85% recycled glass, the label is chlorine free and made from 100% recycled content, is made from 100% corn and the vodka in every bottle is quadruple distilled through a high energy efficient process. Each bottle comes with a small main-in envelope in which you can mail the top of your bottle back to the company so that they can recycle and reuse the tops. Another great reason we love 360 Vodka is because the bottle is re-usable and super chic! All you need to do is peel off the label with hot water and fill the bottle with your favorite sauces, spices, oils, and anything else you can imagine.

3. For a couple, it is undeniable that one of the biggest perks of a wedding are the gifts received. It may be a little hard for a couple to turn away gifts all together for the sake of being ‘green’, but we have noticed and encouraged a lot of our couples to select local stores to register at and to select products that are environmentally friendly. For instance, why not register for bamboo trays and serving dishes and organic mattresses in lieu of the regular ones. A great local resource that we have here in Houston, Texas is New Living. New Living is a home destination store that is stocked with nothing but environmentally-friendly products for your home. Couples can register for soy candles, organic mattresses and bed sheets, bamboo flooring and eco-friendly paints for their home renovation projects, and even a compost for their kitchen! You can find a variety of eco-friendly alternatives at other major department stores such as Macy’s, Target, and even Crate & Barrel. Switching from a normal product to an eco-friendly version of that same product is just one small step that we are seeing a lot of couples make when greening their lives!

4. My personal favorite trend that I am seeing here in Texas is the use of environmentally-friendly stationery for wedding invitations and programs. From 100% recycled paper to bamboo paper to plantable invitations, the options are endless. Paper and invitation companies are seeing the trend grow as well, and we have a whole list of some really chic and stylish invitation companies that will completely blow you away. It is hard to imagine that eco-friendly stationery has taken on such a sleek look, but we could not have been more pleasantly surprised. Some of our favorites that you all should check out is Bella Figura, Design by Sofia, and Waste Not Paper! People tend to overlook how much paper is used during a wedding, which is why we always recommend for our clients to consider the environment and use a paper that has been recycled or is re-usable. The save the dates, invitations, reply cards, menu cards, table cards, ceremony programs, seating cards, and thank you notes can all add up to trees and trees of paper! Eco-friendly stationery is definitely a growing trend in Texas and I think it will continue to be on the rise with all of the great different styles evolving!

5. The trend that we are the happiest to see growing in Texas is that couples are now opting to recycle at the end of their wedding…and yes it is possible! The average wedding produces so much extra waste, that it is no wonder people are starting to consider the effect of their event on the planet. Hotels and venue sites are becoming more and more open minded to bringing off-site recycling into their facility so that couples can recycle all of the plastic, paper, glass, cardboard, and even aluminum. If you think about it, there are a lot of beer cans, coke cans, wine bottle, liquor bottles, cardboard boxes for food, plastic bottles and containers, and paper that all goes into the creation of a wedding reception. Instead of throwing all of that into the garbage so it can sit in a landfill for thousands of years, couples are now opting to make a difference and set up recycling bins in the back of the house. Just get the staff on board and it is as simple as literally placing the bins in the kitchen and having the staff just be aware of the bins and place the trash accordingly. You can make such a big impact with this small step without anyone even noticing!

With a Flourish Month-Of Wedding Coordination - Shannon & Stephen

My first wedding of 2009 was on April 11th, and I was so excited to work with Shannon & Stephen. Shannon is funny, kind, laid back, flexible, and exactly the opposite of the dreaded "Bridezilla." She is fantastic. And although I worked less with Stephen, he was also fantastic and the perfect counterpart to Shannon!

Shannon & Stephen were married on one of the first warm-ish and sunny days of Spring, and held the ceremony at the Holy Cross Parish. The reception was at the beautiful St. Boniface Golf Club and provided the perfect venue for this fun-loving couple.









I always feel honoured to be part of a couple's wedding day. It is a completely unique relationship to meet someone and start "working" on their wedding, and four weeks later be standing at the back of the church wiping my eyes while they say their vows. This wedding was no different, and the absolute highlight for me was Stephen's speech at the reception where he promised Shannon's late father that he would take care of and love Shannon and Sydney, Shannon's daughter. I think everyone in the room had tears in their eyes and Stephen should win some sort of best groom's speech ever award. Check out this link to go to A Moving Picture Studios and watch a video of the wedding, including a small piece of Stephen's speech.

The day flowed perfectly and although I'd like to take credit for that, I'm sure a huge part of it was the attitude of Shannon & Stephen, and their ability to roll with the changes of the day.

I'm so lucky to work with brides as great as Shannon! Thanks so much, Shannon and Stephen, for hiring With a Flourish to help with your big day.

*Thanks to Michelle Zerr Photography for the photos, which you can also check out on the With a Flourish website.