Great Bridesmaids Gifts

We love chic bridesmaids gifts, especially when they can be used again and again. Here's two favourites from this week:

Vintage Bling bracelets.  These custom made bracelets are so perfect for a wedding day and can be worn again and again:

Oatmeal Lace Design is my newest favourite Etsy shop. Her clutches are adorable, and you can customize them for your bridesmaids.  They are the pefect size to carry around on a wedding day:

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Real Green Weddings Part 3

We've been taking a look at past weddings and highlighting eco-friendly ideas from our couples.  Today's idea is from Preet and Mohammad's lovely 2010 wedding, just outside of Steinbach at Cherry Hill Estate.  For favours, they used Botanical Paperworks plantable favour cards.  When guests are finished looking at the pretty design, they can plant the paper, which is embedded with seeds, and wildflowers will grow!

Photos by the wonderful Tracey Kiansky:

Happy Tuesday!

Real Green Weddings

In our second installment of Real Green Wedding ideas from our past couples, let's take a look at Paige and Kevin's wedding from last year:

Paige and Kevin, who were living in Dauphin, had their wedding at Pineridge Hollow.  Having both the ceremony and reception at one place can save hundreds of miles of fuel being used by your wedding guests to get from the ceremony to the reception. 

Photos are from the amazing blf studios:

Paige and Kevin kept the decor organic and simple.  Centrepieces were green apples in simple white bowls, and with accents of lavender, the room looked lovely.  As guests left the reception, we packaged the apples in kraft paper bags and gave them away for the ride home.  Giving away your centrepieces is a great way to give a little gift to your guests, and ensured that Paige and Kevin didn't need to take home hundreds of apples!

Paige & Kevin - Full Coordination in Winnipeg

I first met Paige and Kevin almost two years ago, when I had little experience, and I'm really grateful to them for taking a chance on my new company.  Paige and Kevin were wonderful and I had such a great time working with them that I was actually a bit disappointed when their wedding came because now they're not my clients anymore!  They live in Dauphin, where Kevin is a sports broadcaster and Paige is a copywriter at the same radio station with a new writing business.

When we first met, they were looking for a wedding venue where guests could mingle outdoors and there was good food, where the focus was celebration and the colours were chocolate brown, lilac and green.  They chose Pineridge Hollow as the venue, and Villa Flora as the florist.  A wonderful thing about this wedding was all the family contributions - Paige's aunt officiated, Kevin's brother sang, and Paige's mom designed the invitations and banner.  The party was great and a dancing chicken even made an appearance:)

Bond from BLF studios was the photographer, and I was thrilled to work with him.  The photos are amazing, and Bond and his second shooter, Esther, are so very friendly.  The following photos are from BLF studios, and please click here to see the rest of the photos on Bond's blog.

Paige liked apple green as one of the colours in the wedding.  In the end, we decided green apples were the best, most natural way to accomplish this.  I love the way the green pops in the room:

The favours were sandlewood fans.  It was a hot, hot day and the fans were put to good use.

Paige and I.  It's hot, and I'm tired, and yes that is my attempt at a smile :)  I think this is the only photo I have of myself and a bride, so thanks to Bond for taking the photo.

Paige and Kevin, you were a pleasure to work with and all the best in your marriage!

Jess

Preet & Khalad - Wedding Planning & Styling

When Preet and Khalad contacted me in March to plan and style their July wedding, they had a few ideas about their wedding.  They knew they wanted a venue that was open to the outdoors, and outside of the city.  They wanted the caterer to make East Indian food, and for decor they requested red and green apples.  Preet and Khalad wanted their guests to feel included, and they had an intimate wedding with about 25 people at the reception.

The couple wanted everyone at the ceremony to be part of the wedding party, so the men stood on the groom's side and the women on the bride's side.  The comissioner was Jaime from Travel & Events With Style, and the ceremony was beautiful.

The venue was Cherry Hill Estate just outside of Steinbach.  They were very accommodating and even made a customized dish of butter chicken (which was delicious).  All photos below were taken by Tracey Kiansky Photography, and I must say that the photos are fantastic and she was very cheerful and fun to work with on a hot, hot day.


Here's the stunning bride and groom, braving the heat and risking the water:

Adrienne made Preet's bouquet:

Preet and Khalad requested red and green apples as the colour palette.  We added ivory and just a bit of black.  The colours ended up being fresh and vibrant in the white room:

The cake was made by P.S. Cake Designs.  I especially liked the fondant apples:

The plantable favours were from Botanical Paperworks:

We made these fabric ruffly balls, which took forever to make but looked great.  Worth it, I think.

Instead of a guest book, we asked guests to write little notes to the bride & groom, and pin them to our message board:

The tables were simple and fresh looking, with the red really popping against the white and green.  Because the tables were so narrow, we used chair sashes instead of table runners on the tables:

Preet and Khalad were a pleasure to work with and an incredibly sweet couple.  I had tears in my eyes during speeches, as their friends shared memories and heaped good wishes on them.  We at With a Flourish, and I think every other vendor working on this wedding felt very lucky to be part of such a special day.  Thanks very much Preet & Khalad and all the best in your marriage!

Nicole & Andy - Winnipeg Wedding Decor & Flowers

Andy is my husband's brother, and Nicole is my new (obviously) and much-loved sister-in-law.  Nicole and Andy were married in Winnipeg, and planned the wedding long distance from Ottawa.  The weather was perfect and they luckily got to do mid-April photos outside, with no snow.  Nicole is very creative and the colours and decorations that she picked for the wedding were simple and beautiful.  Adrienne and I put together the flowers the day before the wedding, and had a great time making the bouquets, centerpieces and boutonnieres.

All pictures are from Erynn Vermette Photography:

Nicole wanted a simple calla lily bouquet.  Her bridesmaids each had smaller versions of this bouquet:

The flowers were all white.  The centerpieces were white tulips in vases with river rocks:

Adrienne, signing the guest book.  She has the best ever collection of teal/turquoise/blue pashminas:

I love birds.  The table numbers were really cute:

Nicole and Andy moved back to Winnipeg just before the wedding, and it's nice to have the whole family in the same city again.  As the last of four weddings in the family, theirs was particularly special.  One of my favourite moments was having the whole family dancing to "Son of a Preacher Man" (my husband's dad is a pastor and it's a bit of a family song).  It's quite the feat to get everyone dancing in the first place :)

And, because I can't write about her wedding without plugging her creativity:  Nicole is a super talented communications/advertising/writing person, with experience in Ottawa and Winnipeg.  She designs ads and brochures for With a Flourish, and also designed, created and wrote my entire first website (a good chunk of the text is still within the site as it is now).  If you're reading this and need a fantastic ad, brochure, etc., Nicole's your girl.  Contact me and I'll put you in touch with her.

Congratulations Nicole and Andy and thanks for letting us help with the flowers!  It was a wonderful wedding.

4 Ways to Decorate Votive Candles

I have these pretty votive candles through Welcome Tia.  They are locally made from beeswax, and they smell and look great.  However, I've come up with a few ideas to decorate votives, if you want to them into something extra special or bring in your wedding colours/theme.

A doily wrapped around the candle would look great at a vintage-inspired wedding or bridal shower:

Use candlesticks to add height.  I'm always a bit nervous to use taper candles with little ones around, but placing a votive on top of a candle holder is elegant and safer:

Incoroporate your colours by tying string around the candle:

Or get your glue gun out and add cinamon sticks to the votive.  Bonus - it smells fantastic:

Happy Thursday!

Crafty Thursday - Pinwheel Tutorial

A few weeks ago, I got to set up a little With a Flourish display table at an event I coordinated.  Inspired by the gorgeous Spring weather we were having, my theme was a little bit "vintage picnic."  I thought I'd write about the pinwheels I made for the table.

This is my first craft tutorial, so please be patient - I'm going to try to blog tutorials every once in a while, and hopefully they'll get better over time :)  Anyways, I used these pinwheels in the place of flowers in one of the vases on my table, but they would also be great hanging behind a dessert table at a bridal shower, or creatively displayed as place cards by attaching a name to the pinwheel and putting it on a place setting.  I used pages from an old hymn book because I wanted slightly yellowed pages and music notes, but pages from an old book or dictionary would work great as well.

Here's my little table with hymn book pinwheels in the middle (please excuse my poor photography skills):



First, cut three pages to the same size, and fold each page like an accordian:

Close the accordian and fold each page in half.

Glue along the fold and attach the two sides:

Glue along the outside edges of each piece and stick all three pieces together:

Then, attach the pinwheels to whatever you want!  I glued mine to a ribbon, and I think I'll make a longer ribbon and hang it across the wall for the next birthday party we have around here.

Adrienne & Dan - May 2009

Yes, you read right...this wedding was in May, 2009.  Adrienne and Dan's wedding was on a beautiful and windy May day and full of personal and unique touches.  After the wedding,  I asked Adrienne if she would write a blog post about the wedding.  Time went by.  She wrote a blog post and it sat in my inbox...and more time went by.  So now here we are, nearly a year after the wedding, and here is the long-awaited post, from Adrienne!

For over a year now Jess has been asking me if I would like to write for her blog. Why such procrastination? Well I suppose that the task seemed daunting, I mean really, where are you supposed to start?

After having some time to think it over I have decided to write a little bit about my
wedding and just a few of the things that made our day unique, memorable and very special.

When I was planning our wedding I was inspired by the idea of an old fashioned lemonade stand. The idea evolved into a more vintage, chic italian soda bar. The result was wonderful!
I was pleasantly surprised at how many different flavours of syrup were available. From fruit to nut, irish cream to white chocolate and everything in between I'm convinced there is a flavour to quench anyone's thirst! Fruity flavours were on the menu for our day complete with a old fashioned chalk board guide to which different flavours were being offered. The mixologist gave me a list of different syrup mixes that were most popular and suggested using frozen berries or fresh sprigs of mint as a garnish.
An italian soda stand would be great for an outdoor, summer wedding especially if your ceremony and reception are being held at the same location with some lounging time in between.

Beautiful, unique tea cups adorned the reception tables to add a little bit of old world charm. When I first had the idea to use tea cups my thought was "where am I going to find all those cups?" I quickly found out that there are many people who had a stash of them hidden away, and were more than happy to let lend their collection out. If this is in idea you're thinking of for your wedding I suggest asking older family members, or their friends. You may be pleasantly surprised at what you find!

Although I didn't wear anything old for my wedding I still wanted to have pieces of old family memorabilia around. Old wedding photographs of our grandparents and great grandparents and even my Grandma's wedding veil were displayed at our wedding. It was an easy way to incorporate some family history and a special way to honour those people. For our italian soda stand we used an old, restored buffet from my parents house. It served its purpose beautifully.

I will always love that our wedding was tailored to capture who we were. That's what a wedding should be. A day for other people to join and celebrate your love and what makes you guys you! So make your day your own, a one of a kind celebration. Our day was perfect for us. I couldn't have asked for more!

Wedding Emergency Kit

Last year in a meeting with a couple, the soon-to-be groom was reading over my proposal for their wedding.  He asked, "it says here you bring an emergency kit....is that like a car emergency kit?"

Although a car emergency kit is definitely helpful, I carry what wedding planners call a "wedding emergency kit" to all weddings.  You can't really plan what will happen at each wedding, and for me, each wedding needs a different item.  However, in just one full wedding season, I've needed almost every item in the kit at one time or another.  Following is a list of items that are in my kit, so that you can add them to yours (unless you're a client, in which case I've got you covered)!:

Extra stockings
Needle & thread
Hairspray
Static guard
Lip gloss & chapstick
Powder
Earring backs
Chalk
Club soda
Clear nail polish
Extra stockings
Breath mints
Crackers
Water
Hand held mirror
Antacid
Feminine hygeine products
Tylonel or Advil
Bobby pins & hair ties
Curling iron & straightener
Deoderant
Toothbrush & toothpaste
Floss
Tissues
Tape
Extra boutonniere pins

Good Hair Day

I love hair accessories.  From small and dainty bows to gigantic flowers, I am all over this trend.  Anyone else?

Localfare Magazine

Recently, a new magazine came out in Manitoba Liquor Marts called Localfare.  It is filled with fantastic articles about local restaurants and food.  In this premiere issue there is an article about bridal showers, and myself along with two other Winnipeg planners were interviewed for the piece.  You can see my take on a green bridal shower on page 74.  Next time you're out picking up a bottle of wine, be sure to bring home a copy of Localfare as well!  Thanks Carly for including me in the magazine :)

Eco-Beautiful Weddings Magazine

I just finished going through the very first Eco-Beautiful Weddings Magazine.  It is an online magazine that looks just like a print magazine, complete with editors picks, real weddings, and gorgeous inspiration.  It is published and edited by Katie Martin of Elegance and Simplicity, a green wedding and floral design firm based in Washington, DC.

I've been following the progress of the Eco-Beautiful magazine on twitter for a while, so while I knew it was going to be awesome, it totally blew me away!  Click here to view Eco-Beautiful Weddings Magazine.

With a Flourish Weekend Inspiration

Elizabeth Anne Designs is one of my weekly blog reads.  The writing is wonderful and the photos are a great place to stop for wedding inspiration.  Last week, Elizabeth Anne Designs got a blog makeover, and it is now even more beautiful.  I'm working on a few projects over here, so that's all I've got to bring you today:)  Have a happy weekend,  Blogland!