Vendor Love: Stone House Creative

Updated: Feb 6

Stone House Creative is a boutique-style floral design studio, specializing in weddings and full-scale event design. I'm based in Winnipeg and serve couples all over Southern Manitoba and North-Western Ontario. Unapologetic lovers of colour are welcome here!

How and when did you get started in the industry?

I've been working in the wedding industry for almost 12 years already! I went to university with the intention of working in writing and publishing, and dreamed of working for a wedding magazine. I did just that! When it was time for me to move on, I knew that I wanted to stay in the wedding industry and given that I grew up in the garden, flowers were a surprisingly natural and easy fit. I did a few other things in the wedding industry before starting Stone House Creative in 2014.

Where are you based and where do you meet with clients?

I currently have a studio on my home property, and usually meet with clients through video conferencing but love to do in-person meetings as well.

What services do you offer? I focus on full service floral design, and also accept a limited number of full event design commissions each wedding season. Full service floral design means that I'm designing the floral elements from start to finish: your personal flowers (bouquets, boutonnieres, accents) to the ceremony decor and across your reception. I specialize in creative floral installations that make a personalized statement.

What is the biggest trend you have seen since being in the industry?

Vintage rustic. Shoot me now

Which venue do you work in the most frequently?

I often hired for weddings at a lot of private estates (backyard weddings, tented weddings, cabin and lake weddings) and modern venues -- The Winnipeg Art Gallery, and Smith and Cibo restaurants.

How far in advance do your clients typically book you?

I usually begin opening up bookings in January of the year before your wedding, so I typically book 9-18 months in advance of a wedding.

Can you give us one of your industry tips that brides or grooms don't often know?

-It's okay if you don't know anything about flowers. I do. You don't even need to have all the answers to the questions I'm going to ask you! The best way you can prepare for your wedding flower consultation is to gather a few images that you're drawn to (they don't even have to be just floral!), a basic colour palette that you're open to me building off, and then ask me to do my thing.

-If you're planning your wedding pretty far in advance like we tend to do here in Manitoba, don't worry about nailing down your aesthetic vision just yet. The longer the engagement, the longer you have to change your mind and drive yourself up the wall. Hire your vendors, and then gather inspiration photos but don't limit yourself to a specific style or theme. See what your thoughts keep coming back to, and let's revisit it about 6 months prior to the wedding. I usually find that the best designs are the ones that come together at the "last minute" (but not actually the very last minute).

-If you're not set on them, cut out the boutonnieres and corsages. Very few people actually like wearing them, and no matter how well constructed they are, they still are unlikely to last the night.

-If you have a tighter budget, don't try to control the budget conversation. Your floral designer is the only person in the room who actually understands what you can get for the budget you're prepared to spend, so let us guide you into making the best decisions possible.

How you do stand out?

What I really hope to do is create a floral design experience for you that is different than what your friends have had. I desire to move beyond trends and inspiration images and design something uniquely personalized and creative. Something that you'll look at and say, "This is exactly what I wanted but couldn't find the words for, and better than I imagined it could be."

Anything else you would like to mention?

I currently have a wait list started for 2022 wedding dates but am not yet actually booking 2022 weddings -- I want to give this whole Covid situation a little more time to shake out, and see if I'll have a lot of 2021 couples adjusting to 2022.