Ashley and Leo’s Colourful Museum Wedding

As a wedding planner, Ashley and Leo’s wedding is one of those celebrations you dream of planning, and lucky for us, our dream came true last summer! Together, we planned a celebration bold in style and bright in colour. Our palette of tangerine orange, sage green, lavender, and blush was present in every detail across the ceremony and reception at the Manitoba Museum.

Their florist Lauren from Stone House Weddings summarized the plan perfectly:

“There was no desire to keep anything "simple" here, and we were all for it. We opted to create multiple focal moments throughout the wedding, creating a memorable flow and killer design.”

We wanted to recap all the design moments from this wedding that helped create the ‘wow’ factor and show how you can incorporate colour AND enjoy an elegant, timeless celebration. Keep reading to learn more!

Flat Lay And Details

Together with Two Fold Paper Co, we designed a stunning suite reflecting the bright and joyful palette. The oval shaped main invite was embossed with a floral design pattern present in the envelope liner, the back of the details card and throughout the wedding day stationery. The couple’s Ketubah from Tallulah Ketubah was a modern geometric design incorporating a variety of beautifully colored stripes and Luxe Kippot provided the sage green linen kippahs with the matching floral patterned liner.

Ceremony

We selected the venue because of its minimalist aesthetic and designed the ceremony and reception in the grand gallery at the Manitoba Museum. This blank canvas allowed us to play around with various floor plans and ultimately, we planned the ceremony against the south facing windows. We installed soft white drape to conceal the guest tables and create a beautiful walkway for our guests as they entered the room.

Upon arrival, guests enjoyed specialty sparkling wine beverages thanks to Gold Star Bartenders before taking their seats for the ceremony.

For the ceremony decor, we wanted the flowers to feature prominently, so all other decor was crisp, modern and minimal. Spark Rentals installed a white aisle runner decal leading to a simple, yet striking white block chuppah from Creating A Scene. We engaged Lauren from Stone House Weddings to bring our fabulous chuppah to life and she adorned it with fun, colourful blooms and a floral meadow aisle. Lauren focused florals on the front posts with some overhanging from top. The overall vibe felt modern, yet organic with the florals “growing” up the poles. Look how stunning it turned out!

Cocktails

Following the ceremony, guests entered the lobby for cocktails so our team could transform the gallery space for dinner. We draped part of the lobby wall in soft white drape as well as the entrance to the ‘welcome gallery’ to ensure we had enough space to host our guests comfortably during the hour. We placed white bars by Beyond The Lounge in front of the drape which featured specialty cocktails like a spicy margarita and cucumber mojito plus a ‘secret’ menu, which included an earl grey martini and paloma. In addition to our bar signage, we created bar handouts for guests to read while they were in line. Across from the bars, we created three seating areas accented with brightly coloured pillows and florals and left QR code handouts so guests could take pictures and share them with the couple. We included petite floral arrangements on the cocktail tables, and on the welcome table, guests signed a colourful coffee table book featuring images from the couple’s honeymoon destination in the south of France.

In the welcome gallery, we created extra lounge seating and a custom whiskey bar full of some of the couple’s favourites, featuring drinks like “smoke and mirrors” and a “build your own old fashioned.” Here, we contrasted the crisp, white decor and utilized a black bar with colourful floral decal to compliment the ‘moodier’ vibe and menu.

The cocktail stationery and accessories included colourful, patterned signage, napkins and drink stirrers as bar accents.

Chef Scott Bagshaw and his team prepared a stellar menu for our guests, starting with gourmet passed food options like beef tartare, Marinated Shitake Mushroom on a Wonton, Pecorino and Chicken Brochettes.

Seating Display

One of our favourite areas was the seating display in the lobby. Using white panels as our canvas, Crafty Creations decaled the seating header ‘At Every Table I’ll Save You A Seat’ (Swiftie’s will get the reference)! The couple printed black and white copies of cherished family photos and childhood memories in assorted sizes and we carefully attached them to the panels. We hired Peg City Calligraphy to hand write guest names and seating assignments in a bright orange. To finish the look, the top and base of the seating display featured a series of larger floral arrangements.

Dance Floor and Ceiling Installation

As the celebrations transitioned into the reception, the biggest decor undertaking was a statement ceiling installation designed by Stone House Weddings. We partnered with Event Light to suspend edison pendant lights and additional lighting between clusters of colourful blooms, creating a canopy over the dance floor. The florals were suspended above a fabulous custom lavender and sage green geo print dance floor and we interspersed white ruffle lanterns throughout the design for added texture. This was truly a labour of love, so we made sure the couple got a sneak peek and enjoyed a private first dance underneath before we opened the doors for dinner.

Bar

The reception bar was a focal point in the room, so we positioned it in a U-shape in the centre of the space. To compliment the whiskey bar, and maintain the light and airy-ness in the space, these bars were white, featuring the custom coloured decal across the entire piece. The bars remained a high traffic area throughout the wedding, with larger table lamps on top and gorgeous feature floral arrangements and fruit accents along with patterned cocktail signage. We kept the bar open all night, with signature cocktails flowing.

Guest Tables

The tablescape was a colourful and summer inspired setting for guests to enjoy the eight course tapas menu. We chose to seat guests at a mix of long and round tables designed to fill the space surrounding the bar and dance floor. Both tables included assorted fruit, a layered menu tied with ribbon, a sage green name card and sage green napkin. We also used simple, modern ribbed glassware duo for each place setting by Union Table and finished it off with this fabulous acrylic cutlery by Simply Beautiful.

On the round tables, Lauren placed a full floral arrangement in a modern white compote, paired with a duo of coloured taper candles in clear glass hurricanes. These tables featured a round lilac print table mat for the floral center and assorted tangerine and clear textured votive candles.

On long tables, Lauren designed an undulating tabletop design in ikebana style arrangements. She incorporated clear ribbed vases, some low petite dishes and a few fuller floral arrangements with coloured taper candles in clear glass hurricanes. These tables featured a vibrant orange table runner mat running the length of the tables and mini white lamps in between. We LOVED how this turned out!

Stage and Late Night

We hired the fabulous Big City All Star Band and wanted to give them a stunning stage for their performance. We designed an all white stage, finished with a beautiful white stage trim thanks to Creating A Scene. We suspended a statement monogram medallion on the draping behind the band and we re-purposed the florals lining the aisle all along the front of the stage for added colour.

In between band sets, the couple and their wedding party took the stage to perform a collection of Hebrew rock songs from their camp days, (also where the couple met). The guests loved this surprise element!

We set up extra lounge furniture around the chuppah and placed a De Luca’s Coffee Bar and Fete Ice Cream cart in this area as well. Additional sweets included passed desserts of some of the couple’s favourite places - cinnamon twists from Friend Bakery, mini strawberry cheesecakes from Lilac Bakery and Shorty’s Banana Pudding. Later in the evening we ordered pizzas from Little Pizza Heaven and we engaged Floral Philanthropy to donate the flowers after the wedding.

Thanks to a top notch team of vendors, we created a fun, yet elegant celebration loaded with colour and meaningful touches!