Lindsay & Shane’s Laid Back Downtown Wedding

We LOVE everything about restaurant weddings - the vibes, the existing decor, the fabulous food and drink AND excellent service. Last fall we planned an intimate, downtown wedding featuring a neutral palette with industrial touches. Scroll down to read all about Lindsay and Shane’s Italian inspired and laid back wedding in downtown Winnipeg.

Lindsay and Shane chose to start the day together privately with an intimate first look moment and private vows on the deck behind the restaurant. This allowed them to connect, reflect and celebrate just the two of them before the rest of their wedding events unfolded. Juniper Jayne created this stunning free form bouquet for Lindsay, with touches of mauve, rust, eggplant and a few white accent blooms. Following the first look, the couple took photos around nearby Stephen Juba park before the couple headed to NonSuch Brewery to snack and spend time together privately before their guests joined them to continue the celebrations!

In keeping with their ’laid back’ approach, the couple headed to the nearby Mere Hotel to sign their marriage license privately. This also helped to shorten the ceremony service. Lindsay’s Brother officiated the ceremony outside of the restaurant. Flanking either side of the couple were two simple, yet striking oversized olive branch arrangements in stone planters. Guests were welcomed with this fabulous custom industrial seating chart stand and ground based floral arrangement.

Following the ceremony, guests entered Cibo restaurant to mingle around the bar and foyer and find their tables. We decorated the table tops with assorted ivory pillar candles and a few aesthetic candles, plus custom cocktail napkins featured a picture of their precious pup, Cal. The signage holders were also DIY’d to create the stone texture for added detail!

We moved the welcome sign and floral arrangement inside and used the backside to display the seating chart, along with this beautiful DIY’d stone bowl for cards. On the welcome table was a QR code sign for guests to scan and share photos of the night as well.

Guests enjoyed the signature ‘Her’ cocktail Elderflower Prosecco Spritz and ‘His’ was a simple, refreshing Pabst Blue Ribbon. Servers passed bruschetta, arancini and meatballs and a stationed charcuterie table.

The table top design was minimal, but impactful and we loved bringing it altogether. We opted to keep the look aligned with a more industrial vibe to complement the existing exposed brick decor and suspended edison bulb lighting, so we used lots of candles in place of traditional floral table centers. The harvest tables were adorned with distinct mix and match clusters of beautiful candles in various textures, colours and sizes. The stone table number holders held rough edge prints and were contrasted by the softness of the table runners. Each place setting was accented with a sprig of limonium as well as a rich textured napkin and personalized menu. Our favourite part was the fabulous greenery Juniper Jayne arranged around the windows to create a refreshed, Italian aesthetic.

The couple sat at their own sweetheart table covered with a textured linen and placed prominently on the second level so they could see all their guests and enjoy the toasts.

The meal featured shareable plates of Italian inspired cuisine and the family style format helped create an intimate and cozy atmosphere. There are so many reasons for the popularity of family style service. Guests love it because of the quality of ingredients, the simplicity of the dishes in an interactive format, and the variety you can showcase in one meal. Cibo served our guests delicious platters of chicken parmesan, scampi with penne noodles and stuffed portabella mushrooms.

Following dinner and toasts, the couple enjoyed a sweet cake cutting moment and guests were offered a sweets table full of goodies from Flower & Flour, including assorted cupcakes, floral bark, brownies wedding cake and cookie favours for guests to take home afterwards. All the desserts were plated on marbled tiles and assorted cake stands for added presentation.

Later in the evening, DJ Charlie handed it over to Shane’s band for a featured performance for his wife and their guests. Guests enjoyed music, dancing and mingling while eating some late night pizza and Charlie kept the dance floor packed all night!