Hello from Lauren in 2020

This might be a bit pessimistic

but I just looked back at my Instagram post on December 30, 2019 and rolled my eyes.

All that hope. All that excitement. All that “2020 is going to be AMAZEBALLS” crap.

Oh, to be Naive Lauren once again.

I’ve not been very active on my blog this summer — partially because I’ve been WAY busier than I expected, and partially because I just haven’t felt like it.

For much of the summer here in Winnipeg, we were really lucky to have an extremely low case-load, and so a lot of couples were able to go ahead with their wedding plans, whether that was just a ceremony with a reception coming next year, or scaling back on the guest list for their full wedding. I also worked with a lot of “last minute” couples who were planning their weddings for elsewhere, but were no longer able to travel to those destinations, and so a local wedding it was! Each one of the weddings that I was able to be a part of was AMAZING in their own way and gave me a lot of energy and inspiration, and I’ll be sharing more of these stories in the coming weeks and months. My work load was way higher than I expected, which I was so grateful for!

On the other hand, I still lost about 75% of my revenue for this year. Oooff. It really hurts to write that out (side note here: please give grace to anyone whose job requires the gathering of people…the entire live events industry is often looked at as frivolous but the reality is that it employs MILLIONS of people across Canada and is a huge contributor to the economy). So with that massive loss to my income, I had to cut out my childcare budget, which meant that I had a lot less time to get my work done in. Of course, I’m incredibly grateful for the increased amount of time that I’ve gotten to spend with my toddler this summer, but this has still been a large factor in needing to prioritize what work got done, and when it got done.

Screen Shot 2020-09-03 at 9.46.28 PM.png — So before I get too far down the pessimistic path of darkness…

I thought I’d share some highlights from this weird wedding (and personal) season, as it’s been so far.

Family photos with Austin Kylie Photography with my side of the family, at my parents’ farm (where the stone house is!). She even captured our little Jack doing what he loves to do best: climbing.
Having my little guy working in the shop with me. He LOVES picking flowers out of the garbage can and throwing them into the recycling bin, he’s always sweeping, and he’s only smashed a couple of my vases 🤦🏼‍♀️
Flower Club! As a way to support my family in the absence of wedding income, and to support my local flower farmer Lily Stone Gardens (they are THE BEST!!), I created the Stone House Flower Club! It was a monthly bouquet subscription, composed entirely of locally grown flowers. I loved being able to fill your homes with fresh flowers and have you see the beauty that can be grown right here in Manitoba. I’m not sure if I’ll have the opportunity to offer the Club again in the future (it’ll completely depend upon my wedding schedule), but I am so thankful for the 30 people who joined this year!

My cousin/best friend got married at the beginning of August, with a guest list of 15. Her husband’s family is from Mexico, and because they couldn’t come, the wedding was kept as intimate as possible. Aside from the addition of people they love, there was not a thing missing from that wedding and I can’t wait to share it ALL with you (in the meantime, here’s a look at her laidback bachelorette party!). The vibe was amazing: it was comfortable, relaxed, and celebratory. And man, I’m so glad because this wedding deserved to be celebrated. And so does yours! (Photo of her bouquet above, by Esther Funk Photography)
Stone House turned 6 back in June! There wasn’t much celebrating done, but it’s been a really good 6 years 🎉 and that’s a pretty cool anniversary to celebrate.
A bunch of photoshoots! Literally every time I design for a photoshoot, I say I’m never doing it again 😂😂 And then I get sucked back in! They are a lot of fun, but they are also a LOT of work. I’m very pleased with the 4 projects I was able to complete this year and look forward to sharing it here, but please, remind me not to take on another shoot for at least a year, mmmk? (The images scattered about this post are from a shoot I did in July at The Gables Wedding Barn, a brand new venue, with Vanessa Renae Photography. More to come soon!)

And, because literally no one asked 🤪, here’s a peek at what I’ve got upcoming that I’m looking forward to:

The Portfolio Builder is BACK!!

Emily (from Feast & Festivities) and I partnered up many months ago to create an incredible portfolio building day for photographers and videographers, and it was supposed to take place back in April. Well, obviously that got cancelled. We’re excited to move forward with our new date of October 4, 2020 — and since this is something that I’ve been envisioning and planning for 2+ years, I’m SO excited to finally make it happen! We will have a set of covid protocols in place to ensure everyone’s safety, so you can create and feel inspired but also feel at ease.

A few weeks off!

I’ve decided that every year, from now on, I should block off a full week after I finish weddings (usually sometime in October), and then again for my son’s birthday (which is a week before Christmas…so basically I’ll take two weeks off at Christmas time). I’ve never done this before and to be honest, I’m not good at “not working,” so we’ll see how dedicated I am to it. Nevertheless, I’m excited at the prospect of “holidays” and will have the autoresponder turned on.

email list

One of my goals this winter is to really figure out how to use my email list (yet another thing that kind of went out the window this summer…) and I’m creating what I hope will be a great resource for all of you who are planning weddings, to entice you to join the list. Can’t wait to get on that!

A staycation with my husband

to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary (no, I’m not that old, we just got married really young lol!). Originally the plan was to spend a week or two in NYC (where we honeymooned), in October after wedding season would be over…so obviously that was kiboshed. Then we thought, let’s keep our money in Canada and drive out to Banff instead — I’ve never seen the Rockies, and I can’t wait to get there. Well, I’m going to be waiting a little longer 😂 We have scaled all the way back to a 1 night stay at the Inn at the Forks BUT we chose the fanciest room in the hotel and it’s our son’s first sleepover with Oma and Opa, and I won’t be cooking the ENTIRE weekend, so it’s still cool.

Hopefully a few more weddings!

I’ve got some great events scheduled throughout the end of September, a couple in October, and one in November. Fingers crossed that we’ll be able to proceed as planned and get those couples married and celebrated! I’ll be the first to say that I’m a little bit anxious about the back-to-school situation and will probably be obsessively checking the covid counts, but hopefully we’ll be able to safely proceed with our events and gatherings with the current restrictions in place.

I’ll also begin wedding bookings again!

Taking the summer off of appointments and consultations was SO nice but I’m also looking forward to talking with couples, hearing their plans and beginning to envision what I can do to make their weddings even more special. My 2021 wedding calendar is quite full — assuming all goes to plan with the rescheduled weddings from this year, next year’s calendar has just 1 date available in July and 1 date available in August, and then a handful in October and December. 2022 dates will become available in the new year, but I do have a waitlist started in case you want to tentatively put your date on my calendar. I’m really looking forward to getting into some brainstorming sessions to design your days!