Year in Review 2024
Whew. 2024 was amazing!
I’m pretty confident this is the longest wedding season I’ve had yet — late May through the end of November with very little slow time in the mix. It was also quite possibly the most beautiful season of all (though I probably say that every year!), but I can barely remember the earliest days of the season! Those May and June weddings seem like a lifetime ago.
I’m still waiting on a lot of galleries (if you’re a client and you’ve got your photos back, please share them with me!) but I hope to be sharing a lot of those images this winter to give newly engaged people a lot of ideas and inspiration.
A few Numbers to kick things off…
30 weddings (some super small, some very large!)
6 corporate events plus a handful of social events (birthday parties, bachelorette parties, bridal and baby showers!)
353 bunches of roses = over 8800 stems!
594 bunches of locally grown flowers = almost 6000 stems!
10th Anniversary!
2024 was not only another year filled with beautiful weddings, it was also my 10th business anniversary!
I genuinely don’t remember much about the early days of starting my business. I remember strategically planning out my very first website (I’m still proud of it!), and I remember connecting with my friend Britney Fache who ended up referring me about 25 clients that first year! I recall my first phone call with Kelly from Lilystone Gardens — I was so hopeful that I would be able to connect with a local flower grower but didn’t really know where to start, but Kelly was really the first to pursue growing flowers for wedding purposes, and that was such a blessing and really shaped my dedication to using locally grown flowers.
To celebrate my 10th anniversary in business, I ran a giveaway with 2 prizes — a custom veil from Cathy Wiebe Clothes (that bride is getting married next year!), and a content creation package from Brides Eye View. Kaylee won that, and it was SO amazing — here’s her video!
I definitely don’t remember writing this 5th anniversary blog post, though some of the dreams and plans that I had at that point have come true, some are still on the table, and some have just changed completely.
Over the years, I’ve committed to making my business as sustainable as possible, which entails having a beautiful rental collection instead of putting the onus on clients to purchase and provide vessels to me. It also entails me making as many sustainable business choices as possible — composting, recycling, using reusable materials, and eliminating floral foam as much as possible. I’m really proud of this work — some of it is harder to do than the alternative, but it’s worth it in the long run, of course!
The Whirlwind that was August
August 2024 was the busiest month of Stone House history. It was quite unreal, to be honest with you. Everything about it was amazing, but I was so looking forward to it being over!
We kicked things off with a destination wedding in Clear Lake (a full dive into that wedding is coming in the new year!) for an NHL player. I took a team of 4 of us up there, with 3 more women driving in from the surrounding area for the day. We celebrated with pizza from TR McKoy’s (my FAVE restaurant in Clear Lake!) and ended the wedding day at Elkhorn’s new Nordic spa (it was AMAZING).
Photos below: Brittany Mahood
Following that large wedding, we dove right away into our largest wedding of the year the next week. I think we had 4-10 people on our team for that week, with TONS and TONS of flowers and a killer hanging installation composed of 80 feet of floral coverage. Cannot wait to show you more from this!
Photos below: Brittany Mahood
We designed for 4 other weddings that month, each of which was completely different from the next and filled with gorgeous flowers and colours and TONS of locally grown product. And for the final wedding of the month, I was hired for both floral and event design and it was really beautiful.
Photos below: Michael & Melanie, Casey Nolin, Bennett Murphy Mills, and me :)
Client Highlights
It’s incredibly exciting when my past clients are either part of the wedding party, or part of the family. It seems like this year, I got to see quite a lot of my past clients in wedding parties! Here are just a few :)
Photos (l-r) by Tedi Jean, Kassandra Donaldson, Karina Walker, Casey Nolin, Brittany Mahood, and Ariana Tennyson
It Takes a Village
It’s not possible to do the weddings that we do completely on my own. I’m so grateful for the wonderful team that comes together to make your wedding dreams come true. I really love being able to control the overall design and logistics, while being able to trust these women to design in such a beautiful way.
And below are a few of the random spots where you might have found me this year: up on a 20 foot high scaffold, inside a dirty plinth that needed cleaning, and designing in (and on top of!) a pool!
continuing to level up
I’ve spoken at length before about why I think it’s important to continue pursuing education and design inspiration. I’m not a new kid on the block at this point, but I think it’s really valuable to continually be seeking out both inspiration and wisdom from others in my industry.
This spring, I travelled to Montreal to learn from 2 of my favourite designers, and found myself fully refreshed and inspired by doing so. Here’s a quick recap of that trip! It seems so long ago, but it really did give me a great start to the season.
I also invested in an online course to help me level up my visual proposals. It’s an aspect of my process that I love and that sets me apart from my competition, and I know my clients appreciate. I can’t wait to dig into this even more for my upcoming clients.
Room Reveals
I always love seeing these moments! The moment when you first see your wedding space, completely finished. Your dreaming has actually, finally, happened. It’s exciting!! For a lot of you, this moment won’t be caught on camera (a lot of logistical planning needs to happen to allow for this!) and those moments are just as sweet to me. Even if I’m standing in a pile of stems I’m in the midst of sweeping up, when you walk in and see it all, it’s so exciting.
Above photos all by Brittany Mahood
In 2024, I was hired for multiple very large weddings with lots of production detail and processes to work through. I’m super proud of how I managed all of that! I really love the direction that Stone House has been growing, and I can’t wait to continue on this trajectory. While I will always love the smaller weddings, too, I really thrive on the logistics that are required for larger scale weddings and events.
And speaking of which…I will be hiring for a new position in 2025! I am not quite sure when I’ll post that announcement, as I’m still determining exactly what role(s) I want to fill, but if you’re interested in working with me, keep your eye out for that info!
I always like to promote some charitable offerings at the end of the year, in case any of you are looking for a great cause to donate to. Here’s a couple that I love:
Villages of Hope is an amazing Canadian organization that partners with communities in the poorest nations in Africa, providing schools, shelter, safety, nutrition, healthcare, and above all, hope. Their Hope Packs are a super cost-effective way to make a huge difference for a child, and include books, toys, clothing, and treats. They’re only $25!
Mainstreet Project: Amazon Wishlist
The Mainstreet Project is a Winnipeg organization that serves our city’s most marginalized people, and with the Canada Post strike this year, they’re in a rougher spot than most years. Their Amazon wishlist is such an easy way to support them with the items they need, without needing to worry about Canada Post.
So what’s coming up for the next few years? That’s a good question! I’ve got one really big idea…but I’m just not quite sure if it’s what I really want. Anyone know how to figure out the direction you really want to go? (that, and a few million dollars are needed, too…)
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” Colossians 3:23
If you’re interested in following along for more regular updates, I post on Instagram every few days with snippets of my wedding season, featured weddings, and behind the scenes of my work!
The Winnipeg wedding industry is an amazing industry to be a part of. There are a lot of great people, working to make sure that all of your weddings come together wonderfully. There is also a lot of creativity and professionalism, a lot of knowledge and excellent service. It’s an honour to be a part of that. Thank you to all of my colleagues for making every wedding such a great work environment.