Maximalist Chic Museum Wedding at Alloway Hall
From the first email from Ashley to me, I was excited. I couldn’t wait to take her maximalist chic meets art gallery vibes at the Manitoba Museum (Alloway Hall) and make it all come to life through the flowers!
This wedding had literally everything I could ever ask for: phenomenal colour, delicious floral ingredients (soooo many sweet pea and oncidium orchids!), an interesting venue and challenging design elements, and a chic, caring client who was just thrilling to work with. A total dream day ✨
Photo and Video by Picture & Poet
BRIDAL BOUQUET OF MY DREAMS. Fluffy, lightweight yet still with some fullness to compliment her full skirt, soft pastels with a pop of brightness, and alllll of the sweet pea (my personal favourite flower). For the bridesmaids, we went with a simpler, chic, petite posey style bouquet, with similar florals to the bridal bouquet — stock, ranunculus, and sweet pea.
Bridal Bouquet Ingredients: Sweet pea, Icelandic poppies, ranunculus, oncidium orchids, stock, and phalaenopsis orchids.
I always love a room reveal. I rarely get to be part of it, so the excitement on your face when you see your vision completely come to life is always so much fun for me. I’ll probably tear up along with you, give you a hug, and possibly fix your sweaty hair if you need it ❤️
This was the indoor ceremony of my dreams! Sunlight flooding in, beautiful draping and a crisp white setting, and tons of colourful florals. Lush pieces moving down the aisle, with lots of height and texture, and a delicious chuppah with slightly colour-blocked florals. I love that the overall design achieves the maximalist meets art gallery vibe.
We did a lot of work behind the scenes, prior to the wedding, to make sure that everything we envisioned was possible. Alli carefully crafted a floor plan that would allow functional flow both for guests, and for the crew working behind the scenes.
In the photo below, you see that the back wall of the ceremony space was draped, with a curtain opening. What you don’t see from this angle is the wall of drapery completely cordoning off the reception space, so that guests didn’t wander into the reception instead of the ceremony and lose the impact. Instead, they entered through a romantic partially draped tunnel, with the guest book and kippah table at the start, that exited into this stunning ceremony scene. Guests entered their rows around the sides so the white aisle runner stayed crisp for Ashley’s entrance, which came through the draped curtain opening.
While the ceremony was going on, Deanna and I were cutting up all the fruit that would be placed on the guest tables. We wanted to keep them as fresh looking as possible and it worked great.
Post-ceremony, there was a LOT of work happening quietly while the guests enjoyed cocktail hour with signature cocktails and a whiskey bar. After guests left the ceremony space, allllll of that drapery came down. We then shifted all of the tables (which were pre-set behind the drape) into position to ready them for the dinner. While this isn’t usually our job, some venues are less hands-on than others, and so my floral team kicked into high gear to assist Alli’s team in making this reception space look amazing. Chairs and tables were moved, and we also flipped all of those gorgeous aisle meadows to the front of the stage so the band had a little extra colour, too.
Working with a client who loves colour this much is incredibly fun. The creative team met several times in the months leading up to the wedding, for venue walk-throughs, as well as a tablescape mockup. I don’t often do mockups (but certainly can if requested!) and I loved it in this case, because it gave us the opportunity to make sure we had the right shades of each colour, and the right amount of each colour, too. Knowing that we’d have the orange patterned table runner added to the long tables, and the lavender patterned circular mat on the round tables, helped us figure out what we wanted to do.
This is a venue that doesn’t allow real candles, so Ashley purchased the lamps and we added some battery operated tealights!
There were so many fun details in this event design. Ashley envisioned it all and Alli exquisitely brought it to fruition. Like this patterned dance floor — isn’t this great? I love the angled check design, and the soft sage and lavender palette. Gorgeous! Obviously we had a lot of fun with the hanging floral piece above the dance floor, as well. I really love the dripping amaranthus and all the joyful colour included.
Hanging pieces like this require a lot of collaborative work — we worked closely with Event Light, who configured the truss rigging and even hung my grid panels so we could go up and safely install the florals without worrying that anything was going to come crashing down (there’s a reason Event Light is on my list of my top 15 wedding vendors in Winnipeg!).
Everything about this day was amazing and I’m incredibly grateful that I was able to be part of it. And, of course, my team did a wonderful job (as always). It made me so happy to see all of us pitching in to help other vendors whose schedules were getting tight (like helping to lay the aisle runner!). Truly, everything about this wedding was just chef’s kiss.* And here’s a bit of wisdom for you: hire vendors who get your style, and let them help you along the way. It’ll work out so much better for you!
Picture & Poet ~ AlLi Mae Events ~ Manitoba Museum ~ Planned Perfectly ~ Collective Event Rentals ~ Spark REntals ~ Creating a Scene ~ Myuz Artistry ~ Event Light ~ Beyond the Lounge ~ Big City All Star Band
looking for a wedding floral designer who can take your over-the-top floral dreams and make it reality?
Look no further 😘 We love working in unique venues like the Manitoba Museum, creating magic in any and every special place. Reach out to inquire about your date availability!
Whether you already have a specific vision or want me to dream up something custom just for you, reach out to find out how we can create the perfect ambiance for your wedding.