Calgary Wedding Planner - Inspired Occasions » Rustic Wedding Inspiration

Stampede Inspired Western Wedding

Ioana — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:15:11 +0000

Stampede season is here again, and for all you brides looking to infuse some cowboy spirit and western charm into your special day, here are some ideas for the perfect western inspired wedding.

Start off with a country themed invitation to get your guests into the spirit, using traditional style western fonts and earthy materials like twine.

Western Wedding Invitation

Next, choose an uncomplicated, flowing wedding gown with capped sleeves or thick lace straps, and wear your hair down in soft natural waves for a simple country feel.

Western inspired wedding dress

And what screams Western more than cowboy boots? Adding this simple accessory to your wedding dress will make any bride appear that much more joyful and fun, not to mention keep you comfortable well into the morning hours. That goes for the bridesmaids too, and they will probably thank you for it! Cowboy hats are also a nice addition to the groomsmen attire.

Bride with cowboy boots

Bridesmaids with cowboy boots

Keep your bouquet natural and organic, with bright and cheerful colours and unstructured shapes, using flowers like daisies or sunflowers. A nice unique touch might be adding a little horseshoe for luck or wrapping the stems with burlap and tying them with twine.

Lucky horseshoe on bouquet

Simple rustic bouquet

Flower arrangements can be accented with stems of wheat, or small tree branches with bright berries on them, and be presented in baskets, rustic buckets or flower pots.

Western inspired flowers

Use mason jars filled with flowers or candles to line the aisle at the ceremony, either by hanging them on chairs or placing them directly on the ground.

Flowers in mason jars

Bring the country theme to life by holding the ceremony in an outdoor setting surrounded by beautiful trees, with a simply decorated wooden arch and equally rustic wooden chairs. And for a truly authentic experience, why not have your guests seated on bales of hay, covered with fabric for comfort!

Outdoor ceremony

Outdoor ceremony with bales of hay

Bales of hay for seating

For the evening reception, you may choose to move into a barn, or stay outside, if the weather permits, under a canopy of hanging lights and lanterns. Of course, no western style reception would be complete without a live country band and some line dancing.

Inside of a barn

Outdoor lights

Keep your table decorations informal, using a burlap runner on long wooden tables and create low centerpieces using mason jars, for a unique and authentic feel. Using mismatched wooden chairs will give your space a truly rustic look.

Rustic table setting

Mason jar centerpiece

For cocktail hour consider serving simple comfort foods like mini sliders, or mac and cheese and coleslaw in small shot glasses. Finish off with a traditional BBQ for dinner, displaying the menu on a rustic chalkboard. Keep your beer chilling in buckets or a wooden barrel, ready for your guests to enjoy, or serve lemonade out for mason jars for a refreshing, non-alcoholic option.

Bucket with lemonade jars

You can end your perfect night around a campfire, with your guests enjoying personalized s’mores, and keeping cozy with blankets from a wooden basket.

Personalized s’mores

And as an added touch of western hospitality for your out-of-town guests, why not leave a little something special in their hotel rooms to celebrate the Stampede spirit, like a basket filled with barbecue and hot sauces, beer, or rodeo tickets.

Now is a great time to start scouring flea markets for these perfect rustic additions that are sure to bring your western wedding to life. Remember to choose a colour theme and use it throughout your wedding details, such as your flowers, stationery, and even those blankets for the end of the night!

If you are a Calgary area bride and need help pulling together your Western wedding experience, contact us now to book your complimentary consultation and we’ll have your guests saying Yee-haw!

Jodie & Jordan: Calgary Zoo Wedding

admin — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 06:51:12 +0000

I am so excited to FINALLY share Jodie and Jordan’s fabulous, fun, and funky wedding that took place this summer at the Calgary Zoo. I had the privilege of working with Jodie and Jordan for 18 months to design and plan their monogram themed, green and brown wedding and I absolutely love how everything came together. These two are so in love that you can’t help but smile every time you are in the same room with them. I had an absolute blast throughout the entire process and loved every minute of their amazing wedding day. It’s couples like this that make me feel so lucky to do the amazing job that I do. A special thanks to TLAW Photography and Lifeseven Photography for capturing their day with perfection. I can’t wait to see the film that IMAGO captured of their day.

The double J monogram was a theme throughout the wedding and was incorporated onto their invitations, ceremony programs, water bottles, GOBO on the dance floor, wedding favours, and signage throughout the reception. The green uplighting, available through Inspired Occasions, dazzled their guests. As a unique touch, each table was assigned a different name or memorable locations in and around their hometown. For the back of the table cards I came up with the idea of Jodie and Jordan answering unique questions about their lives, interested, passions, hobbies, etc. We also incorporated pictures from their engagement session which added even more of a fun touch to the “he said” “she said” answers. They even kept their answers a secret from each other so that they would be as surprised as their guests. This was definitely one of my favourite unique wedding details on their special day.

I loved the “guest book” which was a tree where guests could “leaf” their thumb prints and sign their names. It went perfectly with our theme and added yet another unexpected touch. To play up their colours as well as the rustic elements in the Safari Lodge, I created centerpieces using curly willow, granny smith apples, and mini cymbidium orchids. These added instant impact when guests entered the reception room. I also incorporated apples along the front of the head table with candles interspersed in between. Their choreographed first dance upon entering the reception had everyone cheering and let their guests know they were in for a very fun celebration.

Congratulations Jodie and Jordan!

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Jacquie & Ian: Married in Banff

admin — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 17:45:44 +0000

I’m so excited to share with you the details of Jacquie and Ian’s beautiful Banff wedding that took place earlier this summer. We worked with a pallet of chocolate brown, green, and deep red. The red really made the green and brown pop and provided the perfect accent to play up the colours in their venue. Jaquie and Ian wanted a wedding in the mountains as most guests would be traveling to attend and they wanted them to enjoy the beautiful surroundings of Banff. The love between these two filled the air all around and it was so great to see the love and support of everyone in attendance. I had such a great time working with these two for close to a year to design and plan their warm and rustic wedding so without further ado, here are the images captured with style by TLAW Photography.

The bride’s deep red and citrus green bouquet. It looked beautiful against her blush coloured gown. I created the reception centerpieces using mini green cymbidium orchids wired onto curly willow. As luck would have it, there were plenty of orchids left over so my team and I saved some stems to be used at the ceremony (tied onto the aisle chairs) and snipped the rest for a surprise orchid toss during the couple’s recessional!

The groom’s rustic tie incorporated some curly willow. I love how this turned out!

We alternated the red rose pomanders with stems of left over cymbidium orchids. The contrast of green and red provided a vibrant punch of colour for the beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony at Tunnel Mountain, otherwise known as “the Meadow.”

Tunnel Mountain is a breathtaking setting for a wedding ceremony.

Here the newlyweds are enjoying the surprise orchid toss that my staff and I concocted. How luxe!

Stealing a kiss in the getaway car before heading off to capture some stunning images of the bride and groom.

This pallet of chocolate brown, green, and deep red was perfect for the Juniper Hotels’ Bistro where the reception was held. The tall centerpieces my team and I created added the perfect rustic, yet modern and elegant touch that the couple desired. The height really created drama in the room and drew guests eyes upwards where they were able to appreciate the stunning views outside the wall of windows facing the mountains.

I also created some low green centerpieces for one long guest table using spider and button mums. I re-purposed the red rose pomanders from the ceremony and placed them atop low square vases with green cymbidium orchids in the bottom. I flanked the ends of the head table with these and placed the remainder in the bar lounge area. They looked great at the reception!

We brought in a touch of the deep red with the table numbers, which played up the leaf pattern in the sheer chocolate overlays used on all of the guest tables.

I always like to think of unique ideas for the backs of the table numbers to give guests something interesting to look at and read. For Jacquie and Ian’s wedding, we put bios of the wedding party on the back. This was a great way for guests to get to know these guests of honour and why they are such treasured people in Jacquie and Ian’s lives.

The cake was covered in green cymbidium orchids with deep red throats and was placed atop a tree trunk cake plate. It was the perfect compliment to the overall wedding design and mighty delicious too. We had a custom lime flavour created for Jacquie and Ian’s wedding that was green in colour and also offered a raspberry ripple option that played up the red colour. Both were summery and fresh and were a treat to the eyes when sliced.

During the cocktail hour guests enjoyed a signature red martini as well as a non-alcoholic ginger limeade that was green in colour.

Here are the ceremony pomanders at work decorating the cocktail space.

Tray passed hors d’oeuvres were enjoyed by guests during the cocktail hour and let them know that they were in for a delicious meal.

In order to get the bride and groom to kiss, guests had to stand up and demonstrate how they wanted Jacquie and Ian to kiss. Needless to say this was very entertaining and led to some passionate kissing.

After dinner Jacquie and Ian got the party going by performing a choreographed first dance as well as a fun a flirty choreographed second dance with their wedding party which resulted in guests getting up and joining in. The dance floor was packed for the remainder of the night. Just as night was falling, Jacquie and Ian snuck outside with their photographer for some stunning twilight photos.

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Romantic & Rustic Fall Wedding

admin — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:13:22 +0000

Yesterday I celebrated my 3 year wedding anniversary. In celebration of the season (and my recent anniversary) I thought I would share my favourite fall wedding that I have designed and planned to date. Two years ago on my anniversary I was contacted by Kristin, the bride, to plan her fall wedding at the River Cafe. When I first read her email I have to admit I got goose bumps. She was contacting me on my wedding anniversary, interested in having me design and plan her wedding for the following year at the River Cafe. I first discovered the River Cafe just over 6 years ago when I went on my first date with my now husband. If we had chosen to get married in Calgary, the River Cafe would have been a top contender for a venue no doubt. I jumped at the chance to work with this amazing couple and now every time I have the delight of dining at the River Cafe, I not only remember my first date with TLAW fondly, but I also remember Kristin and Shelby’s amazing, love filled celebration.

The bride and groom wanted a rustic fall wedding infused with romance and some vintage touches incorporating yellow, orange, purple and brown. I loved designing with this colour palate and adored every minute working with this amazing couple. I’ll share some of my tips below for creating a cohesive design and making your dollars stretch using this fabulous wedding as an example! Thanks to Kristi Sneddon for the amazing photos you see below.

For the ceremony, the bride and groom wanted to display some of their engagement photos. I designed a table that incorporated a rustic centerpiece, displayed in a tree stump, and surrounded the photos with moss, amaranths, rocks and candles. The centerpiece, candles, rocks and greenery did double duty as they were also used later at the reception.

I loved, loved, loved Kristin’s bouquet. To incorporate a unique and rustic element, we had the florist wrap the stem with some bark wire. The results speak for themselves.

One of my tips for making your bridal bucks stretch is to ask yourself how you can make the most use of the items you are ordering. This is especially important in terms of items for the ceremony since this is a relatively short period of the wedding day. I designed pew markers that could also be used as centerpieces at the reception.

If you are wanting special transportation for you and your new hubby, such as this vintage 1955 Rolls Royce, make sure you take advantage of it and snap some great photos with your photographer that showcase the car as well as the couple.

The River Cafe is the ideal venue for an intimate rustic wedding. If you are wanting a Calgary wedding but want the feeling of being surrounded by nature, this is one venue worth checking out. The food is divine, the service is impeccable, and the venue’s natural decor is so fantastic that you don’t need much to add your own touch and make it truly memorable for your guests.

Custom twig monograms are an easy DIY project (some metal clothes hangers, twigs, and raffia) and can add another element to the overall design.

This gorgeous tall arrangement of curly willow, dahlias, orchids, gerberas, lilies, and amaranths was a show stopper at both the ceremony (as 2 focal point arrangements framing the couple) as well as the reception.

Here is another item I designed to do double duty. Instead of folded tent cards directing guests to their tables, I played up the rustic theme and hung the cards from manzanita branches, placed in vases of rocks. There was a sign directing guests to find their seating assignment on the tree and then write their love and good wishes for the couple of the back of their name cards. This created a unique focal point in the room and also doubled as a “guest book.”

At the guest tables, a rock was placed on each napkin to indicate the guest seat. The rocks fit perfectly with the theme and are a great, inexpensive alternative to a paper place card.

Here you can see the “pew markers” being used as centerpieces. They were perfect for the design at both the church and the reception at the River Cafe. I sourced the buckets at the dollar store, which is another great tip. Look for your supplies in unexpected places as well. These buckets were baby blue with a bunch of butterflies painted all over them when purchased. A little brown spray paint later and they were both perfect and affordable.

The bride wanted lots of candles used at the reception. We lined all the window sills with votives and filled the fireplace with pillar candles for a soft romantic glow. For the tables, I wanted to do something a little different so we created these twig votives which were another easy DIY project. The twigs were cut to length and then affixed to the votives using raffia. They added another custom rustic element to the dining tables. We opted to skip using table cloths (and as such skipped the extra charge) as the natural wooden table tops were the perfect compliment to the rustic, natural theme.

Instead of paper table numbers and metal stands, I had wooden table numbers custom made that incorporated the leave motif that was used on the couple’s invitations, programs, and other paper products featured at the wedding.

Some of the “pew markers” were also used to decorate the head table, along with some amaranths for added texture.

Here you can see the centerpiece in the tree stump that I mentioned having been used at the ceremony on the table featuring engagement pictures. At the reception I placed it on the bar where it tied in beautifully with the other rustic elements present in the room.

Here the leaf motif was incorporated into custom water bottles that were handed out to the live band and given to the wedding party during their photo shoot. Just one example of the many special touches Inspired Occasions clients are treated to on their wedding day.

Guests were greeted upon arrival with a delicious signature cocktail that tied in with the colour theme. These were definitely a hit with all in attendance.

Guests were also appreciative of the tray passed hors d’oeuvres during cocktail hour.

A live band set the perfect tone for this intimate affair. Classics from the likes of Frank Sinatra were played, along with some more contemporary selections. The live music was divine during cocktail hour and dinner and had the guests packing the dance floor into the wee hours.

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Jennie & Shane – Lake Louise Wedding

admin — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:16:58 +0000

I am so excited to share Jennie and Shane’s beautiful Chateau Lake Louise wedding that happened this past weekend. I spent close to a year working with Jennie and Shane to design and plan their spectacular wedding day and I must admit that I loved every minute of it! I was first contacted by Jennie while she was finishing her PhD in the USA and due to scheduling she wasn’t able to attend the initial consultation. We emailed back and forth and I could tell that she was someone I would love to work with. Luckily I had the opportunity to meet with Shane while Jennie was still in the USA finishing up her studies. I was so excited after this initial meeting about the possibility of planning and designing his and Jennie’s wedding at the Chateau Lake Louise.

When Jennie returned to Calgary I had the opportunity to meet with her and I we totally clicked! Anyone who knows Jennie and Shane knows that they are two of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet. These two are clearly very much in love and their excitement about getting married after 12 years of dating was contagious. I knew that they were interviewing several Calgary wedding planners and designers and so I had my fingers crossed that the great connection I felt was reciprocated. I was over the moon excited when I learned that they had chosen me as their wedding designer and wedding planner out of the several that they had met with and interviewed.

Jennie and Shane were married on July 17, 2010. She was the picture of bridal elegance in her Vera Wang gown and he looked dapper in his chocolate brown suit, complete with coral tie. I remember going to the bridal salons with Jennie as she tried on the top contenders. When she walked out in her Vera her face absolutely glowed and it was obvious that this was her dress! She adorned her gown with a sparkly broach which took this already gorgeous dress to a whole new level. It was sheer perfection.

When their photographer, Wei, of Photobolic asked me to describe their wedding design I told him it would be beautiful and elegant with a touch of whimsy and a dash of rustic. Regardless of how you choose to describe it, Jennie and Shane’s wedding was a day filled with love and laughter and was the perfect celebration to honour a couple so happy and in love you can’t help but be filled with the warm fuzzies just being around them!

The day before the wedding was grey and rainy in Lake Louise and I have to admit I was starting to feel a little nervous about what mother nature had in store but the day of their nuptials was sunny and blue skies from dawn till tusk and it couldn’t have been more perfect.

I loved the subtle pink hue of Jennie’s dress and the soft, flowy layers; perfect for a mountain wedding.

I love this image of Shane and his parents. It really shows how happy EVERYONE was that the big day was finally here.

Such a spectacular setting for a wedding.

The entire wedding party was relaxed throughout the day and had a great time.

Jennie was the calmest bride I have ever met. Nothing mattered except getting married to her best friend and enjoying the day she had waited so long for.

She was stunning!

I had so much fun designing Jennie and Shane’s Chateau Lake Louise wedding. The colour scheme of green, brown and coral was a delight and we were all so excited to see the lollipop seating card boxes come to life. They were amazing!

The ballroom was gorgeous and the guests raved about all of the details that came together to create Jennie and Shane’s signature event. The custom coral lighting added incredible warmth and elegance and was the perfect compliment to the overall design. We alternated the stunning floral centerpieces between high and low to add visual interest and the guests loved the orchid we carefully placed on each napkin. The details definitely dazzled, the couple was thrilled, and their guests kept commenting about how this wedding was the best they had ever attended…this is exactly what an Inspired Occasions wedding is all about!

Check out their custom M&M’s. Not only did they have their names, their wedding date, and “I DO” printed on them, they also had their picture!!!

We incorporated the design from all of their stationery products onto the cake topper. It tied everything together perfectly!

The reception was one big party and everyone had a blast!

Congratulations Jennie and Shane!

Rustic Inspiration

admin — Tue, 26 May 2009 19:43:00 +0000

With eco-chic weddings becoming increasingly popular by the day, I have found that more and more couples are coming to me looking to incorporate rustic or natural elements into their wedding day. I am super excited about a rustic inspired wedding I am planning for this fall and I can’t wait to share pictures from that beautiful wedding with all of you, but you’ll have to stay tuned because we’re still a few months away. For now, I will share some photos I found that I think would work wonderfully for those of you looking for some rustic inspiration for your own special celebration. Enjoy!

Wedding Sign: Inspired Occasions
Rustic Sign Guest Book Table: Jessamyn Harris
Rustic Bouquet: Vintage Design Company
Bark Vases: Brides
Twig and Candle Tablescape: Unknown
Rustic Wedding Cake: Rebecca Thuss