Colourful Tented Wedding in Burlington, Ontario

This private estate tented wedding in Lowville was such a joy to design and plan. Julie, our bride, wanted flowers everywhere and she certainly wasn’t afraid of colour. Pulling together all the spring colours created a fun, upbeat, upscale, and romantic wedding aesthetic at their home. Food and guest experience were incredibly important to our couple, Julie and Tom, and they wanted to ensure guests had a choice for all courses. We were fortunate to work again with Gourmet Chef at Your Table who did an incredible job bringing that goal to life.

The available level ground was limited so we did a long narrow tent 15’ deep and 50’ long in addition to a canopy on the patio to connect the dining tent with the house. A huge thank you to Special Event Rentals for their assistance in creating an intimate setting for their 65 guests and a feeling of an extension of their home.

Their dog, Harper, was almost the star of the show with his own place setting at the head table including the beef tenderloin for dinner. Have a scroll through the photos to see him being a very good boy!

We were thrilled to assist Julie and Tom with their wedding planning. Tent weddings are tricky to plan as there are so many moving parts but with careful consideration, they can be a success and worth all the effort.

Photographed by Cleland Photographs, florals by Kendon Design Co., tent and rentals from Special Event Rentals, stationery by Statue Rue, catering by Gourmet Chef at Your Table, cake, and sweets from Sweet Celebrations, and beauty by ES Bridal.

Service: Full Planning and Design

How to Design a Wedding Tablescape

Rectangular tables are a popular choice, especially those beautiful harvest tables that have been a wedding trend for the last few years. Designing centerpieces for these tables can be challenging. It can be hard to visualize exactly how much space is on the table to bring your vision to life. There are lots of elements you want to incorporate into your tablescape both necessary for dinner service and also to define your aesthetic, but how do we know if it will all fit?

THE EXAMPLES

We’ve come up with some versions of tablescapes on the three standard and common sizes of tables to give a sense of what space is available at each width. The biggest mistake we see couples making is thinking that the tablescape will feel too empty, but the reality is, there are things added. Think bread baskets, butter or oils, salt and pepper shakers, etc.; all necessary for dinner service. Having to move things around to find space for these is not ideal and also wastes precious time.

For example, many tables at restaurants are 24” or 30” across if you’re lucky, so when you go for lunch or dinner, you end up shifting things around to make room for shared apps, bread baskets, etc. Not fun, right? These don’t even include much more than a single votive candle, so imagine this with even more design and decor elements your wedding will have!

In this example, we used a standard set for flatware, a charger plate and dinner plate, both red and white wine glasses, and a water goblet. This shows the full range of each table size.

Read on to learn some pro tips we have and more about the design!

30” table

36” table

42” table

THINGS TO NOTICE

When looking at the examples above, there are some key things to keep an eye out for and notice a difference on:

1. You’ll notice that as the distance across the tables gets bigger, so does the available space. Each element has more of an opportunity to stand out and not cramped by the next. Breathing room between elements is important - you’ve picked these pieces for a reason!

2. Charger plates take up precious space, so on the 30” table, you’ll notice some things have shifted around to make room. If you choose to not use a charger plate, you can use other design elements like coloured napkins, coloured candles, branded menus, etc. to make just as big of an impact on the overall design!

3. Look at the side plates. Notice how they change position as the table gets bigger? On the smaller tables, there is no room to put them in the top left corner, so they must be placed to the side. Something to note if you prefer one look over the other!

4. The beautiful florals have been scaled appropriately for the table, to ensure they don’t overtake any of the other details - a key design element we considered when working with our wonderful florist, Amy from Mae Floral Studio. Keep in mind the size of your florals versus what Pinterest is showing you, or what your brain thinks you want!

Pro tip #1: Incorporating coloured candles brings colour and interest to the table. These become an extension of the floral arrangements so you can actually go for slightly smaller scale arrangements.

Pro tip #2: If you are passionate about the charger plate look, you could also do a dinner-sized plate as a charger plate, providing that the appetizer/first course plate is small enough for it to look right once it goes down. The dinner plate would then be removed after first course, same as a charger plate. Same look and feel, smaller size!

TABLE SIZes

As you begin to think about your tablescape design, be sure to double-check what the table size is at your venue and communicate that to your design vendors. This will help aid them in curating a design plan that fits the space they have to work with. Most venues have rectangular tables that are 8’ long and 30” wide, but you may find yourself lucky with your venue having 36” wide tables on-hand. Wherever possible, we like to upgrade and bring in 40” or 42” wide tables to ensure both guest comfort and breathing room for all the pieces on the table.

Click here to check out our helpful guide to table seating and linen sizes which will help you in your planning!

Planning and design by Laura Olsen Events, photography by Christine Lim Photography, florals by Mae Floral Studio, stationery by Statue Rue, and table decor courtesy of Simply Beautiful Decor.

---

Ready for other helpful wedding planning tips? Click the button below!

The Benefits of Restaurant Weddings | An Intimate wedding at Ricarda's Toronto

Hosting a wedding at a restaurant can offer a variety of benefits. Firstly, restaurants often have beautiful and unique decor, making it easy to create an intimate and cozy atmosphere. Think unique flatware and glassware, soft romantic lighting, and comfortable but beautiful dining chairs, or even wall decor to set the warm and welcoming vibe. Additionally, staff members are experienced in providing exceptional service, ensuring that guests are well taken care of throughout the entire event. Furthermore, many restaurants have in-house catering and bar services, which can simplify the planning process and potentially save the couple money. While the setup windows can be a bit tighter than with a traditional wedding venue, the task is typically a bit easier due to all those aforementioned design details that reduce the amount of decor needing to be brought in. Overall, hosting a wedding at a restaurant can be a convenient, cost-effective, and memorable way to celebrate such a special occasion.

Amanda and John chose Ricarda’s Restaurant in downtown Toronto. They broke their evening into two different groups; an intimate ceremony and dinner for their immediate families, followed by cocktails, food stations, and dancing for another 75 guests. The evening had a wonderful flow and gave them an opportunity to maximize their time with all of their guests. It also meant with their smaller dinner guest they could splurge on some of the items they important to them without breaking the bank. For example, they only needed 25 menus and place setting upgrades instead of 100. Huge cost savings. Plus, they didn’t need a seating chart for such a small group of guests. Not only was this a big cost savings but it was also much easier on the environment as a whole to remove the waste.

Photography by Robin Sassi, florals by Rikki Marcone, tabletop details from Simply Beautiful Decor, music from St. Royals, and stationery by Statue Rue.

Private Estate Tent Spring Bridal Shower in burlington, ontario

Lianne’s gorgeous bridal shower took place in June of 2022 under a tent in her parent’s beautiful backyard in Burlington, Ontario. Spring weather can change on a dime and will pose extra challenges for outdoor events so planning accordingly is key. We certainly lucked out with the most gorgeous weather and ran into just a little rain for about 5 minutes; thank you, Weather Gods!

Also, can you even believe we ended up in the most perfect location with the tent perfectly sitting atop the beautiful artificial grass? It made for the most incredible base for an outdoor setting.

We’ll let the images speak for themselves with all the gorgeous details from some incredible local vendors.

Photographed by Robin Sassi, tent and rentals from Special Event Rentals, florals by Sue Gallo Designs, stationery by Statue Rue, cake from Cake and Kale, and catering from Gourmet Chef at Your Table, this day truly is one of our favourites!