Every small business has a story worth celebrating, and we’re back with Part 2 of our Small Business Spotlight! From passionate entrepreneurs to inspiring journeys and big dreams turned into reality, we’re continuing to shine a light on the incredible people behind the businesses that make our community thrive. Their dedication, creativity, and commitment remind us why supporting local matters now more than ever.
Photo Details: Luxury Balloon & Floral Designer
Business: Ellevate Decor
No one does it quite like you! Tell us a little about your business, what makes it unique, and why you love what you do.
“Ellevate Decor is a decor company that specializes in bringing our clients’ visions to life through custom, thoughtfully designed setups. At Ellevate, I don’t believe in a one size fits all approach. I want every event to feel personal to the client. I love what I do because I get to be creative while playing a small part in some of the most meaningful moments in people’s lives.”
Photo Details: Luxury Balloon & Floral Designer
What brings you the most joy when it comes to running your small business?
“Seeing a client’s reaction when they walk into the room and hearing their feedback, nothing compares to that. There is something special about knowing my creativity helped make someone’s milestone or celebration a little more memorable. I also love seeing how much Ellevate has grown over the years and knowing that something I started with a passion for creating has become a brand people trust with their most sacred and special moments.”
Photo Details: Luxury Balloon & Floral Designer
If you could describe your business in three words, what would they be and why?
“Creative. Intentional. Memorable.
Creative because every event gives us the opportunity to create something unique. Intentional because every detail has a purpose and is thoughtfully chosen to compliment the client’s vision. Memorable because our goal is to create an experience and atmosphere that our clients and their guests will remember long after the event is over.”
Photo Details: Luxury Balloon & Floral Designer
What are you most excited about for the future of your business?
“I’m excited to see where this journey continues to take me. Ellevate Decor started from something I simply love doing and watching it grow over the years has been such a blessing. Taking on larger scale events, expanding and pushing my creativity is what excites me the most. I’ve also recently launched a sister company, Ellevated Content which focuses on capturing the memorable moments during these special occasions through event content creation. I’m excited to grow both brands alongside one another. With one business curating the moments and the other capturing them.”
Photo Details: Luxury Balloon & Floral Designer
Give another entrepreneur one golden piece of advice as they embark on starting their own business!
“Just start! You don’t have to have everything figured out before you begin. You will learn, grow, make mistakes and evolve along the way. Believe in what you’re creating , stay consistent, and don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s. Some seasons will be harder than others, but keep showing up. Five years later, I’m still learning and growing, and that’s the beauty of entrepreneurship.”
Photo Details: Luxury Balloon & Floral Designer
Tell our community where they can find you if they are interested in working with you at their next event!
Find us on Instagram
Photo Details: Maddy Spavor | Ontario Wedding Photographer
Business: Blue Bird Blooms
No one does it quite like you! Tell us a little about your business, what makes it unique, and why you love what you do.
“Blue Bird Blooms creates lush wedding designs with a mixture of stylish modern trends and traditional concepts for impactful creations. We use a wide variety of high-end wedding flowers from trusted local farm suppliers through the spring-fall and local wholesalers who import flowers from all over the world year round. I love what I do because I live and breathe nature and art. I create art installations in the form of flowers bringing people together through collaboration and ends with a conversation of “wow for someone’s most special day.”
Photo Details: Mango Studios
What brings you the most joy when it comes to running your small business?
“What brings me the most joy is creating something impactful and seeing couples’ expressions of happiness on their wedding day. There’s no better feeling.”
If you could describe your business in three words, what would they be and why?
“Colourful, blooming, stylish.”
Photo Details: Peter B Photography
What are you most excited about for the future of your business?
“I’m most excited about creating new unique and modern designs for couples in 2027!”
Photo Details: Purple Tree Photography
Give another entrepreneur one golden piece of advice as they embark on starting their own business!
“Get experience by working for someone else, not a basic course, and seek professional advice for accounting.”
Photo Details: Geoff Shaw Photography
Tell our community where they can find you if they are interested in working with you at their next event!
Connect by Website
Business: Quinn Walsh Photography
No one does it quite like you! Tell us a little about your business, what makes it unique, and why you love what you do.
“Quinn Walsh Photography is for couples who want their wedding photos to look incredible — without feeling like their wedding day turned into one giant photoshoot.
I’m Quinn, the photographer behind QWP, and my approach is a mix of candid storytelling and confident guidance. I’ll step in when you need direction, disappear into the background when you don’t, keep things moving when the timeline gets a little chaotic, and probably end up laughing with your wedding party somewhere along the way.
My style is modern, romantic, true-to-colour, and always centred around making photos feel like you. I’m not interested in forcing every couple into the same poses or recreating the same Pinterest photos at every wedding. The little glances, ridiculous laughs, people you love absolutely losing it on the dance floor, and all the tiny things happening around you are just as important to me as the big, beautiful portraits.
And that’s genuinely why I still love what I do. I get a front-row seat to some of the biggest, funniest, most emotional days of people’s lives — and I get to turn all of those fleeting moments into something they can keep. That never really gets old.”
Photo Details: Quinn Walsh Photography
What brings you the most joy when it comes to running your small business?
“Honestly, it’s the people.
I love photography, I love a gorgeous wedding day, and I will absolutely get excited over really good dessert — but the relationships I get to build through this business are what make it so special.
There’s something pretty incredible about meeting two people when they’re newly engaged, getting to know them through their engagement session and all the wedding-day planning, and then eventually standing in the room while some of the biggest moments of their lives are happening. By the time the wedding arrives, I never want to feel like a stranger who showed up with a camera.
And then there are the little full-circle moments: photographing past couples again, seeing families grow and change, getting referrals from people who trusted me with their own wedding, or realizing that someone I met because of this little business has genuinely become part of my life.
I started a photography business because I loved taking photos. I’ve kept building it because I really, really love people — and I don’t think I’ll ever stop feeling lucky that those two things get to exist together.”
Photo Details: Quinn Walsh Photography
If you could describe your business in three words, what would they be and why?
“Modern. Romantic. Authentic.
Modern, because I want wedding photography to feel like it belongs to the people getting married right now. Your day doesn’t have to follow every tradition, your photos don’t have to look like everyone else’s, and your wedding should be allowed to feel completely like your own.
Romantic, because underneath all the fun, chaos and celebration, weddings are really freaking romantic. I love the big cinematic moments just as much as the quiet ones — the way someone looks at their person when they think no one is watching, a hand squeeze during the ceremony, or that just-married feeling when everything finally sinks in.
And authentic, because this one is at the heart of everything I do. I don’t want to photograph a version of you that only exists for the camera. I want the personalities, relationships, weird little inside jokes, happy tears and belly laughs. The goal has always been photos that feel like you — not just photos that look good.”
Photo Details: Quinn Walsh Photography
What are you most excited about for the future of your business?
“I’m honestly just really excited to see how far I can take this thing.
I’m a Gen Z photographer, and we’re officially becoming the next generation of couples getting married — which feels like such a fun time to be doing what I do. Weddings are changing. Couples are keeping the traditions they actually care about, ditching the ones they don’t, putting way more personality into their days, and caring about having an experience that feels like them instead of checking off a list of what a wedding is “supposed” to look like.
And as someone from that same generation, I’m so excited to grow alongside it.
I want to keep pushing QWP creatively, photograph weddings that feel more personal and a little less copy-and-paste, travel more, try things I haven’t tried yet, and keep evolving what being a wedding photographer can look like.
I’ve already watched this little business become something younger me never could have pictured, so there’s also a part of me that’s just like… okay, how far can we take this?
I genuinely don’t know yet. But I’m really excited to find out.”
Photo Details: Quinn Walsh Photography
Give another entrepreneur one golden piece of advice as they embark on starting their own business!
“Don’t build your business based entirely on what everyone else in your industry is doing.
It’s really easy when you’re starting out to look at established businesses and think, “Okay, I guess this is how I’m supposed to do it.” And sure, learn from people who know more than you — but eventually you have to figure out what actually works for you.
Some of the best decisions I’ve made have come from questioning things I was doing simply because they were considered “normal” in the wedding industry.
Take the advice, learn the rules, watch what other people are doing… and then give yourself permission to do it differently.”
Tell our community where they can find you if they are interested in working with you at their next event!
Where timeless elegance meets your forever, LiUNA Station sets the stage for unforgettable “I do” moments. Book your private tour and discover how our historic venue can bring your wedding vision to life. Call (905) 525-2410 or visit the link in our bio to begin your journey to “happily ever after.”
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From all of us at LIUNA Station, thank you for following along!