I worked with Laura and Majid for a full year on the design of their wedding, so as you can imagine the style and palette changed a bit here and there but the final result was well worth the extra work. I loved the unusual plum and marigold color palette from the start – such a fun and vibrant look – but Laura wanted a vintage twist so we settled for blush pink and grey accents to tone things down.

Plum and Marigold weddingThe Edgewater is a great venue – stunning location with gorgeous crystal chandeliers contrasting with a modern wood paneled ceiling – and their staff is super helpful. As I was setting up, the room was so warm that the tulips and dogwood was starting to wilt – a florist’s nightmare! The banquet manager kindly turned on the AC for me and everything perked back up. Phew!

These pictures are all by the talented Angela and Evan Carlyle.

jewel toned peony bouquetplum bridesmaid dresses boutonniere with calla, dogwood and lisianthusbride and bridesmaids at Golden Gardensbride and groom in Golden Gardensbride bouquet at Golden Gardensbill ballpurple and yellow tall centerpiecegreen orchids wedding cake Edgewater Seattlebride and groom at Edgwater hotel, Seattlebride and groom at Edgewater Seattle

I almost always forget to photograph the boutonnieres and corsages for weddings but I just found these little dogwood and scabiosa lovelies on my camera and had to share.

dogwood and scabiosa corsage with lace

Published: Cover Story

A few weeks ago, I was asked to design the flowers and coordinate the prop styling for the main fashion story in the current issue of Portland Bride and Groom magazine. It just came out yesterday and I saw that one of my bouquets was on the cover! It’s such a beautiful magazine and I am thrilled to have taken part in the making of this issue. Stay tuned for more pictures and some behind the scenes shots of the two day shoot!

Finch & Thistle bridal bouquet on cover of Portland Bride & Groom magazine

Mother’s Day weekend is always madness for any florist, but we had two large events as well so I’m sure you can imagine what it was like around here! I’m still waiting to see Angela and Evan‘s pictures from the wedding, but yesterday Michael Rowley sent me some images of the MS Dinner of Champions Gala. I always love to see the professional shots and Michael’s are particularly gorgeous.

Pink-lilac-gold-gala-MS-dinner-of-champions

This year’s honoree owns a couture vintage clothing store so Allison (the NW MS Society’s fabulous event coordinator) and I wanted the event to have a very feminine, glamorous look with satin linens in gold, pink and taupe, gold chiviari chairs and urns of pink, lilac and grey flowers. Noting the Enlighten theme to this year’s event, Glassybaby donated blue glassybabies for all the tables and entertainment included a fashion show. I love how it turned out!

gold-lilac-pink-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011Gold, pink and lilac MS Gala tablesgold-lilac-pink-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011gold-lilac-pink-favors-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011gold-lilac-pink-favors-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011gold-lilac-pink-napkins-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011And a few more details that I shot before we left to set up for the wedding…

Flowers for the bars and registration tables were designed on white candlestick bases and had a loose, playful feel. We used garden roses, hydrangea, ranunculus, dusty miller, leucandendron and wild pink honeysuckle in the arrangements.

gold-lilac-pink-registration table-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011gold-lilac-pink-centerpiece-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011gold-lilac-pink-centerpiece-ms-dinner-of-champions-2011I’ll post some behind-the-scenes shots of the studio from Mother’s Day week later on…

 

 

painting with watercolors

ranunculus and amnesia roses in blue ball jarpastel ranunculus, anenomes and amnesia roses

I’ll let you in on a secret. My client desperately wanted pink and green parrot tulips but there weren’t any to be had. These white and green ones were too lovely for words but they just wouldn’t do. So I dyed them. Yep. Spray painted just the white tips with the palest pale pink floral dye. My fingers too…watercolor painting indeed.