figs, plums and honeysuckle

Laura and Majid

yellow, purple, mood board, edgewaterPalette: plum, marigold, blush and pewter
Theme: vintage, elegant, chic
Location: Edgewater Hotel, Seattle
Date: May, 2011

New website, new blog

Welcome to Finch & Thistle’s new look! I am so excited to unveil my new website and blog. It’s been a long time coming and I could not be more thrilled with the results. Huge thanks to Iwona and Tomasz for the design and coding.

Please excuse the blog formatting errors. The switch from Blogger to WordPress is going to involve hours of blog editing for me over the next few weeks (thank goodness it’s the slow season!)

Let me know what you all think?

2010: A Retrospective

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Maacama Ranch, Healdsburg, CA, on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010

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Maacama Ranch, Healdsburg, CA, on Saturday, Sept. 4, 2010

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Tremendous thanks to all my wonderful clients, colleagues, friends and family for making this such a fantastic year. Finch & Thistle wouldn’t exist without you and for that, I am truly grateful.
Wishing you all a very Happy New Year filled with love, laughter and flowers!

– Rachel

Published: Nonpareil Magazine

Nonpareil Issue 7 Cover

I have been dying to show off the projects and pictures from the shoot I styled and designed for Nonpareil Magazine in October since well, October! Check out all the details of the 20(!) page article here – NP Issue 7: A Buzz Worthy Bride

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Kathleen Ullman of Twig and Thistle created the mood board that inspired the shoot. Her dream wedding would have a “Farm to Table” theme with handcrafted details, natural elements and pink and sage green florals.
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I then designed and styled the shoot based on the mood board. Here are some behind-the-scenes pictures from that cold, wintery day out on Bainbridge Island…

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Apart from the pink roses, all the flowers, herbs and rose hips in the bouquet and arrangements came from my own garden.

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I used vintage marmalade pots found on Ebay for the two smaller centerpieces and the white metal vase came from a flea market. The Mr & Mrs runner project was inspired by the burlap runners one of my brides made this summer and the herb pot favors seemed a sweet and inexpensive take on the Farm to Table theme. Details and step-by-step instructions are available here – Mr & Mrs runner template and here –Herb pot favor template

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Our baker fell through at the last minute, so I improvised and decorated simple white cakes from Bainbridge Island’s Town & Country supermarket! Some scattered Secal pears, Black Mission figs and olive branches kept the farm feel a bit more sophisticated.

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It was such a pleasure to work on this shoot with Angela and Evan. Not only is their work stunning, but they are a lot of fun to hang out with!

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Our hair and makeup artist, Teryl, was fantastic. After an hour with her, our already gorgeous model Kara was just stunning.

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As the sun set, Kara posed for some shots under the trees and then we moved down to the water to catch the last of the light.

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Dress designer Chrissy Wai-Ching stands by with some hot tea for our freezing model!

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