floral design | Finch and Thistle

{ Monday, January 2, 2017 }

Published GWS: Provencale Country Club Wedding

category: event design, floral design, Home, Weddings

Leslie and Glan’s love of Provence inspired all the details of their Everett Country Club wedding (down to the photo booth!) which was featured on Green Wedding Shoes. Photography courtesy of Jagger Photography.

The ceremony took place on the First Fairway with a custom built arch draped in garlands and custom crocheted linen held with floral tie-backs. We used loose bunches of lavender, boughs of pears and market baskets to define the space where the bride and groom would stand. Guests were greeted with strawberry water and lavender lemonade as they found their seats. Cocktail hour took place on a patio lit with cafe lights and guests found their tables at the dried herb bundle escort card display.

In terms of decor, I started with herbs and lavender and went from there adding soft grey linens, hemstitch napkins, vineyard chairs, cream draping, cafe lights and beautiful rattan chargers. We filled the long banquet tables with garden compote arrangements, potted herbs and topiaries and brass candlesticks. The arrangements overflowed with local fruiting blueberries, garden roses in peach, coral and butter yellow, zinnias, apple blossom dahlias, pears on the branch and lots and lots of flowering herbs. They were a riot of color and soft fragrance. Each place setting had a sprig of lavender and was accented with lace.

The sweetheart table was set on the stage so the couple could look out over the reception space. We styled the dusty blue vintage couch and farm table with french market baskets and overturned vintage apple baskets overflowing with lavender and garden roses. The cake was also displayed on the stage on top of a vintage dresser with pear boughs filling the open drawers.

Tagged: Finch & Thistle Event Design, green wedding shoes, Jagger Photography, Provence wedding, seattle event design, seattle wedding planner

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{ Wednesday, March 23, 2016 }

Woodland Wedding at Alderbrook Resort

category: floral design, Home, Weddings

This wedding was such a treat to design but the install day shall be forever burned into my memory because I was suffering from horrendous morning sickness (at only 8 weeks pregnant), couldn’t keep a thing down and had to rely on my amazing team to do the heavy lifting (literally – we had wood stumps to haul around!) All that aside, I always love going back to Alderbrook because that is where Grant and I got married almost 9 years ago. It is a beautiful, sophisticated, quintessential Pacific Northwest hotel and spa with all the charm of a 1950’s summer camp. Guests relax on their balconies or around the firepits and look out over the Hood Canal and the Olympic mountains beyond. Seals have even been known to swim with you along the boat dock.

Kristin and Marty wanted a woodland feel to their beautiful day with lots of ferns and woodgrain details. For the ceremony, we lined the aisle with wood stumps and potted ferns in distressed garden pots. For the tented reception, we created three huge chandeliers of greenery and white flowers and then added color to the tables with floral arrangements in coral, orange and pink. It was a beautiful, festive, joyful day photographed beautifully by Angela and Evan Photography and expertly coordinated by Chesney of All the Flutter.

Tagged: alderbrook resort and spa, alderbrook wedding, Angela and Evan Photography, finch and thistle event design, floral and event design, seattle

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{ Wednesday, January 27, 2016 }

Seattle Beachfront Wedding

category: floral design, Home

Last summer I did some freelance floral work for the first time in my 9 year floral career. It was a fun change of pace from 24hr baby care and I had some weekends available because I had turned away so many events knowing I would be caring for my new baby full time. I absolutely loved it! All the flowers and none of the stress of planning and coordinating and designing the event at the same time! I also worked with some of my favorite floral designers and friends – Steve Moore (Sinclair and Moore), Melanie Benson, Nancy Teasley (The Oak and the Owl), Ashley Beyer (Tinge Floral) and McKenzie Powell – and I really enjoyed seeing their processes and comparing how we each do things a little differently.

These flowers were all created alongside Melanie Benson for a Sinclair and Moore wedding at a private estate on the Seattle waterfront with images by Katie DeLorme Photography.

And a few iPhone snaps I took on the day (which just shows why you should hire a professional)…

Tagged: coral and peach flowers, Finch & Thistle Event Design, seattle wedding flowers, Sinclair and Moore

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{ Thursday, December 31, 2015 }

Modern, Foodie Wedding at The Corson Building

category: event design, floral design, Home, Weddings

Ornella and Lucas’ wedding this August at The Corson Building was definitely one of my favorite weddings to date. Ornella wanted an intimate, stylish and fun dinner party for 60 of their closest friends and family with no detail too small to be overlooked and an overall feeling of modern, casual elegance. Together, she and I chose a bold and vibrant color scheme of navy, burgundy, blush and gold while her planner, Katie Aweida of Wonderstruck Event Design, brought in fabulous bulb-lit initials, romantic soft seating, sweet cashmere wraps and a stacked cigar bar. We worked with Sally Balt at La Happy to create a stunning burgundy and gold foil invitation suite including gold and navy place cards in Sally’s signature calligraphy. We draped the clear top tent with gorgeous garlands and created a hanging ombre installation for the ceremony and dessert display. The navy linen runners contrasted with a dupioni silk blush napkin and strings of gold sequins were an unexpected touch in place of ribbon. We created ombre burgundy-palest blush arrangements overflowing with garden roses, herbs, bay leaves and raspberries – a nod to the couples’ family restaurants (Un Bien ) and history in the Seattle food world. We contested an enormous storm the day of the wedding with the tent threatening to take off in the gale force winds and the tent sides coming undone and knocking over the chairs and tabletop decor. It was a stressful setup but the end result was glamorous and beautiful as the couple celebrated their evening ceremony and reception during a serendipitous break in the weather and photographer Kristen Marie Parker captured the festive mood perfectly.

If you’d like to see more from Ornella and Lucas’ wedding day, I’m happy to share their amazing video by Wade Koch of Shark Pig Productions:

Tagged: Finch & Thistle Event Design, foodie wedding, Kristen Marie Photography, ombre flowers, seattle event designer, Shark Pig Productions, The Corson Building

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{ Thursday, December 3, 2015 }

Published: Seattle Bride Classic Ballroom Wedding

category: event design, floral design, Home, Weddings

I absolutely loved working with Hanna and Brian to plan and design their Washington Athletic Club wedding last summer and it was so fun to relive the memories of this classic and elegant wedding when it was published by Seattle Bride. Like many of my clients, Hanna and Brian live out of state so we collaborated on their wedding remotely and with a few in-person meetings to make site visits and round out the details. For such a large, formal wedding, it truly felt like a family affair: Hanna and Brian’s high school best friend made the stunning cake and macarons, Hanna’s cousin is the photographer who shot the wedding, a friend of theirs provided the Tesla for the getaway car, and her mom collaborated with me on many of the small details such as the portrait display for the escort cards and the fun confetti shower surprise during the first dance.

Here’s how Hanna described their day…

“Our wedding really showcased local and national vendors. Our photographers captured the natural beauty of summer in Seattle and the love in the air on our wedding day. My cousin Lindsey is a phenomenal photographer with her teammate Leah, both based in Austin, TX. Our close friend and professional baker from Midori Bakery made our 5 tiered carrot cake topped with gorgeous sugar flowers and our wedding favor macaroons. People are still raving about them! The wedding planning, florals, and decor were done beautifully by Rachel Bowes of Finch and Thistle Event Design. We would highly recommend all of our vendors to future brides! The Washington Athletic Club handled our group flawlessly and we all felt at ease!

The whole day felt like a fairy-tale. Traditional details included my fiance and I seeing each other for the first time when I walked down the aisle with my father, I used the gold pocket watch my late grandfather gave me to wrap my bouquet and I hand-sewed my own chapel length veil. Modern touches included the white Tesla electric car that drove us from our church to the reception, our first dance song was “All of Me” by John Legend, and our final dance was”Magic” by Coldplay while surprise confetti fell onto the dance floor. Looking back, we wouldn’t change a thing!”

Tagged: Finch & Thistle Event Design, seattle event designer, seattle floral designer, The Life You Love Photography, Villa Academy, WAC wedding

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{ Thursday, November 19, 2015 }

Fairmont Shower

category: floral design, Home

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures by Carol Harrold of the details from a very special baby shower at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel recently. Love the neutral roses, dahlias and ranunculus against the dark foliage, contrasting burgundy blooms and the dark grey linen – it would be such a sophisticated palette for Thanksgiving dinner.

and one of mine…

Tagged: carol harrold photography, fairmont olympic hotel, fall flowers, Finch & Thistle Event Design, thanksgiving table

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{ Monday, November 16, 2015 }

Still Life

category: floral design, Home

Tagged: Finch & Thistle Event Design, floral design, stephanie cristalli photography, still life inspired flowers

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{ Tuesday, October 6, 2015 }

Elegant, Feminine 50th Birthday Party at SAM

category: event design, floral design, Home

One of my dearest friends recently asked me to design her 50th birthday party which would take place at TASTE at the Seattle Art Museum. The one caveat? It was in a week’s time (wedding season had *all* of us distracted). So I got to work choosing linens and a color scheme to fit the restaurant’s eclectic but soft decor and Stephanie’s elegant and feminine style. There would be an entirely female guest list for this dinner party and Stephanie wanted to show all of her friends how special they were to her as she celebrated this milestone in her life. I think we achieved that goal when the lovely new friend sitting next to me at dinner turned to me and said, “Wow. This is so so beautiful. I feel like we are being really spoiled and taken care of. What a treat to sit at a fancy dinner table and not have to do the cooking or the cleaning up!” I felt the same way. Happy Happy Birthday, Steph! I so admire and am grateful for your kindness and generosity, your fun loving spirit, and your sense of adventure. Here’s to 50 more birthdays!

Photography: Stephanie Cristalli | Floral, Styling and Event Design: Finch & Thistle Event Design | Location: TASTE at Seattle Art Museum | Calligraphy & Paper Goods: La Happy | Linens: La Tavola Fine Linen

Tagged: 50th birthday party, Finch & Thistle Event Design, Seattle Art Museum events, seattle event designer, TASTE private dining

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{ Monday, September 21, 2015 }

Published: Styled Elopement on Green Wedding Shoes

category: floral design, Home, Weddings

I am finally getting around to blogging this dreamy Pacific Northwest elopement shoot we did last fall with Kristen Marie Parker that was featured on Green Wedding Shoes earlier this year. Looking over all the images again has definitely put me in the mood for the quickly arriving Autumn weather and pumpkin spice everything…

Tagged: elopement, Finch & Thistle Event Design, green wedding shoes, homestead seattle, Kristen Marie Photography, PNW wedding, seattle wedding flowers

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{ Monday, January 5, 2015 }

Canlis Dinner Party

category: event design, floral design, Home

As I’m currently in hospital due to some complications with my pregnancy, I figured now is as good a time as any to go through all the professional pictures from our events last year and refresh the portfolio and blog (unreliable internet connection allowing). This dinner party was thrown in honor of a client’s 60th birthday and as friends and family were being flown in from around the country, we wanted to make sure the 60′ King’s table was appropriately lavish but still maintained a wilder, Pacific NW look. The linens were from Choice and the beautiful images are by Stephanie Cristalli.

Tagged: canlis, finch and thistle, finch and thistle event design, floral table runner, seattle floral design, stephanie cristalli photography

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