Home | Finch and Thistle

{ 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

Comments Off

{ 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

Comments Off

{ 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

Comments Off

{ Monday, November 16, 2015 }

Still Life

category: floral design, Home

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

Comments Off

{ 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

2 Comments

{ 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

Comments Off

{ Monday, May 11, 2015 }

Elegant Washington Farm Wedding

category: event design, Home, Weddings

Audrey wanted her Washington State barn wedding to have a loose Marie Antoinette theme and I loved the idea of contrasting the rustic farm venue with a gilded, ballroom design scheme. To achieve this, we employed a mix of rented vintage pieces – old clocks, jewelry boxes, packets of antique love letters, a French barn ladder, and art déco pottery with lush, organic florals in luxe gold urns. Gold rimmed plates, chargers and Chiviari chairs added to the ballroom look while stunning La Tavola linens added a final touch of elegance. This lovely wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty last week – you can see the full gallery of images from Coco Tran here.

The garden inspired florals included local garden roses and dahlias, fresh blueberry branches, clematis, Annabelle hydrangea and Kent Beauty oregano. A sprig of rosemary at each place setting added a fragrant touch. Guests wandered around the farm visiting the various resident animals and then took their seats for the ceremony on rustic wooden benches as Audrey and David were married under a metal arch covered in peach, blush and green blooms.

Tagged: elegant pink and gold wedding, finch and thistle event design, seattle event designer, Washington farm wedding

Comments Off

{ Thursday, April 30, 2015 }

Santa Barbara Natural History Museum Wedding

category: Home, Weddings

Planning and designing last fall’s wedding at the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum was a project very close to my heart because it was my sister’s wedding. Over the course of a year, I made several trips down to California to check out the venue, source linens and rentals and play around with props and flowers. It was so fun to collaborate with my sister since I knew her taste so well and because we like so many of the same things. The result – a beautiful day with eclectic Southwestern, natural history inspired rentals and tablescapes combined with pinks, yellows and coral blooms and anchored by the acorns and oak leaves that fill the grounds of the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum.

Tagged: Coral Wedding, Finch & Thistle Event Design, Natural History Museum, Santa Barbara, seattle event designer, Southwestern wedding, wedding

Comments Off

{ 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

1 Comment

{ Tuesday, July 8, 2014 }

Published: Bouquet Tutorial on 100 Layer Cake

category: Home, press

Amid the craziness that was the event prep for last weekend’s wedding, I forgot to post this pretty little hand tied spring bouquet tutorial that was featured on 100 Layer Cake. I’ll share more of the lovely pictures by Stephanie Cristalli soon but for now, check out the post over there…

Tagged: 1oo layer cake, bridal bouquet tutorial, DIY ideas, Finch & Thistle Event Design, stephanie cristalli photography

Comments Off