- { Thursday, February 7, 2013 }
Published: Once Wed Lavender Shoot
- category: Home, Once Wed, Styled Inspiration Shoot
All the way back in July, Bryce Covey and I ventured out to Sequim on Washington’s Olympic Peninsular to create a styled shoot inspired by Sequim’s beautiful lavender fields. Today that shoot is featured on Once Wed and I am so honored to see some of my work alongside the illustrious stylist Joy Thigpen’s!
I wanted to keep the décor soft and simple to complement and not distract from the stunning setting of the lavender farm so I chose a color palette of sage green, white, lilac and a faded orange. To decorate the beautiful rustic cake table I created a floral runner with a garland of seeded eucalyptus and worked in purple scabiosa, garden roses, sweet peas and lavender to add some color. I added antique English vinegar bottles and vintage lavender glass from my personal collection for texture and height and draped the runner into a Provencale market basket.
I created several bridal bouquets for this shoot. Simple single arrangements of lavender and creeping oregano kept the look very simple and elegant and would be a perfect choice for bridesmaids or flower girls, whereas the bride’s bouquet was an organic mix of cream and faded orange garden roses, papery soft lilac scabiosa, sage, lavender and creeping oregano with purple nepeta (or catmint) and astilbe from my own garden. Some salmon berry leaves and seeded eucalyptus added texture.
The sweet lavender-lemon vegan cake by Kerissa Bakes was garnished simply with stems of fresh lavender on top of the rough white buttercream icing and displayed on a scalloped white cake platter from Rosanna.
Photography: Bryce Covey Photography | Floral and Event Design: Finch & Thistle Event Design | Location: Martha Lane Lavender Farm, Sequim, WA | Cake: Kerissa Bakes | Model: Erika at Seattle Models Guild | Hair and Makeup: Swink Style Bar
- { Tuesday, February 5, 2013 }
Genevieve + Derek: Vintage Flowers in Seattle’s Funkiest Venue
- category: floral design, Home, Weddings
Genevieve and Derek’s wedding took place at the Kubota Gardens and was followed with a reception at Urban Light Studios. The color palette was grey, sage green, white and a pale peachy-orange and I used fresh artichokes in the arrangements. Derek and Genevieve are both actors in LA and wanted a fun, lively wedding with no formal sit down dinner or stuffy traditions. Genevieve’s mother made her beautiful dress and Derek wore a grey pinstripe suit while the bridesmaids wore long sage colored dresses.
For the ceremony we created loose bunches of eucalyptus, garden roses and artichokes that we tied to the chairs with twine and lace. The bridal bouquets were organic hand tied bouquets of sage greenery, herbs, garden roses and dahlias bound with taupe silk ribbon.
We accented the crazy decor inside Urban Light Studios with fresh, airy arrangements in vintage milk glass vessels. Jenny Jimenez took all these gorgeous photos and Megan Keller of A Kurant Event worked with the couple on planning and day-of coordination.
{Vendors} Floral and Event Design: Finch & Thistle Event Design | Photography: Jenny Jimenez (except the three large centerpiece shots by F&T)| Day-Of Coordination: A Kurant Event | Wedding Venue: Kubota Gardens | Reception: Urban Light Studios | Cake: Tallant House
- { Saturday, December 29, 2012 }
New Year’s Eve Natural Tabletop Inspiration
- category: Home, Styled Inspiration Shoot
Yesterday I shared our super glam, sexy pink, gold and black holiday tabletop but perhaps you prefer the more natural, organic look? Featuring cork placemats and confetti, illustrated black and white plates, metallic linen napkins, mercury glass, metallic twine and spruce, this more rustic but still elegant look should appeal. The best part? All of the pieces are available to purchase right now online and in stores. Look for the source list after the images. Thanks again to La Happy for the stationery and adorable Christmas tree stamped cork confetti and Kate Price for the lovely images. Wishing you peace and joy for the New Year! See you in 2013.
{Floral and Styling: Finch & Thistle Event Design | Photography: Kate Price Photography | Paper Goods and Calligraphy: La Happy | Metallic Napkins and Cork Placemats: West Elm | Plates: Anthopologie | Faux Fur Throw: T.J. Maxx | Vintage Flower Flog used as Escort Card Holders: Etsy/Ebay }
- { Friday, December 28, 2012 }
Published: New Year’s Eve Tabletop Inspiration
- category: Home, press, Styled Inspiration Shoot, Wedding Chicks
With New Year’s Eve fast approaching, we decided to put together a little tabletop inspiration shoot for those of you planning to celebrate at home this year. I decided on two different looks – the first, a hollywood glam look in gold, black and pink; the second, a more natural look in cork, spruce and silver. My sweet friend Sally of La Happy created the paper goods and stunning calligraphy and the lovely Kate Price took these images. Check back tomorrow for the natural tabletop look!
Look 1: Hollywood Glam in Magenta, Gold and Black
Just to make sure your party really gets going with a bang, here’s the pomegranate cocktail recipe I used…
- { Friday, December 21, 2012 }
Happy Holidays!
- category: floral design, Home, press, Styled Inspiration Shoot
{Photography by Kate Price | Calligraphy & Paper Goods by La Happy | Floral and Styling by Finch & Thistle}
P.S. You can see more details from this fun NYE inspiration shoot on The Wedding Chicks blog today!
- Tagged: black, centerpiece, finch and thistle event design, glamorous, gold, holiday, kate price photography, lahappy, pink, tabletop
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- { Monday, December 3, 2012 }
June in November
- category: floral design, Home, Styled Inspiration Shoot
I recently worked on a commercial shoot for The Dress Theory, a stunning new bridal shop in Greenlake with some of my favorite ladies. On a dreary November day in a Pioneer Square studio, Camille’s beautiful bohemian designer dresses (Sarah Seven! Claire Pettibone!) lit up the room and her sweet little pup June provided endless entertainment. Julie Harmsen took these lovely pictures, Jenn Blake of Scout provided the vintage rentals and styling, Jenny Bowker styled the hair and makeup and I created a few floral pretties to accessorize the gowns (and hair, and dog). A romantic bouquet of cafe au lait dahlias, antique oak leaf hydrangea, astilbe, herbs, pepper berry and lipstick pink anemones popped against the gowns while a pepper berry crown accented Kaitlin’s beautiful hair. For tiny June, I made a sweet little collar of herbs that she also wore as a crown. The models were stunning but June was definitely the star of the show.
- { Thursday, October 11, 2012 }
Serena + Mark: Lavender, Grey + Yellow Wedding in Mazama
- category: event design, Home, Weddings
I have been dying to share the images from this elegant August wedding at The Freestone Inn in Mazama photographed by my friend Chantal Andrea. I struggled to edit down the 600+ images into one blog post, so please forgive me for the length of this one. I just had too many favorites and there were just so many lovely details.
Serena and Mark’s intimate 40 person wedding took place in the Methow Valley, 3 hours drive from Seattle. Mazama is a tiny town with one general store so everything had to be brought in with us and Serena worked on all of the DIY details for months. I worked with her and Mark to plan and design the small, non-traditional wedding – contributing decor ideas and taking care of all the logistics of a destination wedding. Serena wanted an elegant look to contrast the rustic barn and meadows and we came up with a sophisticated color scheme of lavender, grey and butter yellow.
Wanting to keep the number of vendors at the wedding to a minimum, Serena took a hair and makeup lesson from Jenny Bowker prior to the wedding and was able to do her own hair and makeup on the day. She looked stunning.
Mark and Serena walked each other down the aisle of the patio of the Freestone Inn. Mark’s boutonniere of scabiosa and lisianthus complemented Serena’s bridal bouquet of garden roses, clematis, lisiantus, scabiosa and herbs.
The reception took place in a barn on the property used for heli-skiing in the winter. Our organic centerpieces of scabiosa, garden roses and clematis dotted long banquet tables covered with pewter and butter colored linens. For favors/escort cards, Serena and Mark purchased tiny succulents from the Ballard market and Serena and a friend glazed the pots themselves and created tiny name tags from birch bark. I used ceramic and birch pots for the flowers with birch bark votive holders and potted lavender to combat the 100 degree heat.
The highlight for me was the s’mores bar. The venue wouldn’t permit us to bring a wedding cake in, so we decided to put an elegant twist on the classic campfire treat with gourmet handcrafted marshmallows, graham crackers and several varieties of Theo chocolate and caramel. There was even bacon for the more adventurous guests.
I was able to work with some of my favorite Seattle wedding vendors to create this wedding – Kerissa Bakes baked the small cake and the marshmallows and graham crackers and Sally at LaHappy hand lettered the s’mores bar signage for me as a surprise for the couple.
And a couple more of Chantal’s beautiful pictures…
Floral, Event Design, Planning: Finch & Thistle; Photography: Chantal Andrea Photography; Venue: Freestone Inn, Mazama; Desserts: Kerissa Bakes
Today is the first day it really feels like fall in Seattle. We made it all the way to October 11 before the sky turned grey and the fog drifted in from the Puget Sound. I finally had a moment to step outside and notice the jewel colored leaves littering my garden in just the prettiest way and the illustrated pumpkin spice lattes in the Starbucks window across the street. Mmm pumpkin spice…that reminds me to buy some of those lovely heirloom gourds Jello Mold Farm is selling at the market this week…
I have been slacking on the blogging. Truth be told, I just haven’t had time to even look through the photos of this summer’s weddings and now the professional shots are slowly trickling into my inbox. Those are so much better anyway and so my fall/winter resolution is to share images from a wedding or shoot every few weeks for the next few months. I was lucky enough to work with some amazingly creative couples and shockingly talented photographers this summer. I can’t wait to share with you what we came up with…
*image credits clockwise from top left: Chantal Andrea Photography, Bryce Covey Photography, Melissa Guzman via Pinterest
- Tagged: bryce covey, chantal andrea, fall, fall bridal bouquet, finch and thistle, pumpkin spice, seattle, wedding
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- { Monday, August 6, 2012 }
Mahogany and Lace at SODO Park
- category: event design, floral design, Home, vintage centerpiece, vintage decor, Weddings
Just wanted to share a couple of images from Friday’s beautiful wedding at the gorgeous SODO Park. I’m a huge book worm so it was wonderful to work with the bride on a vintage book theme in a tribute to her just-this-minute-earned PhD in English. A
fabulous venue, Angela and Evan behind the cameras and a stunning bride and groom…I can’t wait to share more details with you soon.
Hi friends!
My wonderful intern, Julie, is heading back to school and I am looking for a fall intern to help out with weddings and special events from mid-August through December. This would be an ideal situation for a student or new graduate seeking experience in the floral and event planning world and the schedule would work well for someone who works another job in the evenings. Studio days are usually Wednesdays-Fridays starting around 9am (dependent on our event schedule). The perfect candidate will have floral experience and/or a design background but we can teach the right person.
We all do a little bit of everything around here so you should be fine with getting dirty and doing particularly unglamorous things like hauling boxes, washing buckets and polishing silver. In exchange you will learn the ins and outs of an event business, help style photo shoots, create favors and design boards and learn to create the lovely, organic arrangements we are known for.
You must be reliable and available on certain key weekends in August and September. Must be able to stand for long periods of time, lift objects up to 30lbs and have own transportation, computer and a sense of humor. Experience in photography, editing, blogging and social media a major plus. There will be occasional early mornings, late nights and possible travel. Our studio is in West Seattle and we design and produce events all over the state. Most importantly you must like dogs (or at least tolerate them) as the two terrors, um, terriers, like to check in on our progress regularly.
Tasks could include:
Processing flowers
Installation/tear down of events and loading/unloading of vehicles
Cleaning the studio and organizing supplies after an event
Picking up rentals and craft materials
Creating visual displays or crafting favors
Ordering supplies
Delivering and setting up flowers
Creating and implementing an event timeline
Assisting on photo shoots and styling gigs
Writing blog posts and updating social media sites
Interested? Please email rachel{at}finchandthistleevents.com with the word INTERNSHIP in the subject line. Please include a short resume in the body of the email and attach or link to a portfolio, blog or design project. Please also answer the following questions (succinctly – no essays please!):
Where are you from?
Where do you live now?
Why are you interested in this internship?
Do you have any floral experience? If so, what?
What project or design piece are you most proud of and why?
What’s your favorite flower?
Favorite hobby?
Unusual talents?
- Tagged: event internship, event management, event planning job, finch and thistle, floral internship, seattle, wedding planning, west seattle
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