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.
Photography: Coco Tran | Floral & Event Design: Finch And Thistle Event Design | Day-of Coordination: Lovely Events | Wedding Dress: Custom Made | Wedding Cake & Desserts: Tallant House | Bridesmaids’ Dresses: Jenny Yoo | Caterer: A Grand Affaire | Calligraphy:La Happy | Venue: Red Cedar Farm | Vintage Rentals: Vintage Ambiance
- Tagged: elegant pink and gold wedding, finch and thistle event design, seattle event designer, Washington farm wedding
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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
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A couple of images sent over by Jaimie and Travis’ photographer James Fitgerald III…
- Tagged: Finch & Thistle Event Design, James Fitzgerald III Photography, SODO Park
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- { Thursday, May 29, 2014 }
Published: Coral, Peach and Burgundy Sodo Park Wedding
This beautiful and FUN travel themed wedding at Sodo Park was recently published in Seattle Bride AND on Style Me Pretty. Here are some images from Laurel McConnell Photography. 
Photography: Laurel McConnell | Floral and Styling: Finch & Thistle Event Design | Venue: SODO Park by Herban Feast Catering | Day-of Coordination: Jen Leslie Events | Dress: J. Heljm
- Tagged: Coral Wedding, finch and thistle event design, laurel mcconnell photography, SODO Park Herban Feast, style me pretty, Travel Wedding
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- { Tuesday, April 15, 2014 }
Published: Style Me Pretty – Urban, Fall Seattle Wedding
Kristin and Gary’s Fall wedding at Within Sodo has been published on Style Me Pretty today so I can finally share all the details and Chantal Andrea‘s gorgeous pictures here! This was far from a traditional wedding – no sit down dinner, no bouquet toss, no cake cutting and a professional stage setup for the band (with musical cameos by the Groom, Groomsmen, both Fathers, and the Groom’s grandfather)! Half the guests had flown in from the UK and Kristin and Gary really wanted to ensure that everyone had a wonderful time and got to experience a real Pacific Northwest atmosphere.
They wanted the wedding to reflect their cultural differences – Gary is British and Kristin is a Washington native – and show off the beautiful city where they had made a home together. They picked a very urban, warehouse style venue with a rooftop deck, their favorite local tapas bar to cater, Macrina Bakery to provide the desserts and Kristin’s dad’s pub in Anacortes provided the beverages, Rainier beer included.
Kristin and Gary’s wedding was a dream to design because the couple was so open to pushing the envelope design-wise. We wanted to highlight the urban feel of the venue, Within Sodo, but also bring an air of glamour and elegance to the space. We picked a color scheme of navy, cream, red and burgundy so we could use the beautiful local fall flowers and foliage that Kristin loves. The ceremony backdrop that we created out of a Magnolia leaf garland hung with industrial bulb lights and decorated with garden roses was a design highlight.
We also decorated the buffet tables and dessert buffet with the same magnolia garlands and large, overflowing gold urns filled with garden roses, crabapple branches and dahlias. The centerpieces alternated with gold urns on the larger tables and a smokey grey glass vase on the bistro style seating near the stage. We hung giant greenery chandeliers in the main room and Polish glass lanterns twinkled above the dessert table.
Photography: Chantal Andrea | Floral and Event Design: Finch & Thistle Event Design | Venue: Within Sodo | Linens: La Tavola | Vintage Furniture: Vintage Ambiance | Catering: Pintxo | Desserts: Macrina Bakery | Bar: H2O Anacortes
- { Tuesday, April 8, 2014 }
Peach, Sparkles and Stripes: A Spring Wedding at Sodo Park
Some pretty little details shot by film photographer Scott O’Malley of O’Malley Photographers from a recent romantic, spring wedding we designed at Sodo Park…details and portraits to come soon.
..and one of my distinctly unprofessional shots to share a glimpse of how magical the reception looked after the flip…
Sneak peek of tomorrow’s bridal bouquet – these garden roses and ranunculus are ridiculous!
- Tagged: champagne, finch and thistle event design, neutrals, peach and black wedding, seattle floral designer
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- { Wednesday, December 11, 2013 }
Nikki + Kevin: Blush and Gold Anthropologie Inspired Wedding
- category: event design, floral design, Home, vintage decor, Weddings
Nikki was a dream bride to work with on the design of her August wedding at Everett Golf and Country Club. From the very beginning, we were on exactly the same page with the design style she requested: an elegant ballroom style wedding in blush, peach and gold with whimsical, Anthropologie inspired touches.
They say that planning a wedding takes a village (don’t they?) and this was no exception. The team that Nikki and I assembled to pull this off was some of the best of the best. Courtney Bowlden is responsible for all the beautiful photography, J + B Video produced a fabulous wedding video, and Judy Tallant at Tallant House worked with me to design the dessert table. The linens are La Tavola, the vintage pieces came from Vintage Ambiance, the favors are Theo Chocolates and the gorgeous programs and calligraphy are La Happy.
Major thanks are due to my wonderful team on this particular wedding. A woman down due to illness, terrible game day traffic, unexpected hot weather and floating flower mechanics made the setup on this a little more hectic than I had anticipated and still we got everything done with time to spare and calm demeanors all around.
I fell in love with these chair covers but they weren’t in the budget for the entire head table so I ordered them as a surprise for the bride and groom. Thank you to Melanie Benson for sharing her source on these beauties!
- Tagged: blush and gold, courtney bowlden photography, everett golf and country club, finch and thistle event design, seattle event designer, seattle wedding planner
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Kevin & Nikki from J&B on Vimeo.
I’ve never shared a video on the blog before but I think this one from Janelle and Blake Abel is so fabulous and shows so many of the details from Nikki and Kevin’s August wedding at the Everett Golf and Country Club, that I can’t wait to share it now with more details to come soon… Enjoy!
- Tagged: everett golf and country club, finch and thistle, J and B video, seattle, wedding video
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- { Monday, July 29, 2013 }
Gwyn and John: Gatsby Inspired Bainbridge Wedding
- category: event design, floral design, Home, press, Seattle Metropolitan Bride & Groom, Weddings
Gwyn and John’s Gatsby inspired wedding was a labor of love for a large team of Seattle wedding vendors. I started working on the design of their wedding a full 18 months prior to the big day last September. The bride and groom wanted to celebrate the Pacific Northwest island location but still give guests the feeling of being inside a 1920’s ballroom. We set up three separate tents for the ceremony, cocktail reception and dinner reception each decorated in a different but coordinated fashion.
For the ceremony, antique English iron gates backing onto the Puget Sound were draped with antique hydrangea, hops, stock and quicksand roses while guests walked an aisle filled with plums, garden roses and herbs. We worked with Sally Balt at la Happy to create a custom “kissing tree” die cut motif for the invitations and programs in an elegant eggplant and cream package. In the cocktail tent we set up two soft seating areas of vintage sofas and coffee tables decorated with flowers in McCoy pottery and candles on vintage silver trays. An antique typewriter on a blue desk invited guests to leave messages for the couple while an antique sideboard displayed skeleton keys with hand lettered key fobs to direct guests to their seats.
Moving into the reception tent guests were greeted by long banquet tables covered in taupe and purple linens, silver candelabras and lush floral arrangements in silver urns. These were offset by square tables with towering glass vases topped with large arrangements of dahlias, phalaenopsis orchids, blackberries and garden roses. The bride collected antique silver pieces on Ebay and made candles for each one that guests were invited to take with them as favors.
Glass chandeliers provided the lighting while the back wall of the tent was draped in custom burlap panels and hung with vintage mirrors reflecting the Puget Sound and Seattle across the water. We decorated custom cedar bars with antique liquor bottles and offered micro brewed NW beers while guests reclined on more Gatsby style soft seating and a wedding painter documented the scene.
Photography by Sean Flanigan
Location: Country Club of Seattle on Bainbridge Island
Event Design and Floral: Finch & Thistle Event Design
Event Planning: Eventwise
Stationery, Calligraphy and Invitations: la Happy
Hair and Makeup: Erin Skipley
Bride’s Dress: Modern Trousseau
Bridesmaid Dresses: J.Crew
Suits: J Hilburn
Favors: handmade candles in vintage silver pieces
Desserts: coconut cake and pies by North Hill Bakery
Catering: Herban Feast
Linens: BBJ
Vintage Furniture and Prop Rentals: Vintage Ambiance
Custom Cedar Bars and Burlap Draping: Prop Gallery
Tent and furniture rentals: AA Party