seattle event designer | Finch and Thistle

{ Monday, September 12, 2016 }

Spring Wedding at Chihuly Garden & Glass

category: Home, Weddings

These clients married in a medieval chapel on a private estate just outside Seattle. They wanted the chapel to have a dreamy, forest feel and I had an amazing time dreaming up the altar installation of Japanese snowbell, privet, foxglove and clematis. By contrast, the Chihuly Glass museum is bright and airy with a huge glass poppy installation. This was the biggest set up we’ve ever had to do in a two hour window and I tried to keep that in mind with the event design as it was easy to get carried away with the greenhouse theme. We brought in potted vine maples and soft seating, created a custom bar backdrop and hanging plants to decorate the tented courtyard. I designed three styles of tables and a greenhouse inspired dessert table backdrop complete with custom 5′ wide laser cut monogram and trailing moss and orchids. The florals were filled with garden roses, mock orange, ranunculus, peonies and kumquats. Italian poppies in sherbet shades added a pop of color and served to incorporate the infamous Chihuly glass installation. Photography by Stephanie Cristalli with assistance by Jenn Tai. Event design, styling and floral by Finch & Thistle Event Design.

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{ Wednesday, February 10, 2016 }

Published: Cover Story at Seattle Met Bride & Groom

category: Home, press

Last week I had possibly the most exciting trip to QFC with baby in tow *ever* when I spotted my work on the cover of my favorite wedding magazine – Seattle Metropolitan Bride & Groom. I was asked to create a mostly white bridal bouquet for a color story in the latest issue, but I had no idea until I saw it in person that the editor had picked that shot for the cover.

Tagged: bridal bouqet, finch and thistle event design, seattle event designer, seattle met bride and groom, seattle wedding flowers

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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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{ 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, 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

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{ 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

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{ Monday, March 17, 2014 }

Coral, Peach + Pink Lake Union Yacht Club Wedding

category: Home

We had the pleasure of both designing and coordinating Edwina and Jesse’s Lake Union Yacht Club wedding. Edwina wore her mother’s 1960’s wedding dress so I designed a modern version of the traditional cascade bouquet with amazingly fragrant local garden roses and sweet peas with the vintage dress in mind. It was a truly beautiful summer day in Seattle – still 75 degrees when the newlyweds sailed away at twilight on a 40 foot yacht. The gorgeous cake was by Honeycrumb Cake Studio, the whimsical calligraphy was by Iwona Konarski, and these lovely images are courtesy of The Popes.

Tagged: cascade bouquet, Finch & Thistle Event Design, lake union yacht club, peach and pink wedding, seattle event designer, seattle floral design, the popes, vintage wedding dress, whimsical

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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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{ 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.