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Published: Hand Picked Vendor The Wedding Chicks

Finch & Thistle is featured on The Wedding Chicks today! Please take a look and leave a comment…

Have you seen the new issue of Seattle Metropolitan Bride and Groom? Our bouquet is on the cover!

bouquet on cover of Seattle Met Bride and GroomThe gorgeous image was taken by Ryan McVay of Studio Lucile and you can see other details from the shoot here and here.

Amy and Matt’s gorgeous Sorrento Hotel wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty today! You may remember my previous post, but be sure and check out the feature for more of Kip Beelman‘s gorgeous images.

seattle wedding flowers

I thought things would slow down in the autumn, but it turns out that everything’s still moving full steam ahead in the design studio! So many summer and early fall weddings to share with you over the next few weeks but for many of them, I’m waiting to receive the professional pictures.  Some of those are from Erin and Evan’s beautiful Woodland Park Rose Garden wedding back in September but Erin just sent me a couple of pictures that her guests took and I had to share…

Finch & Thistle Woodland Park Bride and GroomLove that instragram app (almost as much as I love the Cafe au Lait dahias)! I’m dying to show you the ceremony decor – a gazebo dripping with antique hydrangea and garden roses – but for now, here’s one picture that I took of the centerpieces as we set up the reception space at The Canal.

Seattle Event Designer

 

Amy and Matt’s intimate 40 person wedding took place in the Penthouse in Capital Hill’s Sorrento Hotel and was captured beautifully in these images by Kip Beelman. The bride and groom wanted a soft, vintage look with lots of texture and unexpected floral elements such as succulents and nigella pods. I used my collection of vintage milk glass for vases and then decorated with vintage books and mason jars in the fireplace and on the cocktail tables. I loved how the room was left “as-is” with it’s cozy furniture and fireplace to welcome guests and then “turned” to bring the tables out for the reception. It made it easy to use all the centerpieces as additional decor for the ceremony.

bride and groom sorrento hotelwhite and green organic boutonnierescloseup white bouquetsorrento hotelmilk glass centerpiecebook fireplace display

library at sorrento

green and white dahlia bouquetsorrento hotel decor

vintage centerpiece seattlesorrento hotel wedding

white and green wedding cakeguestbook display

sorrento hotel weddingbride and bridesmaid bouquets seattle

bride and groom sorrento hotel

Amy and Matt were a lovely couple to work with – so in love and excited about the wedding planning process and the vendors they were working with. Congratulations to you both and all the best as you begin this new phase of your lives together!

 

Jennifer and Jerry’s wedding design was inspired by the bride’s absolutely stunning blush pink Luly Yang gown. Jennifer wanted pink flowers but she wanted an edgier, more urban look to match the wedding venue – Tom Douglas’ Palace Ballroom.

Finch & Thistle Palace Ballroom wedding

Jennifer and Jerry’s photographer, Barbara Kinney, is a Seattle based photographer who was the official photographer for the Clinton Administration White House and Hilary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

pink and grey bridal bouquet

I decided to contrast the various pink tones with grey, red and a deep chocolate and keep the look very textured with stem upon stem of garden roses, grey berzilia, koko puff dahlias and red sedum.  Dark plum and brown flowers and foliage (chocolate dahlias, nine bark and smoke bush) helped give the arrangements contrast against the blush pink linens and tied in the reception to the ceremony’s dark chiviari chairs.

brown chivari chair tiespink and plum wedding centerpieces

pink and brown centerpieces

pink vintage centerpiece

sweet little flower girls

brown, red and pink bridesmaid bouquetspink and brown chair posyA cupboard and chandelier from Vintage Ambiance was used first as the “altar” and then as the backdrop for the stunning cake table by The People’s Cake.

vintage cupboard altar

I absolutely adore these garden roses. So beautiful and they also have an amazing scent. They provide a lovely ruffled look like a peony when peonies aren’t in season (and are as pricey as peonies, but worth every penny).

pink wedding vintage

Kelsey from Sugarcomb Event Design put together this fabulous escort card display using a wine barrel from Jennifer and Jerry’s winery, Guardian Cellars, with a monogram mimicking the wedding invitation.

creative escort card displayIt’s rare that I attend a cake tasting, but Jennifer invited me to come along and share with Kaysie of The People’s Cake the actual colors and flowers that I would be using for the arrangements.

pink and rose gold wedding cakes

August Floral Workshop

Seattle floral design workshopIf you’ve ever wanted to learn how to arrange a centerpiece for a dinner party or just to prettify your house, now’s your chance! In collaboration with Blossom & Bloom, we are offering a Summer floral design workshop at 7pm on Thursday, August 25 in the garden of our West Seattle studio. Come and sip cocktails, munch on some tasty treats and have fun while learning the basic principals of floral design and mechanics of making an arrangement that looks great using blooms from the market and your own garden/neighborhood park/condo landscaping.

For $125 you will go home with an arrangement valued at over $85 designed by you! We’ve limited the spaces to ensure everyone gets enough personal attention so sign up now to reserve your place!

You can sign up on our Facebook page here. If the class is already sold out, email us at rachel@finchandthistleevents.com and we’ll add you to the wait list. If there is demand, we may add another workshop date.

I came home from a two day mini vacation and found all my garden roses in bloom! I’m not sure which was better, the time off or the surprise arrival of all these beauties. They have the most delicious scent and are currently gracing my dining table with a lemon-y/rose-y/lavender-y fragrance. Have a happy, sunny holiday weekend!

garden rose arrangement by Finch & Thistle Event Design
orange david austin rose in an arrangement by finch & thistle event design

 

So many people and so much preparation goes into putting together an editorial for a magazine like Seattle Met Bride & Groom.  From a design and styling standpoint, there are usually weeks of preparations – sourcing props, planning the design, ordering flowers, putting together the arrangements and lots of running around picking everything up. Then the shoot itself is a hive of activity with editors, art directors, photographers, fashion stylists, and hair and makeup stylists. As promised, here are a few behind-the-scenes images from the latest issue of SMBG…

hair and makeup stylists, photographers and fashion editors at Seattle Met Bride & Groom shoot

Jewelry Closeups…This shoot was my first time styling jewelry and accessories and it was so fun but very twiddly work. It took about an hour to style each scene. Ever wondered how they get the closeup shots of jewelry and details that SMBG is known for?

bridal jewelry and details Prop Styling…I bought or borrowed all the props from vintage stores, friends, Ebay and Etsy. The larger items (tables) and vases were from my personal collections.  I am obsessed with antique dress trimmings and a family friend has a huge collection. I also loved the Charles and Diana souvenir wedding biscuit tin that a friend of my mum’s dug out of storage!

books, teacups and biscuit tinsFlowers...It was the perfect time of year (March) for Spring blooms in royal hues – jasmine, anemones, ranunculus, hellebore, mock orange and Amnesia roses. I got to use all my favorite flowers in this shoot!ranunculus, jasmine and anemone bouquet from cover of Seattle Met Bride & Groom

flower details from Seattle Metropolitan Bride & Groom Royal ShootAnd perhaps my most favorite part…the jewelry and accessories!

jewelry from Seattle Met Royal Shoot Be sure and check out all the hats and details in the Summer/Fall issue of Seattle Met Bride & Groom!

I almost always forget to photograph the boutonnieres and corsages for weddings but I just found these little dogwood and scabiosa lovelies on my camera and had to share.

dogwood and scabiosa corsage with lace

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