Event Design

I have known Alissa for many years. I used to work with her catering company Gourmondo during my time at the Symphony and I have always admired her success as an entrepreneur and businesswoman. So when she called to tell me she was getting married and wanted me to both plan and design it, I was thrilled. The only downside – she and her fiance Alan wanted to get married within six weeks and on a date when we were already booked.  A few calls were made, a few strings were pulled and the date was changed. The planning began…

Alan and Alissa’s wedding took place in the garden and inside their Bainbridge Island home. It was a second marriage for both the bride and groom so they wanted a beautiful, sophisticated affair but without a lot of the usual wedding traditions – no cake, no first dance, no speeches. Seattle based wedding photographer Julie Harmsen took all of these beautiful pictures.

We decided on a Tuscan theme with an olive branch monogram that I worked with Sally Balt at LaHappy to design and I then used fresh olive and Italian herbs in all of the floral arrangements.

Only immediate family attended the ceremony presided over by the groom’s brother and the rest of the guests arrived for the reception to be greeted by Veraci’s wood fired pizza oven in the driveway and a beautiful candlelit tent in the back garden where Alissa’s uncle’s jazz band serenaded the guests.

We styled a cigar and whiskey bar as a surprise for the groom and used the home’s existing English pub (!) for one of the two bars. After a traditional Italian meal provided by Gourmondo there was a dessert buffet of cannolis and miniature tiramisu and guests were invited to take home bouquets of flowers in vintage olive oil cans from the Bainbridge Farmers Market.