We are thrilled to have had both a styled shoot and a wedding featured on our favorite wedding blog Style Me Pretty in the last two weeks. In case you missed them, our Winter Farm shoot was featured last week and Chris and Kerissa’s Alexis Hotel wedding was on there yesterday. There are too many amazing images to share so I will post Chris and Kerissa’s wedding separately. horses at wedding winter wedding finch and thistle wildflower wedding bouquetwildflower bouquet farm bridal bouquet I styled and designed the shoot based on Chantal’s original, rather tongue-in-cheek, root vegetable Pinterest board. The Root Vegetable title was supposed to throw people off the scent and instead became the primary inspiration for the farm shoot! I used striped kraft paper from Packaging Specialties instead of table linen and secured it to the table with fabulous gold flecked butcher’s twine. I had great fun in Spokane over Thanksgiving sourcing vintage bowls and pails and found a lot of the amazing props hiding in the old barn at the farm itself. The vegetables were actually from my own garden! winter wedding kraft paper table runner radish boutonniere I wanted to flowers to be very rich and vibrant because I knew the likelihood of gloomy winter weather so I used deep burgundy, reds and purples with paler greys and lilac to contrast. I loved the ornamental cabbages instead of peonies or garden roses. They just fit so well with the theme but were still soft and pretty and I used lots of grasses, berries, herbs and foliage for a country, wildflower style bouquet. vegetables in bouquets burgundy and purple wildflower bouquet wildflower bridal bouquet seattle

Partying Mad Men Style

We’re back from our amazing trip to Africa! I’ll share some pictures when I’ve had time to catch up on the hundreds of emails and voice mails that were waiting for me back at the office, but in the meantime here’s a set of pictures guaranteed to make you smile.

Back in November we did a 1961 Mad Men themed birthday party for a client on Mercer Island. Decorations consisted mainly of smoking accoutrements: candy cigarettes, bubblegum cigars, cigarette holders, chocolate cigars, vintage glass ashtrays etc with a few flowers thrown in here and there for good measure! I scoured estate sales and thrift stores for retro decor and worked with Kip Beelman to set up a fabulous photo backdrop so guests could do the twist with Sophia Loren. DJ Tony Schwartz played hits from the 50′s and 60′s that kept guests on the dance floor and he was assisted by Shake Bartenders who provided the smoky signature cocktails. The amazing spread was catered by Ristorante Doria and the bold polka dot and jewel tone linens came from BBJ. If only Don and Betty had put in an appearance…

mad men 60s partyretro party invitationretro record coastersseattle event designercandy cigarettesbreakfast at tiffanys costumeretro party
glassbaby votives and retro flowersretro cook bookitalian foodtrifle and carrot cake

On Safari…

…well mostly, give or take a three day layover in London visiting my family and a few days in Mozambique and Mauritius…but yes, we’re taking the next four weeks off to travel to South Africa and visit my husband’s father and brothers. I’ll be back in the office on February 14 complete with a pre-written already scheduled blog post for your enjoyment (how’s that for organization?) So until then, just picture us sipping sun-downers on the back of a Land Rover in the African bush and I’ll see you in February.

I took this picture on my first trip to Madikwe in 2005. Hoping to see lots more of these guys…

Let me just say that I absolutely loved working with Lisa. Adored might be more like it. Not that I don’t enjoy working with all my clients, but Lisa hired me a full year before her August 2011 wedding, knew exactly what she wanted and didn’t change her mind once. Let me repeat that: NOT ONCE. Sure, she let me suggest ideas and decor elements but her vision was unwavering: green, cement and rust with trees and branches incorporated somehow and a clean, modern look. After a summer of vintage weddings, it was a breath of fresh air.

edgewater wedding seattleLisa’s bouquet was white and green with exquisite lady slipper orchids and grasses and her bridesmaids carried green and rust bouquets that popped against their slate grey dresses. Josh and the groomsmen had boutonnieres made of poppy pods, dusty miller and curly willow twigs.

green and grey bouquetgrey and green bridal bouquet seattlegreen and orange wedding seattleseattle wedding flowersedgewater seattle wedding

We used cement vases and settled on three styles of centerpieces – a taller one with curly willow branches, a shorter fuller one and a low vessel filled with succulents. To incorporate the tree theme, we purchased birch votive holders from Etsy and used three on each table.

cement vases wedding centerpiecegreen and orange centerpiecesbirch votive and succulent centerpiecessucculent centerpiecespoppy pod napkin tie

But of all the beautiful images by Angela and Evan Photography, I think this one is my favorite…

green, grey and white wedding

Just add blooms

Have you seen the bouquet recipes posted by The Wedding Chicks? Such a fun idea and I was so pleased that one of my 2011 bouquets was chosen for the feature. Take a look here and maybe the peach and yellow flowers will inspire your own Spring wedding or event…

finch & thistle peach and yellow bouquetImage courtesy of Angela and Evan Photography

 

Happy Holidays

I’m taking the next few days off to spend time with my family and partake in the annual present wrapping/cookie baking/gin and tonic drinking frenzy that is the British/South African Christmas so I wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays and leave you with a few images from a holiday party we did at Benaroya Hall last week. I forgot my proper camera so had to make do with my iphone but I think the cool editing by my Camera+ app makes up for it, don’t you?

Finch & Thistle Christmas centerpiecered and green christmas centerpieceschristmas tree at benaroya hall

The Wedding Chicks

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