The other week I had coffee with a lovely Wedding Planner and Event Manager, Melissa. Melissa owns Bright Side Events, but also manages events at AXIS Pioneer Square. She took me on a tour of AXIS after finishing our coffee and I immediately could see why so many love this Seattle event venue. AXIS Pioneer Square is located in the historic Globe Building of Pioneer Square, which was built in 1890 for the Globe Navigation Company, a shipbuilding operation.

AXIS Pioneer Square opened for events in 2013 and the 10,000 square foot facility can host up to 550 people when using both the Main Space and the Corner Gallery. They do a variety of events including wedding ceremonies and receptions, corporate events, and parties. Inside the walls are a beautiful exposed brick and the floors are hardwood. 18 foot built in brick arches stand prominently in the center of the building, adjoining two large open areas.

Inspired by the wall of world globes at AXIS Pioneer Square and the fact that the venue lives in the historic Globe Building, I thought it would be neat to create a backdrop that looked like a map of the world. This world map design would be fun as a photo wall for a corporate/community/social event.  The continents would be created out of reindeer moss, the different colors of moss corresponding to the different geographical features within the various continents. Fairy light would be embedded in the moss to mimic cities at night.  Both light blue and dark blue delphinium would swirl around the continents representing the vast, moving ocean. It would be spectacular!

I was also inspired to bring to life another idea I had for a floral backdrop at AXIS Pioneer Square, this one perhaps more fitting for a wedding ceremony. Occidental Square, a public park, sits just outside of AXIS and is lines with tall trees, ornate street lights, and potted flowers. It’s a gorgeous setting that I wanted to essentially bring inside. To create this I would build two trees, birch poles for the trunks and birch branches for the tree branches. Silver dollar eucalyptus would be used for the leaves and (of course!) strands of fairy lights would wind their way up both trees. Centered inside both trees would be two English style street lamps with globe lights. A large floral basket would hang from each street lamp and would include smilax, nandina, Beatrice garden roses, Cardin Mill old English roses from Grace Rose Farm, yellow spray roses, and snowberry.

AXIS Pioneer Square is a clean design slate (and a gorgeous one for that matter) and there is so much potential for unparalleled transformation of the space. Are you holding an event at AXIS Pioneer Square? I would love to help you make it a historic, monumental occasion!

Last week I attended a wedding professionals networking event at Rein Fire Ranch. Just as I had my favorite venues in Colorado, I knew that Rein Fire Ranch (RFR) was going to be one of my favorites in Washington. RFR is a 45 acre former horse facility. Outside there are gardens, a pavilion, and a fire pit. And a 4,000 square foot newly renovated barn is a lovely setting for a reception dinner. The positive energy that can be sensed at RFR is heavily attributed by the owners, Rich and George, who are warm and welcoming. You can feel how much love and thought they have poured into their venue. RFR is beautiful, expansive, and so, so peaceful.

We were hoping for good weather at our networking event so we could take full advantage of all the outdoor areas at RFR. Dark clouds loomed over us as we made our way to the ranch and during set-up a full on thunderstorm ensued. Coming from Colorado where there are crazy, intense thunderstorms, I found it quite comforting. I have always been drawn to the sky and will spend time just watching the cloud formations. And I love rain and thunderstorms. A good shower is always soothing and energizing simultaneously. For a moment I felt like I was back home.

Since rain is considered good luck on a wedding day, as it signifies that your marriage will last (the knot that becomes wet is extremely hard to untie), I thought it would be fabulous to create a ceremony backdrop that looks like a rain shower. How wonderfully grand would that be?!?! For the rain I envisioned a curtain of satin ribbon strands interspersed with hanging white and blue delphinium. The clouds would be constructed mostly with puffy balls of hydrangea – white hydrangea, light blue hydrangea, and dark blue hydrangea. There would also be cotton pods and dusty miller, with a touch of quicksand roses and peach stock, which would mimic the warm glow created by the sun. The sun, which would definitely be a must, would be created from crem de la crem roses, yellow spray roses, light yellow stock, and dancing lady orchids. How utterly magnificent would it be to get married in front of a floral rain shower???

 

I also was inspired to sketch out a design for the entrance to the reception barn. The entrance to such a beautiful space needed something just as magical to greet guests. Originally, I was thinking I would create a sunset design, as glorious sunsets generally follow rain showers. But looking at the architectural structure of the building, an image of two trees flanking either side of the entrance popped into my head. These trees would be created from long branches of curly willow for the trunk and for the tree branches. For the leaves I would use willow eucalyptus or perhaps even silver dollar eucalyptus. And warm white fairy lights on these trees would add an illuminated, magical feeling. Any time I can incorporate fairy lights into a design is always delightful!

 

I cannot wait to create designs for a wedding or event at Rein Fire Ranch sometime in the future. I would absolutely love to make a rain shower backdrop for your wedding ceremony. Bestowing good luck and wishes for a long married life together is something that can even be conjured through thoughtful, intentional floral design. Let it rain!

The other week I had the opportunity to visit a lovely venue, Jardin del Sol. Jardin del Sol is an outdoor garden wedding and events venue located on a private residence in Snohomish, Washington, about 45 minutes north/east from Seattle. Having gotten married outside in the mountains in Colorado back in 2017, I am partial towards outdoor venues. And I immediately fell in love with Jardin del Sol.

Jardin del Sol, or Garden of the Sun, is located on seven acres of land. The main garden area features a central lawn surrounded by flowering perennials, shrubs, and tall trees and is most often used for ceremonies and lawn games. There is a wooden pergola that acts as a backdrop for the ceremony centered at the end of the lawn. While there is a lovely chandelier inside the pergola, it is essentially a blank canvas. The only limit to decorating this structure is  our imagination!

The design I created for this ceremony spot incorporates a floral ‘sun’ as a main arrangement on the pergola. I love when things have meaning and cohesion, so incorporating a floral sunburst felt just right for Jardin del Sol. The floral sunburst would include sunset garden roses, green-center sunflowers, leonidas rose, orange spray roses, light yellow stock, and dancing lady orchids. In this sketch I placed two trellises on either side of the pergola so that a climbing rose bush could wind its way up the structure adding to the garden feel. The climbing rose bush would be made out of smilax vine, kiss roses, and champagne roses (these are gorgeous light pink roses that open up like stars and are stunning!). In the two ceramic urns in front of the pergola thre would be a lush arrangement of smilax, greenery, kiss roses, champagne roses, and yellow begonias.

 

The entrance to this main lawn and ceremony area was another spot where I envisioned florals. A vision of a grape vine covered pergola popped into my head and I sketched out my floral interpretation using smilax vine, wedding ivy, purple stock, and purple larkspur. A grand ceremony deserves a grand entrance, after-all.

 

What are your thoughts about these design ideas? Any other you would like to see? If you are getting married at Jardin del Sol I would love to collaborate with you! Jardin del Sol is such a beautiful venue. The sky is the limit for the floral designs we could create at this magnificent place.

One of the the most prevalent obstacles I’ve encountered in my career as a Wedding and Event Florist has been communicating design concepts in a way that my clients could really understand and envision. While I would talk in descriptive, colorful language about a bouquet or a ceremony area or a table centerpiece, I would continue to get the statement, “Well, I am just not sure how it’s going to look.”

Using words and numbers never really seemed to paint the most complete design picture, and in the beginning of my business I struggled to get my floral ideas across. How could I show my clients what their arrangements would look like before I actually made their arrangements? I wanted my clients to feel confident that the designs I was proposing for their event were perfect for them. Finding a way to better communicate the images that resided in my head became almost a quest for me.

At the beginning of 2016 I bridged this gap through creating detailed digital drawings. I had realized that images have the ability to convey abstract and complex concepts, and that we humans are inherently visual thinkers. Plus, I have always enjoyed drawing, even though I thought my drawing skills were somewhat rudimentary. The more I drew, however, the better I got at it and now I almost enjoy the conceptual part of floral design almost more than the actual floral arranging itself. In that moment of taking your pen to paper there is so much artistic, creative possibility! I found that my drawings were quite effective (and often really accurate) in conveying the totality of a design. Sketching became one of my primary methods for communicating design concepts to my clients, which I still use today.

I am excited to share some of my past design concepts. It’s been so fun to look back at these concepts and compare them to the final, real-life designs. Sometimes they are pretty spot on!

Caitlin + Jon: Soft & Romantic Arch

Caitlin and Jon’s wedding was at an urban venue with a quasi-park feel. Their color palette was soft and muted, and they wanted their wedding to have a romantic feel. Using my birch arch we decide to drape sheer fabric over it to provide some soft movement – a stark contrast to the rigidness of the birch poles. And I added a lush asymmetric floral design in one corner of the arch. The image on the left is my sketch and the image on the right is courtesy of Sarah Hill Photography.

Tiffany + Gustavo: Oversized Holiday Wreath with Candles

Since they were tying the knot a week before Christmas, Tiffany and Gustavo decided to have a winter wedding with a Holiday feel. Tiffany envisioned an over-sized wreath on the fireplace mantle to take center stage at the ceremony. She wanted Holidays greens, berries, some flowers and lots and lots of candles. I think the shape and style of her initial vision is conveyed really well through the drawing on the left. The image on the right which showcases the illuminated essence is courtesy of Sunny Lee Photography.

Emily + Tyler: Colorful Floral Fence

Ski Tip Lodge in Colorado has an amazing ceremony backdrop overlooking a turquoise blue lake. Emily and Tyler wanted to use the structure that was already there, a wood fence, for their ceremony backdrop. We decided on a spilt, asymmetric and colorful design following the horizontal lines of the fence. The image on the left is my sketch and the picture on the right is courtesy of Kelsey Booth Photography.

Emily + Tyler: Rustic River Florals

Emily and Tyler had an outdoor wedding at one of my most favorite natural wedding venues in Colorado, Riverbend. To define the ceremony we used my birch arch and I proposed an asymmetric design with more volume of flowers/greenery in one corner, balanced by a smaller floral plume on the opposite side. The digital concept I drew is featured on the left and Emily and Tyler are seen just having been pronounced husband and wife on the right courtesy of Gretchen Foster Photography.

Kora + Casey: Lush Pergola With Mountain Views

Kora and Casey got married in Estes Park, one of my favorite places in Colorado. Their venue had this spectacular view overlooking a lake with a mountain backdrop. Since they would be married under the pergola, we decided to follow the shape of the pergola with their soft, rustic floral vision. My draft is on the left and the design that came to fruition is pictured on the right.

Kristin + Marcus: Indoor Urban Floral Flair

While I have a fondness for outdoor ceremonies, I love the fact that indoor ceremonies often provide a blank slate. Using their color palette of red, pink, and green we chose a square arch covered in greenery and blooms with more thickness on top and in the corners of the arch. My initial sketch of this vision is on the left and their wedding day is pictured on the right courtesy of Bellagala.

The other day I visited an absolutely beautiful wedding venue here in Washington that is just minutes from my studio – Woodinville Lavender. This venue is a working lavender farm that grows several varieties of lavender, each blooming at a different point in time during the summer, beginning in early June. With the glorious Washington summer weather and when the lavender fields are in their peak bloom, it easy to see why Woodinville Lavender makes one of the most stunning (and fragrant) settings. Woodinville Lavender is gorgeous all year round, but the lavender flowers add a layer of magic to the setting, as you can see below. What an incredible place to tie the knot!

After my visit to Woodinville Lavender I spent some time thinking about and drafting a proper ceremony backdrop for such a spectacular venue. When you have an environment that is already gorgeous, you never want your designs to compete with the space or to take away from the setting. Instead, a design should work in harmony with the already established ambiance. It’s an added layer of beauty that compliments the framework and that makes the space your own.

 

Wine Barrel Bubble Trellis

Given that Woodinville Lavender is located almost smack dab in the middle of Woodinville wine country, with wineries and cellars to the north and south, I decided it would be fitting to include wine barrel planters into my floral inspiration for a ceremony backdrop. Inside each of those planters would stand a trellis, where vines and flowers could wind their way up. These would not your typical garden trellises, but bubble trellises. Round metal circles that would mimic the spherical form of the lavender bushes. Aren’t bubble trellises fun?!

In this sketch I used bulbous flowers: green viburnum and purple allium. I also included smilax vine, variegated coleus, potato vine leaves, and orange & yellow begonias.

 

Garden Moon Gate

The owner, Tom, said he has always loved to garden. A transition in life took him from mechanical engineering and building rockets to growing the most well-kept and manicured lavender gardens that I have ever laid eyes on. And I thought such a beautiful space deserves a beautiful entrance. What more perfect than a garden moon gate!

This floral moon gate sketch was actually one that I drew after a past consultation, but I thought this particular design would go really well at Woodinville Lavender. I am smitten by the wild, flowing look of the botanical elements, which really compliments both the movement of the trees in the background, but also the thin fingers of each lavender stem. The blooming lavender adds a delicate, almost whimsical feeling to the setting, which is also expressed through the greenery and flowers on the moon gate arch.

The colorful botanical inspiration for this design includes curly willow, ruscus, eucalyptus, plumosa fern, giant allium, peach roses, pink spray roses, blue delphinium, purple larkspur, and purple ranunculus.

I also drafted a less colorful version of this moon gate arch, which uses curly willow, ruscus, eucalyptus, plumosa fern, dusty miller, crem de la crem roses, million star baby’s breath, and dendrobium orchids.

 

Lastly, I sketched out a much more simplistic moon gate design. I love the vibrant green of the potato vine leaves and the soft yellow of the crem de la crem roses and the champagne wedding carnations against the sea of purple.

 

Are you just as smitten with Woodinville Lavender as I am? Are you planning on getting married at Woodinville Lavender sometime in the near future? I would LOVE to create on of these ceremony designs for you or we can brainstorm something totally new and original. Either way your big day is bound to be nothing short of magical.

The other week I had the opportunity to visit a spectacular venue here in Washington for the first time, Trinity Tree Farm. I was with a professional wedding association, Wedding Network Seattle, whose regularly scheduled chapter meeting was held that month at Trinity Tree Farm. Wedding Network Seattle (WNS) meetings rotate to different venues around the greater Seattle area and showcase a different team of vendors whose area of expertise creates a mini-wedding atmosphere. Th cocktail hour and mingling is always followed by dinner, which usually features an educational guest speaker. WNS is a wonderful way to get to know vendors, especially if you are new to the area like me!

Trinity Tree Farm is a working Christmas tree farm located in Issaquah, where you can select and cut down your very own tree. The farm has two event facilities, the Barn and the Lodge. Both can hold up to 150 guests and the Lodge (where our networking event was held) sits on top of a hill with views of Mount Rainier and Tiger & Squak Mountain. The Lodge is spacious, clean, and contemporary. It’s nestled in the woods amidst pine trees emitting a fragrance that almost reminded me of being back in Colorado.

Before all the members of WNS arrived and our chapter event started, I took some pictures of the Lodge at Trinity Tree Farm. In addition to the building itself, which has a ballroom, a covered foyer, and separate getting ready quarters for the couple, there are a couple of outdoor areas also designed to be utilized. An outdoor fire pit with benches is the first thing you see when you drive up to the Lodge right before the main entrance. Once could imagine guests relaxing around a cozy fire after dinner.

When I first laid eyes on the fire pit in my mind I saw a huge floral arrangement that would mimic an actual fire. How cool would that be?? And what a dramatic statement! The arrangement would have reds, oranges, and yellows. There would be lots of movement within the arrangement, almost dancing with rhythm as the wind blows.

Back at my studio I got to work on sketching out this fire floral arrangement. I decided the arrangement would include curly willow, dusty miller, red spray roses, red gomphrena, high and yellow flame rose (how perfect is that??), tiger lilies, montbretia, dancing lady orchids, and smoke bush (also very fitting!). Here is the visual draft that I came up with:

The other outdoor area at the Lodge at Trinity Tree Farm sits below the reception ballroom and is the perfect space for an outdoor wedding ceremony. Fixed wooden benches give a rustic, natural charm to the setting and the squared arch provides the framework for a beautiful backdrop, whose design is up to your imagination! Old growth pine trees surround the ceremony space, but you get little glimpses of the tree farm trees down below.

I sat with the picture of the outdoor ceremony space for awhile before envisioning the perfect backdrop. I started to sketch out an asymmetric design with a large floral spray on one side of the arch at the top and another spray at the base on the opposite side of the arch, but ultimately decided to nix that design. It’s one that I have done before and I really wanted to create something special for the ceremony space at Trinity Tree Farm.

Given that the facility sits in a woodsy area that reminds me of being in the Colorado mountains, I imagined myself in the Washington mountains. All that I have seen in my online research about Washington and the few outdoor areas that I have explored since moving here gave me a serene wooded visual when suddenly an image of a waterfall popped into my head. Then I thought how perfect would it be if the ceremony arch actually resembled a waterfall?!?! So I went about sketching this vision out. I decided upon a design that would include tons of mesh, silk, and satin ribbons of various widths for the streams of water. White ribbon, light blue ribbon, and turquoise ribbon would all flow down to the ground together. Embedded into these streams of ribbon would be the luxurious Phalaenopsis orchids with their huge, satiny white blooms. This would give the water streams more of a curving, zig-zag movement as the water flowed between rocks. Since western Washington is very lush with moss growing everywhere, especially near waterfalls, I would create vertical columns of moss within the arch, in between the streams of ribbon/orchids. Here is my vision for this magnificent waterfall wedding ceremony backdrop at Trinity Tree Farm:

If you are reading this post, are getting married at Trinity Tree Farm, and fell in love with either of these floral visions, I would absolutely LOVE to create one or both of them for your wedding. Can you imagine your guests being greeted and wowed by a fire-inspired floral arrangement or saying your vows in front of a glorious floral waterfall? Your wedding will be the talk of the town and will be THE wedding that influences Pinterest for other brides-and-grooms to-be years into the future. Let’s make it happen!