Golds and Oranges | Clippings from the Floressence Studio

The other day I discovered that the beautiful blue wall of waves in the Olympic Sculpture Park’s Paccar Pavilion is no longer! (I know, where have I been?) Made me realize just how attached I’d gotten to that gorgeous backdrop by Sandra Cinto, for celebrations of all kinds. Of course, the geometric, richly hued piece that took its place is also very cool — but I thought I’d share this wedding from the wave days in honor of their passing.

Plus, the photos that Barbie Hull took from this wedding are AWESOME!!! Wow, did she ever capture all the vibrancy of summer — and all the textures that I so love to play with. Garden roses unfurling next to scritchy scabiosa pods. Maidenhair fern trailing gracefully from playful groupings of ball dahlias and zinnias. The coral, orange, soft yellow, white, and green color scheme that the bride and groom requested was the perfect counterpoint to the blue and grey tones of the venue. It’s a florist’s dream when colors come together like this. Added bonus: Holly-Kate and Company on hand to make sure everything went flawlessly.

(And if you missed the blue waves, you can at least see a fascinating video showing its installation here.)

Bridal bouquet featuring fully blown White Majolika spray roses, maidenhair fern, white dahlias, and green zinnias, by Floressence.

Ivory spray roses and dahlias, green zinnias, and maidenhair fern for the bride.

A little waterfront canoodling

A bride and her bouquet, along with the groom, at a neighborhood bar. Floral design by Floressence.

How cute are the bride and groom with their pre-wedding beers?

Boutonniere featuring scabiosa pod with peach hypericum berries, by Floressence.

Scabiosa pod and hypericum berries for the groom

Bridesmaids in navy dresses hold coral, white, peach, and green bouquets, while the bride carries white, ivory, and green flowers. By Floressence.

Pops of color for the bridesmaids

A bride processes down the aisle, lined with vibrant floral arrangements, at the Olympic Sculpture Park's Paccar Pavilion. Floral designs by Floressence.

Here comes the bride…

Centerpieces in silver compotes served as aisle decor during a ceremony at the Olympic Sculpture Park, by Floressence.

Centerpieces do double-duty on the aisle

Scabiosa pods peek out from coral dahlias in a bridesmaid bouquet, by Floressence.

Large escort card table arrangement on silver candlestick, with snapdragons, ivory dahlias and stock, green zinnias, coral garden roses and dahlias, and orange esclepias, at the Olympic Sculpture Park's Paccar Pavilion. By Floressence.

An escort card table arrangement

floral centerpiece in silver compote, with ivory dahlias and stock, green zinnias, coral dahlias, and orange esclepias, at the Olympic Sculpture Park's Paccar Pavilion. By Floressence.

floral centerpiece in silver compote, with ivory dahlias and stock, green zinnias, coral garden roses and dahlias, and orange esclepias, at the Olympic Sculpture Park's Paccar Pavilion. By Floressence.

Centerpiece detail

Maidenhair!

In the spirit of the upcoming New Year’s Eve celebrations, this post looks back at one of 2013’s sparkliest, NW-blingiest weddings. What is “NW-bling” you might ask? Well, seeing as I just came up with the term, it’s a concept in flux — but you can safely assume that NW-bling includes beaded lamps AND ornamental fungus. Shimmery vases AND understated blue hydrangea. And in this case, the whole scheme was inspired by a super fun bride from Texas.

The Hollywood inspiration tablescape — we can do better than this!

Planning a long-distance wedding requires a lot of trust on the part of the client. Candace and I began the process of fleshing out ideas for her wedding at Urban Light Studios over the phone; she and her fiancé had been to Seattle but both lived in Houston. Her decor vision was inspired by the 83rd annual Academy Awards Governor’s Ball. It was a to-the-hilt look, and one I don’t see a lot of in Seattle. Frankly, I thought we could do better!

Candace rounded up all of her vendors for a site visit a couple of months before her wedding. The ever-insightful and awesome Kirstie Warren of Simply Wed was on the team at that point. Seeing the linens plus table lamps plus florals plus chargers plus flatware plus Chiavari chairs…. (whew!)… helped us edit the look. The room was going to be PACKED with elbow-to-elbow guests. We nixed the blue glass goblets and the sequined linens, and came up with a gorgeous, Houston-meets-Hollywood-meets-Seattle decor scheme that turned out to be one of my favorite weddings of 2013!

What do you think?