Fun and Games at Ray’s Boathouse

Christmas is coming, and toys are on the loose. (How else would I have come home with a pair of used bongos the other day, when I only meant to buy a $5 bottle of valve oil for our household trumpet?) Thinking about the parade of toys through the ages, a hoola hoop rolls through my mind and reminds me of this sweet little wedding from the summer…

Eva, the bride, had great vintage style — and was also an avid hoola hooper. What better way to bring some of her unique personality to the decor than to place a hoola hoop front and center? She and her guy Ian were to be married on the deck at Ray’s Boathouse. You don’t want to block the stunning view there, but the railing can use a little love.  We took a regular old hoola hoop and wrapped it with pink and cream vintage-esque ribbons, and hung it on the railing right where the bride and groom would stand. Soft garlands of smilax and romantic floral clusters featuring Cafe au Lait dahlias completed the look. Inside the dining room, sweetly simple centerpieces in milk glass and depression-era rose glass carried out the vintage vibe.

Wish I could have seen the first dance! Something tells me that a special hoola hoop might have been just within arm’s reach….

How sweetly retro is she??

The hoop marks the spot

Sweet somethings for the table

Thank you to  Joshua Mahar Photography for the lovely images!

The Wind Wins at Seattle Aquarium

Of all the elements that mother nature throws at me as a florist, the wind is definitely one of the most challenging. (Dare I say even more than the sun?) It can knock over chuppahs, send tall glass cylinders a-tumblin’, bust the petals right off a more delicate bloom. Let’s not even get into what it does to carefully coiffed wedding party hair, or a neatly twisted stack of cocktail napkins.

In July I gave up all my wind resistance at the Seattle Aquarium, for Cassidy and Ali’s beautiful ceremony on the pier. For the lampposts flanking the altar area, we ziptied lively floral swags around those posts as tight as Victorian corsets. Hanging from each was a passel of streaming ribbons in the wedding colors: hot pink, orange, gold. Paul Joseph Brown took my favorite wind-shots ever of these ribbons, blowing straight out to horizontal across Elliott Bay.

If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. “‘Em” being the breezes in this case. And really, shouldn’t a ceremony be vibrant and full of life forces?

And yes, thankfully, the reception was indoors.

The bridal bouquet with special accents of gloriosa lilies and craspedia

Soft yellow dresses as a backdrop to intense pinks and oranges

Poppies, peonies, and nerine lilies — it doesn’t get much better than that!

Ribbons comin’ at ya

The resplendent bride and groom

Simple but sweet cocktail table arrangements

Height and drama for the reception…

….balanced by submerged trios

P.S. Those super cool light boxes under the tall centerpieces were provided by Good Times DJ Services, and were custom programable.

“Sublime” Romance at the Olympic Sculpture Park

When it comes to flowers, is there really such a thing as too romantic? Methinks no way. It is  no secret that my taste for floral design runs towards the gardeny, the spilling, the lovely. Any color palette will do — it’s that romantic feeling and lushness that speaks to me. Local wedding and event designer Shannon Lassen of Sublime had me pegged — and to my great delight and honor, asked me to design such arrangements for her wedding reception at the Olympic Sculpture Park last September.

Shannon was a master at creating layer upon layer of texture at her reception. Three different styles of table linens brought an elegant eclecticism to the clean, cool modernism of the Paccar Pavilion. To go along with that, I used three different styles of vases: vintage ivory ceramic, classic silver, and understated glass. Although each centerpiece was a little different from the next, the overall palette was a unified blend of ivory, peach, pink, coral, green, and silver. Cafe au Lait dahlias made their show-stopping appearance, as did garden roses, ranunculus, fully blown spray roses, and other seasonal treats.

The intimate ceremony at Parsons Gardens got special treatment with an ombré aisle design, and a couple of sweet little arrangements hanging from shepherds hooks at the start of the aisle. My friend and colleague Jean Louise of Juniper Flowers designed all the personal flowers, and you can bet they were stunning. But all this would just be talk without the amazing photographic record by Eliza Truitt Photography.

Happy Anniversary, Shannon and Tom! And thank you so much for inviting Floressence to be part of your day!

An ombré aisle

Sweet little somethings for the start of the aisle

To answer the question, “What happens to all those petals after the bride walks down the aisle?”

Airborne ombré

The Paccar Pavilion at OSP

At the Woodmark Hotel: Lakeside Splendor

I’ll never forget the 4th of July bride I had several years ago, who wanted her flowers in shades of red, white, and blue — and asked that they not appear patriotic. Jerusha and Dave didn’t get married on the 4th of July this year, but on the 5th — and they didn’t ask me to pull out the red, white, and blue flowers, either. This wedding at the always lovely Woodmark Hotel was a crisp splash of blue and green and a little white. Perfect for a lakeside celebration on a hot summer day.

Jerusha’s bouquet was especially fun for me to design. I don’t often get to go all out with a cascade bouquet, and especially not one made mostly of green flowers. Foxtail ferns gave texture and body to the cascade, while lily grass wisped downwards like sea grass in reverse. I’m so grateful for the amazing talents of Affinity Photography, who captured that bouquet (and everything else) so perfectly. I might not get my hands on another bouquet like that one anytime soon!

Two varieties of centerpieces reflected the waterside setting, all in — you guessed it — blue, green, and white. At the altar, we hung floral pomanders from iron “trees,” and strung them with green cymbidium orchid blossoms for good measure. There was a soft breeze coming off the lake, just enough to send the orchids a-fluttering. Just like bride’s and groom’s hearts, I’m sure.

It was a treat to work with Taylor’d Events on this wedding, and I’m sure that DJ Leslie of Seattle Parties kept the party going like fireworks into the night.

The bridal bouquet looked downright aquatic!

Note the color coordination of the lily pads

One style of centerpiece…

….and another

White rose petals for the aisle

Iron trees festooned with pomanders and hanging orchids at the altar

Blue and green everywhere!

Delphinium and hydrangea pomander

White carnation pomander

Lovely Lilacs at Ray’s Boathouse

There is a perfect time of year for purple, and it has everything to do with lilacs. When those gorgeous blossoms start appearing on the streets and in the market, I start looking for any  excuse to design with them. (Any excuse to smell them, really.)

This spring, I didn’t need more of an excuse than Kara and Bruce’s purple-hued ceremony at Ray’s Boathouse. Lilacs found their way into the playful pomanders hanging from the altar area, as did spray roses, ranunculus, boronia, and dianthus. The way the light bounced off the water and onto the pomanders was primo — nature as the ultimate lighting tech.

The folks at Ray’s do such a great job of creating a warm, welcoming environment for their guests, and I was so happy that Affinity Photography was on the scene to capture the details.

Oh lilacs, until we meet again next year!

Pomanders create a lovely backdrop at the altar

They do!

They still do….

A Salish Lodge Fairy Tale

Admittedly, the notion of a “fairy tale wedding” is a cliché. But at a recent Salish Lodge ceremony and reception, those were the only words going through my head.

Ryan and Lele were romantics through and through. The ceremony took place on a small lawn overlooking the waterfall, like one of those fabled hidden clearings. We draped the altar arch in white silk, then garlands of pink and white roses, lilies, and hydrangea. We lined the aisle with petals, and hung posies from the ends of the three sweet rows. All the while — I kid you not — birds chirped, occasional mist found our faces, and the harpist and fiddlers went about their tunings and strummings. Fairy tale!! I really felt like I’d see Snow White caper through the drapery every time I turned around.

For the reception, Lele requested cascading phalaenopsis orchids from tall centerpieces. The room was intimate, gorgeous, and a perfect continuation of the romantic vibe on the lawn. Small weddings are so lovely. And why not go all out when you’re honoring your nearest and dearest?

Once upon a time…

A walk to the altar

Lele’s bouquet of all ivory calla lilies

Vintage buttons adorn the stem wrap

Happily ever after!

A sweet halo of flowers for the flowergirl

Calla lily with hypericum and galax for the groom

Hydrangea posies for the aisle do double-duty as accent pieces on the reception tables

Tall centerpieces with cascading phalaenopsis orchids

Azzura Photography worked their magic in capturing these scenes. Rev. Mary Calhoun lent her sweet charm to the officiation. Choice Linens provided the beautiful linens and chair covers.

Inspiration at the Great Hall at Greenlake

Sometimes one word is all it takes. When Margi came to me to talk about flowers for her wedding reception at The Great Hall at Greenlake, she described the feeling of airiness, light, and life that she wanted the room to have. Like being in an atrium, she said.

Atrium! I think of the floral abundancy at the Conservatory at Volunteer Park. I think of cellists doing their thing by a spiral staircase. I get a kind of floaty feeling.  A small bird is perched high up beneath the glass. Someone might be wearing a bow tie, and someone is definitely wearing a gardenia. Atrium!

That one word sparked the vision for Margi’s flowers:  tall centerpieces on classic silver candlesticks, with maidenhair fern fluttering around the edges. Fresh whites and greens, studded with aromatic rosemary, mint, and sage. Low counterparts in silver bowls. The vision carried over to Margi’s ceremony decor: pomanders to line the aisle and mark the altar at a waterfront park on Lake Union.  Let me tell you, that was one of the best smelling weddings EVER.

Dare I say that the entire wedding was atriyummy?

The Great Hall at Greenlake

Margi’s bouquet

Happy maids in fawn and grey

A mix of high and low centerpieces

Classic and fresh

This little guy was hanging out on the floor before his elevated destiny

A Great Hall deserves a grand bannister

Earlier that day…

Detail of the aisle pomanders

Many thanks to Alyssa Rose Photography for sharing these images. GuGuLy Event Planning pulled together a zillion details for the happy couple, and made our day a lot easier, too!

Hot and Foxy

It’s hard to believe right now, but there was a day last summer that was very HOT. How hot, you ask? So hot that when I stepped out of the air-conditioned van and onto the Fox Island property where Ashley and John were to be married, I could hear pine needles crackling with the threat of combustion. I could smell the salty seaweed toasting itself on the shore. I could see the water evaporating right out of the petals and stems of a van full of flowers.

Will they last???, I had to wonder. (Referring to the flowers, not the couple.) Of course they did! The girls’ bouquets were an eclectic mix of color and texture:  unusual mini-gladioli in a gorgeous salmon color, and odd, green finger-like flowers that I cannot remember the name of from the Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, our neighbors in Georgetown. Dahlias, poppy pods, maidenhair fern, and (somewhat surprisingly) ranunculus – to name a few more.

Ashley was probably wearing five times the garment-weight of anyone else there (especially the shirtless high school boys, enlisted to help with last-minute grunt work) – but every time I saw her, she looked happy, beautiful, and… happy! I took a break from working on the curly willow arch to watch her and John spy each other through the shade of trees. Being witness to those moments, on a day like that, really does revive me.

Rebecca Grant of New Creations Wedding Design was a genius in the design and coordination of this wedding, and Rubin Photography captured it all most beautifully.

Ashley and John kicking their feet up

Northwesty little boutonnieres

A beautiful range of coral tones for these lovely maids

Ka-pow!

Umbrella fern shows off the reason for its name

Karamel Antike roses with umbrella fern

Arch detail

A free-standing curly willow arch

Ashley spies John from her spot in the shade

Four Hundred and Sixty-three

463 weddings. Sounds like a lot. Imagine 463 brides walking down one long aisle, and roughly 1,852 bridesmaids standing with them at the altar. Is it really possible that in the last ten years this studio has created around 2,300 bouquets, most of them hand-tied, each wedding different from the other?

Lots of weddings means lots of ribbon.

Not only is it possible, it is almost certain. At this 10-year anniversary of owning Floressence, I find myself thinking a lot about all the beauty, labor, and learning that I’ve experienced in the studio. And so I just had to count.

There is no single image to convey all that time and all those flowers. If there was, it would be a sure sign I’ve been on the wrong track. So for this inaugural post, I’ll just share a few from one of my favorite weddings.

Wedding #349: June 28, 2010

A predictably chilly day in Seattle, but so enlivened by the colors and textures of these exuberant flowers. Sweet pea vines creeping out from the bridal bouquet, curling around peonies, garden roses, spray roses, poppy pods, and ranunculus. Lady’s mantle fizzing up from the bridesmaid bouquets. Sweet spray rose boutonnieres. Fruiting raspberry cane pretty much dripping from the altar arrangements. The bride and her maids arriving dramatically by (choppy) water to the sweet lakefront park.

Oh, you June brides in Seattle! You always forget that our Junes can be so cold and  wet – and yet how is it that the sun usually breaks for the ceremony after all?

Thanks to Clare Barboza for color photographs of the wedding, and Jimmy Clarke for the black-and-whites. The ever-talented Laurel McConnell documented our overflowing ribbon rack.

A lush June bouquet, with cascading tendrils of sweet pea vine.

A blush bridal gown is the perfect backdrop for these romantic hues

The father of the bride waits anxiously as the bride and her attendants arrive by raft.

A bridesmaid disembarks.

Safe arrival. Let the ceremony begin!

Flowergirls serve lemonade from our vintage Italian florist cart for waiting guests.

Unique seasonal cuts for the altar.

Sweet spray rose boutonniere

Hot pink spray roses accent the Maid of Honor bouquet

Lady’s mantle and scented geranium provide texture and color contrast.