Weddings In Woodinville Tour
January, 2018
Willows Lodge | Woodinville, WA
Photos by Alante Photography
The Event
Weddings in Woodinville is a high end progressive wedding tour of the Western Washington Wine region (i.e. home to hundreds of tasting rooms and wineries!). The concept is awesome: 7 venues are each assigned a wedding planner, and that planner assembles their dream team to execute a full wedding concept. Guests then take four hours to tour all venues, eating and drinking their way through the event and collecting so many amazing ideas.
This was our first wedding show of this scale (hard to believe being that we’ve been at this since 2006!) so we didn’t want to screw the pooch. We had to bring our A-game. We aimed for an interactive, and an immersive visual experience.
We did. And it almost killed us, but dammit it was cool.
Design Vision
Bucking the oversaturated trend of minimalism, we wanted to go the exact opposite and embrace maximalism. More is more! Layers, textures, color, patterns. Like that really creative cool aunt that is borderline nuts. That’s what we wanted.
Kristine began collecting patterns and interior images of the maximalist look. Actually, a lot of our wedding design inspiration comes from interior design. It took forever to nail down exact details because mixing and matching patterns can either be beautiful or a visual nightmare. We were walking a fine line. To maintain a sense of ‘controlled chaos’ we pared down the amount of different patterns we used and instead focused on a few that were visually and thematically very different (floral and animal print), but still cohesive in their palette.
We asked every collaborator to push the envelope and have fun with the theme; providing couples a chance to fall in love with something they weren’t already seeing constantly on Pinterest. They embraced our theme wholeheartedly, utilizing medium and textures that they were wanting to play with but not given the opportunity to yet!
Wanting to have an interior feel, we used patio furniture with sheepskins and pillows for the seating. In the ballroom we hung curtains on each window to give the effect of being in a home.
One look Sheena was adamant about was a continuous ream of fabric running from the top of the 12 foot gazebo all the way down the 30 foot aisle. We’ve seen this done with paper, but what about velvet mauve floral print? The effect was show stopping.
The Details
Details were the name of the game. If there weren’t trinkets and accessories on every surface, we weren’t living “more.” Some favorite details were the tiger champagne flutes from Urban Outfitters and the Iris Candlestick from Anthropologie, subtle touches with whimsical impact. We wanted a table that made you lean in and really look at it.
The paper goods were a collaboration with Phenix Paper Co and Blue Eye Brown Eye. We wanted the medium of acrylic to modernize the table, but still make it look “extra”, as the kids would say. Lauren calligraphed the acrylic with guests names.
The floral was phenomenal! It truly made the entire look come together. Tobey Nelson Events ran with our avant gardé look, adorning our model with a headpiece and bouquet that made us stop in our tracks. We and Tobey wanted to present to brides atypical floral pieces that could still have a tremendous impact on their wedding day while still retaining a beautiful and romantic look.
We were truly spoiled by having dresses by Desiree Hartsock Bridal. She brought her whole collection and we had a “say yes to the dress” type setting in our beauty room. Not to mention, guests didn’t mind getting a chance to snap a pic with a real life Bachelorette!
For our dance party, we had a silent disco by Integral DJs. What is a silent disco you ask? You wear headphones and listen to the music you like, and dance to it. A room full of people dancing in silence? Hysterical. People got a huge kick out of it!
Lessons Learned
We pulled some rookie moves at this install. We should have prepped our curtains in advance, and we didn’t anticipate wind being a problem for the 42′ wind sail we essentially hung outside. We spent hours trouble shooting that problem. Frankly, we didn’t go to bed that night. Literally. We worked around the clock for 37 hours and that was avoidable with some better pre event planning. It’s incredible how 12 years of experience still allows room for “well, that was dumb” moments. These are the pitfalls of pushing ourselves and our craft, and lessons we carry when our next client lets us take it over the top.
Our Film
The Team
Coordination & Event Design: The Invisible Hostess
Photographer: Alante Photography
Venue & Catering: Willows Lodge
DJ: Integral DJs
Floral Design: Tobey Nelson Events
Rentals: Yay Parties, CORT Rentals, La Tavola Linen
Cakes: Blue Box Bakery
Dress: Desiree Hartsock Bridal
Hair & Makeup: Pacific Brides
Paper Goods: Phenix Paper Co, Blue Eye Brown Eye
Videography: Alayna Erhart Studio
Wine: Sparkman Cellars
Photobooth: 321 Foto