Finch and Thistle Event Design

When we began to think about the style of wedding that fit our personality, there was no doubt that Rachel was the only one to create the perfect atmosphere. Her style is simply stunning and every element and detail is perfectly designed. We provided broad ideas of our vision “take the inside out” “vintage” “rustic chic” “gatsby” and Rachel flawlessly interpreted our loose ideas into an expression of us. Her design carried through to flowers (beautiful antique colors), lighting (chandeliers and silver candelabras), rustic props (velvet couches, antique furniture, and farm table) and even guidance on the invitations. Rachel was a true professional and pleasure to work with and our wedding wouldn’t have been as uniquely ours without her.

Rachel was recommended to us by a mutual acquaintance. We met with Rachel and one other planner. We ultimately chose to go with her because of the style and beauty of her previous weddings. We also appreciated the fact that she is a florist; having both the eye for the aesthetic and the means and experience to put into place a cohesive set of decorations is a huge bonus. We chose to hire Rachel with the Extended Day-Of package. We were budget minded and we didn’t mind doing the extra labor required to make many of our own decorations.

The Planning Process:
We met with Rachel early on to set general guidelines of our budget and set-up a timeline. We also discussed the style we wanted. We already had our venue chosen so we worked around that as a starting point. Rachel had great ideas for low-budget decorations that matched the look and feel we were trying to achieve.

We had our wedding colors in mind as well; Rachel was able to brainstorm the flora she would use to meet them. It is truly amazing what she can do in this department. Not only did the flowers match the colors perfectly, but she picked herbs and other aromatic plants to create a full sensory experience.

+ recommended a great photographer
+ recommended a great dessert maker
+ stuck to the budget
+ was incredibly helpful and reassuring when we had some problems with our venue when it was sold a few months before our wedding date

- communication - didn’t always respond to each and every question
- would have liked to have her initiate more of the check-ins rather than the other way around

Day Of:
+ it was a dream- every detail was taken care of and we didn’t have to worry about a thing on the big day!
+ worked with her husband to set-up an absolutely perfect reception venue; better than imagined, our guests (and the venue owner!) was raving about how amazing it looked.
+ autonomous; out of the way, but always present when needed

Hands down, Rachel does amazing work. She has an incredible eye for design, color, and detail. I wanted to commission her for more work, but my budget was set, and so I chose a few pivotal items that I wanted to be perfect and Rachel knocked the ball out of the park. Even though I didn't have a massive budget, she added such elegance to everything she touched, and that made all the difference. All of guests noticed the beautiful details she added and they popped in all of the photos. There were delicate flower vases (hanging behind us at the ceremony) that she filled at the base with moss, the boutonnieres were displayed in a wooden box atop a beautiful layer of moss, the cake flowers cascaded dramatically down the front of the cake and were a focal point at the reception tent... and of course the bridal party bouquets were a stunning mix of my colors that improved every photo they appeared in. Rachel excels at arranging flowers, and decoration; she will make your wedding absolutely GORGEOUS and unique; if anything I wish I had more money to hire her as my full-time decoration coordinator at the wedding!

Rachel is an extraordinarily talented florist. Her unique eye for classic and current style is worth the investment, and her professional ease makes her a joy to work with.

Rachel was a dream to work with -- she caught my vision immediately and infused it with her breadth of floral creativity and knowledge, while honoring our request for both local and organic sourcing. The florals she ultimately provided for our Graduation ceremony and reception were gorgeous and I very happily recommend her work!

Rachel at Finch and Thistle is an incredible event designer with so many beautiful ideas, there was never a decor question she could not answer. Her flowers are also stunning and a great value for the quality and uniqueness of design.

Finch and Thistle Event Design made our wedding absolutely beautiful. Rachel is very professional, creative, knowledgeable, and kind. She works with you on a personal level and incorporates her style and savvy with your ideas and desires for the setting. She is timely and very prepared. I would recommend her to any of my friends!

Finch and Thistle's work is unbelievably beautiful. Once you provide Finch and Thistle an idea of your vision, she will make it come to life in a way that is far more gorgeous than you could have even imagined. I don't know when I will need a florist next, but she is certainly the one I will call! She was also extremely accommodating to my whacky scheduling, which was so appreciated on the wedding weekend!

Finch and Thistle is, of course, more than just a florist. With her background in event planning she understands the overall event planning process, and can be hired to style the entire event! She doesn't focus solely on the bouquets and centerpieces, but on the overall look of the entire venue, and all the small details that go into making an event successful and beautiful.

She is such a pleasure to work with. She is extremely professional, but also fun to have around!

Hiring her was one of the best decisions I made with regard to the decor at my wedding! I can't recomment Finch and Thistle highly enough!

Rachel at Finch and Thistle created beautiful bouquets and displays for my September 2011 wedding. I was going for the romantic English garden look and she put everything together just perfectly. I especially loved the garland she made for our flower girl. Thank you Finch and Thistle for helping to make my wedding day beautiful and memorable.
~Erin

I can't say enough about Rachel Bowes!

She's talented, hard-working, easy-going, fun and super creative. Basically, she's a dream to work with!

From our first meeting and through the planning process, Rachel was always quick to respond to my (constant) emails. We worked together for about nine months and each time we met it was clear to me that she was full of inspiration and that she really “got” what I was trying to achieve – vintage, glamorous flowers that would help create a warm and intimate setting for our 140 guests. The table centerpieces at our downtown Seattle wedding were gorgeous and my bouquet was sweet and romantic.

Being a Type A personality it was tough to let go and not control every element of the flowers, but letting Rachel run with her inspirations was one of the best decisions I made.

I absolutely loved working with Rachel! I honestly was a little nervous at first that she would be out of my price range....solely based on her amazing website! I decided to meet with her anyway and instantly fell in love! Not only was she extremely flexible with my budget, it was like having a meeting with a good friend! Throughout the whole year she sent me various ideas and I was able to bounce things off her as well... even down to the guys ties and making sure they would work with everything!
Rachel is ridiculously talented! She made the whole room just pop and I was blown away when I walked in! I highly suggest booking her for your event! She was incredible to work with and I hope I have another event I can use her for in the future!!

A colleague recommended Rachel at Finch & Thistle for her ability to deliver creative, beautiful arrangements on a budget.

Rachel listened to our needs and helped match our style to the wide variety of home-grown flowers and arrangements at her disposal. From the very first meeting she filled us with confidence.

On the day itself Rachel and her assistant decorated our wedding effortlessly and transformed it into the event my husband and I had dreamed of for months.

Finch and Thistle gave us a great result and met our budget precisely. We highly recommend them.

Rachael was wonderful to work with. She spent the time to understand our vision and carried it off beautifully.

When I saw the flowers for our wedding, they were so beautiful they made me weep. Rachel took my vision and flew far beyond our expectations. Finch and Thistle Event Design did our florals, event design, and most importantly carried out my eclectic beach/vintage/travel themed imagination of a wedding and turned it into something magical. Not only was she able to help me pull together a wedding fit for Stylemepretty but she did it all with a beautiful smile and within our budget.

I was nervous having done a lot of the prep for the wedding myself....I didn't know how or if it would all come together.....so I tried to keep my expectations in perspective. Yet the day of our wedding everything was taken care of and came together so perfectly, I had not one worry-- and much of that was thanks to Rachel. Many described our wedding as the most beautiful and unique they had ever seen, and my favorite comment was from someone who said that the reception room simply looked like: love.

Thank you to Rachel and to her crew at Finch and Thistle for working so hard, easing my stress, and helping to create a day full of love, laughter, and a lifetime of memories.

Love, The Hands

Rachel is a truly amazing artist. Give her the freedom to be creative and she will give you a masterpiece! After just a few meetings and several email exchanges, she delivered exactly what I asked for and exceeded my expectations. If you are looking for someone to design an event that is classy, elegant, and completely chic, Rachel is the one for you!

Rachel was such a fantastic florist - I couldn't have been happier with the beautiful flowers at the wedding and reception. She was professional and easy to work with, and really worked with me to make sure she was on the same page as me and what my vision was. She also was incredibly flexible about the last-minute detail of adding my parents' wedding bands to my bouquet. Again, I can't say enough wonderful things about Rachel - she worked with my budget, my vision, and what was in-season and delivered great results.

I absolutely loved working with Rachel. She's an incredibly creative and artistic designer and so fun to work with to boot. I had a general idea of what I wanted from photos and Rachel was able to create a more beautiful vision than I had even seen in magazines. AND I felt like she really stretched our budget also by getting creative with the other decor.

The flowers at my wedding completely exceeded my expectations, thanks to Finch and Thistle Event Design! Rachel did an amazing job and was an absolute pleasure to work with. She is very organized and focused and has an amazing talent and passion for floral design. She listened to what I wanted and then delivered just that, all for a great price. I couldn’t recommend her enough!

Finch and Thistle did the flowers for our wedding, and we could not have been happier. Rachel is great to work with and so creative - I don't know where she gets all these amazing ideas, but she has a real talent for design and helped turn our dance hall venue into a really beautiful reception space.

I worked with Rachel for day of wedding coordination, as well as for some design work.

Rachel was very organised and helped me by asking all the right questions. Her questions kept me on track, as well as shedding light on areas where I needed to think through my ideas and logistics. She was also really helpful because she pointed out when ideas weren't consistent, or weren't very good value for money.

On the day of the wedding, Rachel was at the venue early and she worked through the timeline that we'd crafted together for weeks leading up to the wedding.

She was a pleasure to work with all round.

Rachel is fantastic and made our wedding flowers BEAUTIFUL! The colors, centerpeices, bridal bouquet were just what I wanted! I have gotten a ton of compliments on the flowers so far!

The flowers and arrangements for my daughters wedding were stunning. The choice of flowers, greens and colors were amazing. Rachel is very talented but still very approachable. She listened to what the bride wanted and delivered completely. Thank you so much!

Working with Rachel was amazing. Her knowledge of non profit events and working on a budget was really helpful in the decor decisions that we made. Not only did she help me stay on budget while making my event look beautiful- she even helped me stay under budget!

As for her floral design it superb. All of the centerpieces and decor was very well recieved and we couldn't have asked for anything better. I will definately use her again on events that I do!

Finch and Thistle created gorgeous floral arrangements for my wedding. Rachel was so nice and helpful. She really listened to me and then used her creativity to create exactly the look I was dreaming of. I loved my bouquet so much that I had it dried and boxed as a keepsake. I would reccomend Finch and Thistle to any bride who is looking for something really special and unique.

I wouldn't have changed one single thing about my experience with Finch and Thistle! From the one-on-one consulting, to the creative energy that was put into my bridal bouquet, I was supremely satisfied with the professionalism and craftsmanship of this business. I highly recommend their work- it is excellent, and at the right price.

Words can't express how grateful I am to Finch and Thistle. Our event was stunning! Guests were literally oohing and aahing.

Rachel and her team are amazing. If you are in the Seattle area and want something totally unique, current and beautiful, she's your gal!!!

Rachel from Finch & Thistle is absolutely amazing! Her vision and talent is unmatched and her weddings are gorgeous. As a photographer I put a lot of emphasis on the overall feel of a wedding. Definitely consider Rachel for her creativity and professionalism...you won't be disappointed!