Orcas Island Wedding Style

Happiness

The snow was falling this morning. I woke up late a bit annoyed because I was behind. Behind on not much of importance but behind nonetheless. Sipping coffee and staring out the window into the falling snow made things much better. And then, I read this and my day went on into Happiness.

 

Happiness

Raymond Carver

So early it’s still almost dark out.

I’m near the window with coffee,

and the usual early morning stuff

that passes for thought.

When I see the boy and his friend

walking up the road

to deliver the newspaper.

They wear caps and sweaters,

and one boy has a bag over his shoulder.

They are so happy

they aren’t saying anything, these boys.

I think if they could, they would take

each other’s arm.

It’s early in the morning

and they are doing this thing together.

They come on, slowly,

The sky is taking on light,

though the moon still hangs pale over the water.

Such beauty that for a minute

death and ambition, even love,

doesn’t enter into this.

Happiness. It comes on

unexpectedly. And goes beyond, really,

any early morning talk about it.

 

The Seattle Wedding Show

This last weekend was the 2012 Seattle Wedding Show. It is our second year doing it. It was intense, fun, demanding and very hard on the feet.  Fruitful? Well, we'll see.

I want to give a big shout out to Rosario Resort and Spa for including us in their booth. There is no doubt from the looks on so many faces as they passed by the booth and read the banner, the name Rosario holds powerful memories. Memories of romance,  childhood,  a first kiss, family time, whales and eagles, all that Orcas Island has to offer.  It was lovely to be associated with such a positive force.

Sarah McCulloch also deserves a big hug of thanks for her fixing our portfolio or rather rebuilding it and for making such a unique sign for Patina. Fan, Friend, Associate all hats worn with love. And we are very very grateful to her.

So here are a few pictures of our booth. Very bridal. Lots of pictures were taken by florists and brides and moms all of whom are getting married elsewhere.  Lots of man handling of the moss boxes trying to capture how it was done. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...I tell myself over and over....It got so that John would go up to people as they turned and twisted the boxes this way and that and say, "they grow like that on the island. We have moss box trees all over the place". Some people, actually quite a few stopped and stared with wonder in their eyes before they caught on. It was fun and funny.

 

 

 

2012 Wedding Trends

I don't have a clue. I have an opinion, I have a hope but I don't have exclusive knowledge. If I followed Jung I would draw from the collective unconscious, and perhaps that is what we do when we find ourselves defining the next thing and we end up being correct.

Last night I went on line to see what was being said about next year and though "faux vintage farm" is not being touted any more (the old Underwood typewriter next to the crate of oranges and the hemp laundry line of place cards) Vintage is still the parameter whether vintage funk (Mad Men meets Playboy Club) or Lace and gemstone brooches making the bridal bouquet. 

What I am noticing and what I am going to employ for this years Wedding Fair is the elegance of neutrals. That has always been a favorite of mine. But I adore colour, as the walls in my home attest so I am going to put in a dash of colour, strong colour here and there. The elegance of neutrals, a splash of colour combined with with mercury glass or milk glass, whites and beiges, champagnes and pale pinks are easy and safe, (safe in a good way not a wimping out - don't know what else to do way)The dash of colour is a finger to the fates.

Easy because life is so complicated and fast and most days come at us without mercy. Safe because although the future is never known there is some question as to whether sun really will rise (the next morning or at least in 2012).

 

And I guess that is what I am projecting as my opinion for the 2012 trend department.Please, do let me know what you think 2012 portends for style and colour, mood and texture.

So what does elegant neutral look like?  

photo by husband John Ginnes...

photo by Steve Horn...

 

and for that splash  of colour....

(photo credit not known but man I love this look)

Happy Merry to all.

When Is the End really the End?

There is an article from Huffington Post that is being shared on Facebook by Heather Sharpe  Senior Editor of the fabulous Style Unveiled wedding resource (I feel like I need a geneology tree to track back)about the End of the Vintage Wedding. If you feel a wind blowing it is the collective sigh of relief from  many designers and artists in the wedding world.

But not from me. Oh yes, I agree the vintage typewriter as a prop is as conceptually bruised and wilted  as the wedding flowers with which it once shared space.  But the authentic country wedding or the need to keep it fun for no money or the fact that you are a bride who cans their veg every fall or wants to play in that life for a while will keep the Mason Jar Motif alive. As long as life is complicated the appeal for simplicity as made manifest through objects from our collective past will always appeal.

However, the article suggests we will see the tide turn towards the elegant wedding, the more traditional - creating it from the same lace cloth as what made Lady Kate's wedding.

I contend that your wedding is a heart fantasy expressing itself on the earthly plain. Whether vintage or traditional, modern or eclectic, whimsical or magical, whatever words you choose - you want your wedding to be the expression of yourselves right at this moment; are any of us just one thing?

The only thing I know is the look of your wedding must be authentically you - to you - your heart. Your family and friends will know it and feel it as soon as they see it. And if next year if you find your self loving Bedemeir over Laura Ashley you can go with that flow for as long as it lasts - no matter if Huffington Post says so or not.

Lilin

I am looking outside my window out into the clouds that surround my home on this wet chilly November day. It is lovely in it's own wrap me in a blanket in front of the fire with my book lovely way.

It also helps to know that just about when this lovely becomes loathsome, sometime in March, I will leave Orcas Island for my friends new home in the magical world of Lovina Beach, in Northern Bali, in the nation of Indonesia.Lilin Beach Hotel is the result of the efforts made by Heather Stansbury and Bryan Benepe and I can not be more excited for them and more proud of them for the courage and vision and talents that they have brought to bear.  

Stay tuned there is some chatter floating around that in the not too distant future Patina Weddings will be collaborating with Lilin Beach Hotel to create wonderfully unique island weddings Bali Style. Namaste.

 

 

Affordable

I am thinking of a big garage sale we just held. Orcas Islanders love garage sales.  Furniture and rugs and decor accessories. Most new and lovely, that came from the end of a staging gig we did. The sale was held out of our storage space which was chock a block with great stuff. It was interesting to watch people as they 'experienced the stuff'.  Some chemistry begins and the energy shifts when you put people in a space that has stuff for sale priced way under retail.  I know it has had it's effect on me.

There was an estate sale about a year ago. I offer to help set it up  for a friend of a friend. At first I am all about the presentation, merchandising the heck out of a life time of goods. There is some really nice possessions being sold.

As a thank you for my efforts and to those others who are assisting we get first dibs on the stuff. I  don't really needing anything but my curiousity is piqued and bit of the ancient hunting instinct comes allive. And I look, and touch and pick up and put aside somethings with my name on it to purchase . The next day is the sale.

I arrive and decide to wander around the tables to see what was laid out after I left. At first there are only one or two other people wandering around. But soon I have ten people, twenty people joining me in the hunt, hunting for that perfect thing, what it is is yet unknown but when seen, I know I will want and I will discover a need  for it I never knew I had. It is obviously affordable because it is at a garage sale. Yippee! 

So I am picking up this pot and that frame. I wonder what I could do with another set of beautiful 700 count sheets.  I pass over the kitchen towels in stack all nicely tied with a ribbon. I am falling in love with some beautiful wind chimes.  As I look back  someone else picks up the stack of towels.  This creepy feeling of avarice comes noodling up from the bottom of my unconscious. Someone else made the kill opportunity I passed over.

Adrenline surges, my arms begin to fill with trophy's.

Soon I am going out of the garage sale with a load of stuff and a smile on my face which after awhile begins to melt in to a look of vague confusion (like Benjamin does on the bus when he finally gets Elaine to come with him in the movie The Graduate).  The satisfaction wears off pretty quickly. It was fun.  I would call this  a diversion, an hour of sport. Affordable fun sport.

Not all garage sales are equal. The one we held was like that and if I was a shopper and not a seller I would have gone all wonky in there. 

Hmm. We still have some stuff for sale! I wonder if that chair will fit in my office......

 

 

Leaping

Doing a destination wedding requires a trust between the planner and the couple. It is a leap of faith that is made when a couple books a vendor to help them make their dream come true. (Just remember the leap that got you here:  the question that was asked and response of yes has been the biggest leap of all!)

For some, it turns out their leap is made a bit too early. The vendor is booked and they are not a good fit. It happens.  I get that need that itchy scratchy feeling urging you to pull the trigger to get just things moving.

Conversely, I get the nervousness  that comes as you consider making that jump over the grand canyon of communication: being heard and understood; the resistance to making a  mistake in choosing wrongly and findng out  that this most important expression of self your wedding will be mistranslated into something that is not you.

So it is good idea to have a tool or two to use to help make the leap of faith exciting and sucessful.

To my mind, the most useful is having a sense of what generates trust in your interactions with those you do not yet know. Is it a quickly returned phone call? Is it a tone of voice or a manner of reaching out that makes you feel safe enough to share? Is it the practical voice of experience still laced with enthusiasm for you and what you are about to do? Is it a forthrightness in the giving of information or the stories told that illustrate a point of view? 

Give it a think and then make your call. It might be a much shorter leap than you thought.

The Really Big Leap!

 

 

 

Praise that is purchased

As my previous post indicated I am already nail biting about next year. A bit of worry is apparently a great motivator for me as it got me posting (hallelujah) and I did some homework.

I belong to a few online groups, tweeting clans etc. And it was through one of those that I found a grand list of links of preferred wedding (planning) vendors. My first click through brought me to a very impressive site with  interesting and smart information so I book- marked it. I wondered how do I get considered for this list?

Looking for a way on to this list I continue to click through to several other Preferred Planning Vendor websites only to discover most of then were - insipid. But I still wanted to be chosen to be on the same list that selected that first vendor.

As I searched I mused as to what I would write,what pictures I would send, what recommendations I would include to offer Patina up as a compelling candidate.

At the bottom of the article was a link to "How To Be Considered As A Preferred Vendor", which of course, I clicked through to.

Oh well. Apparently preference, that measure of quality and talent, that yardstick by which  a vendor is recommended to you and in whom you place your trust to make your wedding day perfect-could be had for $249.00. No pictures. No praise. No references. Cheap preferences sold here!

When you see a Preferred Vendor list whether on The Knot or Martha Stewart or a blog you really like (trust) you might want to double check how that preference came to be.

(something that can be relied upon to make a me feel good- an Orcas Island sunset).

 

Bittersweet, yay!

Well, this is the last week of my wedding season on Orcas Island; that is the time between May and September when we bring to life those notions and dreams that grew up between October and April. It is a relief in some respects because mounting a perfect day every week is daunting and not a little exhausting. Being able to maintain the level of caring required to attend to the unseen but yet always felt details becomes harder as the months of hardwork pass by.

But then, it is really now that we hit our stride; remembering all of the ways and means we can more easily achieve the goal, when we can use that idea that came up at the last minute just a wee bit too late to employ in last week's wedding, when we remember that we really love doing this- I mean we get to make a place for love and beauty to be shared every week. How cool is that?

And then there is the titch of fear that up here in this little piece of the world, we will not be found. That all that has gone before was an accident of chance. The couples of 2012 will miss us as they are tempted by the bounty of choice out there in the world. And so by sheer necessity of action I come back to this spot to reach out to the world again and say Hi! Look Over Here! We are waiting for you.

But there are rewards to slowing down. The first really lovely gift  is the discovery of what is going on around me. I was wonderfully touched by a friend's blog that was sent to me by another that I thought it would be selfish not to share: Jane Alden's ponderings and insights are so worth the time it takes to click the link, read the words and have your senses awakened. 

Oh- I better go I feel the tug back into this last week of design and decor. I feel the tickle of all the  errant details waiting to be wrangled, of striving once more time for the perfect day however it reveals itself.

Thanks for stopping by. Let me know how you are.

SEPTEMBER 1

Oh my. It has been a very long time since I last posted; even my  husband noticed.

Before I had a blog I had all sorts of things to say that seemed terribly important. After the first flush of blog ownership those feelings waned. It is easy to have courage when what you fear is not nearby. It's when it is right in front of you where the real test begins.

It has been a wonderful wedding season for Patina mostly because we have had the most wonderful clients. Really, every last one of them. Truly lovely people who were marrying truly lovely people. I will miss you all.

I listen to the news irregularly now because it is too difficult to follow, requires too much of my soul to endure. When last I did, day before yesterday I believe, I heard this amazing statistic about 1 out of every 46 men in this country do not have a job. It could not have been more stunning. Dustbowls in Texas. Soup kitchens crowded beyond their capacity. The song "Brother Can You Spare A Dime" has rolled across my mind ever since.

But I and those around me are blessed. We eat well, we email. We play with friends or read books. Work hard. We are living normally. How is it that we can do that but there are so very many people who will find this hour this moment insurmountably difficult. It feels like there is a thin membrane between where they are and where we are.

And in the face of it people get engaged. People get married and want to share with everyone this great joy they have found. The indominitable human spirit I guess is at work.

Some pictures to share of the work we have been doing. Hope you enjoy them. They were great fun to do. New Pics for 2011