Sue Bird Retirement Party
Sue Bird Retirement Party
A bit of behind the scenes on this day:
Florists are usually the first and the last on the scene. What does this mean:
Generally on a large scale event or wedding, floral designers have the most to set up and/or create onsite. Aaaaand… they always have to wait until everyone else is loaded in. Seattle Giant Letters provided the six foot number 10 which would be transferred from the afternoon event at Climate Pledge Arena where Sue Bird’s jersey was being retired in the rafters! (read story here):
The event went a bit longer than scheduled so it was going to be a tight timeline to get the flowers in place once the “10” arrived at Chihuly Garden and Glass. Originally we were going to place our base structures of wooden boxes with chicken wire sprawling between them at the base of the 10 and then get to work. However since we were there, time was ticking, and the 10 had not arrived, we switched gears and built our low chicken wire structures atop their bases, added the lush foliage and flowers, leaving only the most delicate flowers to be inserted in place once everything was set to our liking.
Our vision was to create a meadow of blooms at the base of the 10 that wrapped around both sides and continued behind the giant number as to create depth which was visible through the opening in the zero. These lush textural flowers and foliage consisted of huckleberry, salal, eucalyptus, ruskus, variegated pittosporum, bells of Ireland, lady’s mantle, allium, hybrid delphinium, craspedia, phlomis, green mist, chamomile, and nigella.
We succeeded in our vision and were finished with minimal time to spare. We were hustling so quickly and in my haste, hit my head on the #1, kept working and then was told by an assistant hey you’re bleeding! I took one for the team on that one; needless to say, it was not bad and felt worse than it really was.
For the bars we created elevated greenery florals to sit atop our clear glass trumpet vases and the cocktail tables were dressed with fun summery florals that consisted of sunflowers, veronica, snapdragons, craspedia and stock. The green, white, and yellow tones of Seattle Storm logo was perfect for creating the feel of a summer meadow.
Completed! All the tables and furniture were set up, amazing ice sculpture was made, and we watched as other vendors left. We were one of the first ones there and like i said in the intro to this - Last ones to leave.
VENUE: CHIHULY GARDEN AND GLASS
FURNITURE/TABLE RENTALS: CORT PARTY RENTAL LIGHTING: LIGHTSMITHS