When I was young, I used to dream about designing clothes, particularly dresses. My friend Cassie and I spent hours upon hours creating lookbooks of our designs. I wish I still had them - they were straight out of the early 1990’s in all of the good and bad ways. Suffice it to say, they were not short on colors or funky patterns!

All my childhood dreaming of becoming a dress designer came flooding back with Gretchen Dawley asked me to create the floral design for her gown popup at Axis Pioneer Square, a classic Seattle wedding venue. The theme for her touring collection of bridal gowns was ‘Havana’ - cue bold tropical flowers, bright colors, and lots of palms!

Axis Pioneer Square is a really versatile wedding venue with multiple rooms, exposed brick, and some clean white walls. We took over a corner of the venue and together with Yay! Parties created a scene straight out of old Cuba.

For flowers, we used both tropicals as well as local flowers that had a bold, tropical vibe. For tropical flowers, we used antherium, sago palms, orchids, and pincushion protea. Added to that were locally grown coral charm peonies, eremerus (those wild tall pieces), ranuculus, martagon lilies, and Icelandic poppies. These colors and textures created the bold, Havana feel that we all dream of! It brought me back to college when my roommate and I watched Dirty Dancing Havana Nights one too many times.

The look was perfected by Yessie Libby, who made our model’s skin absolutely glow with that warm tropical hue. She kept her hair loose and free and added a statement peony. (PS doesn’t she have the best eyebrows?!) BAKED. Seattle created both a stunning large cake adorned with mini sugar monstera leaves and delicious tropical-flavored cake slices. Rachel Birkhofer expertly photographed the day - check out her photos below!

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Tropical Havana Wedding Gown Popup at Axis Pioneer Square