I’m sharing summer 2026 wedding portfolios a little out of order, because 1) BLACK and 2) Hayley’s dress might be my favorite ever!
Hayley and Marcus knew they wanted an elegant and timeless look for florals, in black and white with gold. I LOVE using black in floral work. Designing with black is actually a little less straightforward than I think some people think! Most “natural” black florals will have an undertone of brown, red, or purple, so if botanical in those tones isn’t what you’re going for, you need to look at tinted, painted, or faux options for a true saturated black. Once we knew that a true “flat black” is what Hayley and Marcus were looking for, I knew that using black sprayed greenery was going to provide enough contrast with the other white and gold elements, while the added pop of black sprayed calla lilies would round out the florals. Check out my reel demo’ing this process here!
This particular color palette wasn’t easy to find inspiration photos for, so I actually ended up doing a mock-up bouquet in the planning process to provide a more visual example of the color balance I was thinking of; guess I need to corner that market on Pinterest with these photos now!
Vendors
Photographer: Sophia Desiatnik Photography
Coordination: Amethyst Events
Venue: The Lookout Lodge
Florals: The Copper Dahlia Sourced from Northwest Wholesale, Seattle Wholesale Growers Market, and The Copper Dahlia
Hair and Makeup: Blush and Braids Beauty Bar
Bridal Gown: Samila Bridal
Officiant: Rev. Ray Van Winkle
Catering: Cathouse Pizza
Bartending: Firewater Events
DJ: DJ Zeta Seattle
For the ceremony space, the extra large arch at The Lookout Lodge got full glam. I used an alternating draping of my off-white fabric on the 2nd and 3rd set of arch logs, and greenery in black and gold across the front.
Balancing both sides of the arch space were 2 swags of white annabelle hydrangea, playa blanca roses, white dahlias, black calla lilies, gold sprayed ruscus, and black dried seeded eucalyptus, feather eucalyptus, and plumosa fern.
Down the aisle on the venue’s log pillars, were round centerpieces of the same floral mix, with 2 larger focal pieces at the aisle entrance.
On the aisle entrance pieces, I also used White Black Bee hybrid delphinium, which had beautiful big fluffy white blooms with black centers. They were stunners! For a close up of these pieces and the arch check out my reel here.
As I was designing the arch pieces on-site and hanging the black/gold garland, the groomsmen were taking their photos on the adjacent lawn with Sophia D Photo. Let me tell you that I had a hard time staying on my ladder giggling at the chaos and comedy that was taking place over there…
Bridesmaids carried bouquets of white playa blanca roses, white pom dahlias, gold sprayed ruscus, and black calla lilies and seeded eucalyptus.
Hayley’s bouquet had white calla lilies, white playa blanca roses, white pom dahlias, gold sprayed ruscus, and black calla lilies and seeded eucalyptus.
Look at the dress, folks, look at it! So good.
For the flower girls, I made them each a crown with gold ruscus, fresh seeded eucalyptus sprayed black, and white spray roses. I love how these turned out! I was a little worried that too much gold would look “roman gladiator” but the texture from the seeded eucalyptus balanced it out perfectly.
I will forever be obsessed with photo galleries. The way that Hayley and Marcus look at eachother was beautifully captured by Sophia, as well as lots of fun personality during portraits.
Over in the reception area, the round arrangements from the ceremony space were added as table centerpieces, in addition to an additional 5 tables with gold and black greenery mixed with black pillar candles. The same black and gold mix was also placed among the photos and messages on Hayley and Marcus’s memory table.
The aisle entrance pieces framed the sweetheart table in the front, and I added a simple black bow to the tent curtains to “wrap” it all together.
The welcome table transitioned to favors for guests on their way out, which had it’s own floral accent piece with more hybrid delphinium, black calla lilies, white dahlias, and fluffy black plumosa fern.
