MEET STEVE & JAMIE OF SINCLAIR & MOORE EVENTS
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Happy Tuesday Guys!!!……and I’m doing my ‘Happy Dance’ today!! It’s ‘Meet the Designer’ series and stopping by the cafe today are the oh-so-fab and talented couple, Steve & Jamie of Sinclair & Moore Events….can I just say how much I ADORE them!!….to the moon and back!!…they are such a beautiful couple inside and out and I feel like I truly know them personally from reading their AMAZING blog site and from following them on INSTAGRAM!!…Sinclair & Moore Events is based in Seattle, so they generally service the Pacific Northwest, however, they are open to traveling anywhere to put on a beautiful event so make certain you add them to your must see wedding artist list…you are going to love them!…let’s check out their fun interview and all the beautiful images from their gorgeous events….Enjoy!!! |
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| TBC: As a married couple, what’s the best part about owning a business together? S&J: Working together is amazing; there is no one that I would trust more or would rather be around for hours on end. Because we are so in sync with each other, we are able to be efficient with our time and focus on our individual strengths. This maximizes our potential and offers our clients a wide skill set for planning their weddings. The other benefit to working together is that we’re always on the same schedule. TBC: What advice would you give to married couples in business together? |
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| TBC: What’s a typical day like for you? S&J: We have two types of workdays in our business – planning days and production days. Planning days start with an early morning visit to the gym, followed by answering emails, making phone calls and meeting with our clients. We attend tastings, shop for inspiration, choose color palettes, and scour the Internet for visual examples to show our clients. Production days begin three days before a wedding. They include confirming with vendors, wedding rehearsals, putting out fires and calming nerves. This is also when we are prepping vases, cleaning flowers, building flower arrangements, packing up décor, sewing linens and tying favor boxes. Not a whole lot of sleeping happens on these days, and the gym visits come few and far between. |
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| TBC: Describe your client? S&J: Our ideal client is someone that loves beauty and wants to have a unique and personalized event. We love working with people that trust us and don’t want to micromanage the process. TBC: What was your “Ah Ha” moment…the moment that you knew being a floral designer was your passion! S&J: I started off as just a wedding planner, and the first time I had arranged the flowers for a client I knew I loved it. I realized I could fully deliver the vision and control the outcome and quality of the weddings I was planning. |
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| TBC: What wedding trend would you like to see disappear? S&J: Chevron prints, mustache props in photo booths, and compulsive Pinterest pinning. TBC: Where do you find inspiration?S&J: Every day is different with our source of inspiration. We never know when something inspiring is going to hit us. It’s all about keeping our eyes open and seeing the world around us and letting our experiences and what we encounter impact the projects we are currently working on. Sometimes the most random things lead to a great idea. |
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| TBC: Name one of your favorite “vendor” sources that you just can’t do without. S&J: Mindy Fatigate, owner of First Class Wholesale, my main flower wholesaler. She is a small wholesaler but has worked with me over the past 9 seasons teaching me lots of things I didn’t know – from flower care to even basic things like the accurate names for flowers. Sometimes when I’m behind and don’t get her a flower order until a week or so before the wedding, she still delivers everything that I need and somehow makes it happen. I’d be pretty lost without her. |
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| TBC: Describe your design style. S&J: We create multiple styles for our clients and our taste is always evolving. But at heart we are very classic and love things that are timeless. My flower design style tends to always be very full. I try to be generous with the flower quantity we use in every arrangement to make them lush and full. TBC: To date, what has been the highlight of your career? S&J: Having our own wedding featured in Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. |
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| TBC: What was your “big break”? S&J: I don’t know if I’ve had one single “big break”, but there have been a series of huge blessings, opened doors and meeting the right people along the way. |
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| TBC: What advice would you give to upcoming floral designers? S&J: Be patient, success doesn’t come overnight. If you can afford to, for the first year or two, take your clients’ entire budget and invest it into the flowers for the weddings. Although you won’t make a profit from the start, it will make your work look more impressive than it would otherwise, and attract the kind of clientele that will have larger budgets. It can be discouraging, I know, but it does pay off. I basically worked for free for the first two and a half years, and I don’t regret it, as it pushed my business forward. I always say to under promise and over deliver, as your clients will always be happy and happy clients always spread the word about you. |
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| TBC: What’s your favorite part about weddings when it comes to the florals? S&J: I like creating the bride’s bouquet. It’s a piece of the wedding that she’ll personally carry and spend the most time looking at. And it will live in her pictures forever, so I always put extra time, care and attention into making it perfect. |
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| TBC: When I’m designing, I love to light my candles and play “old school” music. Do you have a ritual that you like to do when designing?
S&J: I like silence and to be alone with the flowers. The silence in the studio makes my staff uncomfortable at times, but music and conversations distract me from my work. I’ve been known to send everyone home the day before a busy wedding, just so I can focus. |
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| TBC: Describe a “wedding weekend and how many additional staff do you hire? S&J: Wedding weekends begin three days before the actual wedding day. On the coordination side, these days include confirming with vendors, having the wedding rehearsal, putting out fires and calming nerves. On the design side of the business, this is when we are prepping vases, cleaning flowers, building arrangements, packing up décor, sewing linens and tying favor boxes. Depending on the size of the wedding and how elaborate the design is, we’ll have anywhere from two to ten additional staff. I’ve learned that I work better with less people as it allows me to do more things myself versus running a staff. |
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| TBC: Finish this statement: A bride’s bouquet should reflect……
S&J: The style of the entire wedding (which should be an extension of her personality). |
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| TBC: If you had to make a career change, what would you do? S&J: We’d either own a bakery or I’d be the editor of Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. |
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TBC: Describe your personal style…what are your favorite stores to shop at? Personal as in your fashion style or your home.
S&J: We shop at Nordstrom, J.Crew, Banana Republic, Restoration Hardware, Pottery Barn. My personal style in fashion and home is very classic. |
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| Just for fun:
TBC: Do you prefer tea or coffee? Steve: Neither coffee or tea. I prefer juice. Jamie: Living in the birthplace of Starbucks, I prefer coffee and enjoy trying new flavors and varieties. TBC: Do you prefer blogs or magazines? Steve: Both, I like the freshness of blog content but also like to hold a magazine in my hands and flip through the pages. Jamie: Magazines. I love to have something in my hands to flip through and take with me.
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| TBC: Favorite musical artist?
Steve: Hillsong United Jamie: Adele Steve: Depending on the season and my mood I love lilacs, poppies, garden roses and clematis… but not necessarily combined together. Jamie: Black eyed anemones and coral charm peonies.
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| Steve & Jamie, thank you both SO much for stopping by the cafe today and sharing a little bit of ‘your world’ with us…guys, make sure you head over to Sinclair & Moore Events AND make sure you check out their blog site to see what Steve & Jamie are up to on a daily!!!….we wish you guys an AMAZIING 2014 wedding season…xoxo
Photography Credits: Steve & Jamie’s image courtesy of Katie Parra Images #’s 2-5 and 16-17 courtesy of Belathee Image #’s 6, 14 and 15 courtesy of Michele Waite Photography Images #’s 7-9 courtesy of Gabriel Boone Photography Images #’s 10 and 11 courtesy of Andria Lindquist Images #’s 12 and 13 courtesy of Matthew Land |