Clip: Moore Memorable

Moore Memorable

Maple Valley couple turns to local shops to make wedding at the Moore extra special

By Kerrie T.

Shop SE Contributor

Two weeks ago, Julienne Haws said she was insane. Planning a wedding do that to a person, especially if more than 400 guests are expected. But, luckily for Haws, she had help and resources for the Sept. 1 even that went off without a hitch (pardon the pun).

Haws, a 27-year-old technical designer for clothing and accessory company Zumiez, met future husband Leif Andersen, 25, while he was working at the Lake Wilderness Starbucks in Maple Valley. A year later in 2006, Andersen, a member of the punk band Sirens Sisters, asked Haws to marry him on the stage at the Moore Theatre in Seattle.

"He asked me if I would be his wife, and I say, 'Yes,'" Haws says. "He suggested we get married on the stage, so we tried really hard to get the wedding at the Moore." And they did. But how do you transform a 100-year-old theater into an intimate setting for a wedding?

Haws turned to her favorite places to shop in Southeast King County. She also had help from her new mother-in-law, Sue Roberts,  owner of Three French Hens, a home decor and interior design store in Maple Valley.

This isn't the first time Robers has done a wedding. "We did my dauther's two years ago in Enumclaw," she says. "It was so decked out, King County came and took pictures."

Roberts says Three French Hens designer Ann Steward "did all the magic." Haws wanted the wedding to invoke an old Hollywood glamour feeling in her guests. "We wanted it to be more like a swanky part," she says.

Three French Hens delivered. Steward and Roberts used silk flowers and faux jewels for table centerpieces, along with vintage instruments and antique sheet music as a tribute to Andersen's career in music. On the Moore's stage, 10-foot-tall hanging mirrors framed the dance floor and the huge chandelier rented from the Seattle Opera House.

Local graphic designer Jenny Phillips created the backdrop for the stage. "She made distressed canvas look like old sheet music," says Haws.

Roberts says guests had to have a ticket to get into the wedding. "It actually felt like a producion...it felt like you were in a Dean Martin or Frank Sinatra lounge."

And she says they couldn't have done it without the help from the theater. "The Moore went above and beyond for us."

Kent antique store Whimsical Whites went all out for the wedding, too. Owners and sisters Kathleen Sanchez and Kristeen Casaus created bouquets for Haws and the 11 bridesmaides. They also made boutonnieres and corsages for special guests using herbs grown in the garden behind the store and vintage trimmings they started collecting well in advance. "We knew the wedding was coming up," says Sanchez, "so we loaded up on the trim, laces, ribbons and feathres." Plus, they grew the herbs specifically for the event. "We used veronica, sedum, lavender, and specially grew dusty miller and lamb's ears because of the color. She liked the silvery colors," explains Sanchez. "Everything in the bouquets was vintage, except the flowers, although we did research on the era to choose them."

Casaus and Sanchez combined silvery, metallic ribbons from the 1920s with antique brooches, diamonds, feathers, herbs and white roses to create each piece. "They listened to what I wanted and ran with the idea," says Haws, who has been shopping at Whimsical Whites for years. "I love them. I love theri store," she says. "If I need something for a bridal shower or Christmas, we go to them."

Haws went to Wild Wheat Bakery, Cafe & Restaurant in Kent for hors d'oeuvres and cake -- lots of cake. "We wanted (the wedding cake) to be really massive, a show-stopper," says Haws. "We decided to do it not completely real." Since the wedding cake was mostly non-edible, Haws and Andersen asked Wild Wheat to make a variety of cakes for guests.

Wild Wheat owner Mark Handman says they created 20 cakes for the wedding. "We don't do regular wedding cakes," he says, but Wild Wheat Bakery has done a lot of weddings. Handman says they made everything from chocolate mousse to chocolate ganache and lemon mousse cakes to marjolaine, which has layers of ground hazelnuts, meringue and chocolate French buttercream.

A wedding has to have more than cake, though, so Wild Wheat created hors d'oeuvres that included mozzarella caprese toasts, bruschetta and lemon honey chicken skewers. Handman says they make hors d'oeuvres for special occasions only. "When somebody asks," he says, "we'll do it."

Haws and Andersen turned to more local companies and friends for music, invitations and bridesmaid gifts. Kirkland card company Natalie Eden created the invitations, and AshleyDanae Designs made the gifts. The Maple Valley company, which partners with Three French Hens, makes unique candles and Memory Block Tiles. Andersen's bandmates performed at the wedding, and the couple even hired Federal Way's Total Experience Gospel Choir to sing after the ceremony.

Two weeks ago, Haws said her wedding was going to be amazing. By all accounts, it was. "Not only was it beautiful, they are just a cool couple," says mother of the groom Roberts. "At the end, they came out to the edge of the stage and bowed."

Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2007 - published in SHOP SE, a special section of the Seattle Times