Conscious Choice Seattle: Choosing Natural and Elegant

Annie Rihn at the Mode Salon
Photo by Richard A. Huston

Uncompromising Beauty
Organics come to the salon

There is something so terribly wrong about inhaling toxic fumes all in the name of beauty. How many times have you held your breath and endured watering eyes while altering the color of your hair or getting a pedicure?

At Mode Organic Salon (www.modehairart.com; 206-623-0195, with locations in downtown Seattle and the Roosevelt district, clients have access to some of the safest, most natural and effective beauty products on the market.

“It is exciting,” says Joe Carling, owner of Seattle’s Mode Organic Salons, referring to Organic Colour Systems Hair Color from London, which smells like crushed rose petals and is renowned as the safest and most natural hair color in the world. “It is exciting to find something new that works just as well [as more toxic hair colors] with the same benefits—you get the same results. It is a very innovative product.”

Carling has spent more than 10 years researching products that are not only natural and organic but also yield real results. In addition to natural hair color, the salon carries: Pureology haircare products, which are 100% vegan with organic ingredients and no sulfates; Eminence Organic skin care and Colorescience micronized mineral makeup, a celebrated natural cosmetic. Mode also provides less toxic manicures and pedicures with Zoya natural nail lacquer, the safest and longest wearing natural nail polish in the world.
—R.R.

June 2006 | Feature Story

Choosing Natural and Elegant

A Seattle couple plans to celebrate community

By Ritzy Ryciak

They met five years ago on a plane ride from Europe back to Seattle—both were returning from adventures taken with a friend. There was serendipity, chance and magic in their meeting.

This September, when Annie Rihn and Ethan Smith wed, they hope to honor the cascading network of good people and fortunate times that somehow take each of us to who we’re meant to love and where we need to be.
“Natural elegance is the theme,” says Rihn, describing her autumn wedding. “But the bigger picture is really about our values and wanting to honor the idea of community, specifically, celebrating the connectedness with our family, friends, nature and spirit.”

Rihn and Smith became engaged in Tuscany about a year and a half ago. The couple wasn’t sure if they wanted a “formalized” wedding until they found the Whidbey Institute, a conference and retreat center located on south Whidbey Island.

“The Whidbey Institute really inspired us,” says Rihn. “The staff put a lot of care and focus on preserving and sustaining the land itself, as well as the visitors that come there.”

The Institute, which has 100 acres of evergreen forest and meadows, a labyrinth, sanctuary, ropes course and Finnish sauna, is quite selective and only allows six weddings a year on its grounds. The Institute asks couples to write a letter about intentions for the wedding and explain how the institute’s mission—to connect the human spirit with the natural world through education, reflection, and experience—is aligned with the couple.

When Rihn and Smith’s request was accepted, they recognized an opportunity to have a wedding that would reflect who they are as a couple and where their values lie.

“We wanted to have fresh, organic, local food and honor that region,” says Rihn. “Our goal is to have everything come from the area.”

Thus far, the couple—with the help of Darcey Howard, a Seattle-based stylist and wedding planner—has ordered a wedding cake made by JW Deserts and seasonal food from Tim Goeken of Island Chef, a private-chef and catering business. Both venues are based on Whidbey Island and feature fresh, seasonal, organic and local ingredients.

The couple plans on serving organic wine (hopefully from Whidbey Island Winery) and wedding flowers will be provided by Cultus Bay Nursery (also on the island).

Rihn’s dress and Smith’s tie are being designed by local designer, Chrissy of WaiChing, whose hand-dyed, silk designs are inspired by nature and the ethereal.

“She’s been a huge influence in all of my aesthetic decisions,” says Rihn, who has made color and brightness a focus for the wedding.

Finally, the couple plans to spend their entire wedding weekend relaxing at the Institute and hope to have a stylist from Seattle’s Mode Organic Salon, (see main article) come to style and beautify on the big day.

“We don’t want our wedding to be an event,” concludes Rihn, quoting her husband-to-be. “We want it to be an experience.”

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