The Parker Palm Springs is wedding blogger gold. The bright pops of color, the edgy but completely gorgeous canvas, the natural tendency to lure the coolest of cool couples. And the chicest of chic vendors. Case in point, this next stunning pair and their super gorge celebration photographed to bridal perfection by our fav, Sarah Yates of Birds of a Feather. It’s love, love, love for this fete and we can’t wait to hear what you think of the full shebang.
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From the bride… In order to fully comprehend our wedding, you need to know a tiny bit about us as a couple first. We had been dating for 12 years when we got married. Yes. You read that right. 12 years. We met when we were in middle school in the San Francisco Bay area, became best friends, started dating in high school, maintained a long-distance relationship throughout college, continued the long-distance relationship while we started our own careers, and he eventually gave in and moved to Los Angeles to be with me. We didn’t move in together right away — I wanted to get to know him a bit better. So after 2 years of living in the same city, Dennis asked me to marry him. And because we clearly rush into things, we ended up having a two-year engagement, which FINALLY brings us to the big day: November 20, 2010.
We wanted our wedding to be formal without being stuffy. Whimsical without being kitschy. Glamorous yet understated. And above all else FUN! The Parker Palm Springs was the perfect location. We really wanted to be true to ourselves as a couple and make everything as personal as possible. We did tons of DIY projects, starting with screen printing our own save-the-date cards, welcome bags and tags. We asked a super-talented friend from work to design our four-piece invitation suite, and we rented out a letterpress studio for 24 hours to hand-letterpress each individual sheet of paper for our invitations. We scoured LA’s downtown fashion district for 120 pashminas to match our invitation colors. We found 120 skeleton keys on eBay that we used to tie together our escort cards. We baked over 1,000 mini oatmeal chocolate-chip cookies a couple of days before the wedding and placed them into mason jars tied with gingham and string to hand out as favors. Forgoing a traditional wedding video, we went with a shorter Super 8 video that feels true to us and our venue. We even rented a photo booth and used the decorated pages to serve as our guest book. The inspiration for my bouquet came from Carrie’s bouquet from Sex and the City, but peonies weren’t in season yet. Then our amazing florist surprised me with the most beautiful bouquet of peonies I’d ever seen! So much thought went behind every detail, and that was what our guests remembered.
We could planned and planned, but what we couldn’t plan for was a 30-40% chance of rain. Because two of our four locations at the Parker were outdoors, we decided the morning of the wedding to tent the dinner. That was the best decision we could have made. When it came to the ceremony, however, it started to rain just as all the guests took their seats. I may have looked cool as a cucumber on the outside, but inside, I was freaking out. The rain never let up. Adding humor to the situation, our groomsmen did an adorable rain dance showing me that no one cared if they got a little wet. This was a reminder that in the end, it was all about Dennis and me getting married. It was the most romantic, magical experience, and walking under the Chuppah took my breath away. I can still remember the scent of the gorgeous flowers. It was an absolute dream. The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. I was a that never left the dance floor — no one did. We never played one slow song. We were truly in the moment. Our one and only regret was not taking the time to pose in the photo booth. But that would have meant we would have had to leave the dance floor, and that just wasn’t gonna happen.
Wedding Photography: Sarah Yates of Birds of a Feather / Wedding Venue: The Parker Palm Springs in Palm Springs, California / Flowers: Mark’s Garden / Wedding Coordination: Kristen Daniel Schrock at Mindy Weiss Party Consultants / Wedding Cinematography: Shark Pig / Rentals: Lounge Appeal + Classic Party Rentals / DJ: The Flashdance / Music: Wayne Foster Music & Entertainment / Lighting: Lighten Up, Inc. / Invitation Design: Ron Tapia, Friend of the Couple / Dress: Monique Lhullier / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Hair: Melissa Brown / Makeup: Catalina Su / Groom’s Tuxedo: Paul Smith