Palm Springs is home to some of the coolest weddings on the planet if you ask me. And this modern color-packed affair is certainly no exception. The couple made sure their big day was anything but stuffy, and the food game was on point from start to finish. Think taco buffet, ice cream cart, a late night pizza delivery and more. Thanks to Betsi Ewing for bringing this epic lovefest to our pretty pages.
From the bride… With Adam being from Charlotte, North Carolina, and I from Northern California, we wanted to find a venue that we could utilize for the entire weekend to make sure our family and friends had a fun, California getaway since they came from near and far. Palm Springs seemed like the perfect destination for a September wedding and we were thrilled to find the Historic Cree Estate in Cathedral City.
Our most important factor, we had agreed upon early, was gathering our loved ones for a fun party. We didn’t care about fancy food (hence our California-inspired taco buffet!). We just wanted people to have a great time and walk away saying “wow, that was such a fun night!” and we definitely think they did – especially because Adam and I, along with about 20 of our guests (including some of our bridal party), decided at the end of the night to jump into the heated pool in our dresses, suits, and wedding gear (cue the gasps! Honestly, it was the best part of the night and something you can never do again. Wouldn’t change that for anything!) Meanwhile, we had the rest of our guests as onlookers, laughing, and recording this chaos as we swam and floated on the various fun, pool floats like a unicorn, YOLO float, ice cream sandwich, or pizza slice.
Since I am an event planner by trade, I have managed everything from budget weddings to over-the-top extravagant weddings in foreign countries, but I knew from the get-go that we wanted to keep our wedding costs down and not splurge on things “just because.” One way I was able to do that was by doing a lot of DIY projects myself, which in the end, I’ve joked that I took on too much because I was still working on things the night before the wedding with the help of my amazing bridesmaids and coordinators. However, details are a very important part of my professional job, so I wanted those personal touches and details to shine through, which is why I created all of our own signage, escort cards, photo booth during cocktail hour, “Snaccident” labels for our cocktail hour appetizers, late night pizza boxes complete with labels, customized notes at guest tables, and even floor decals of our logo for the dance floor, to name a few.
I kept receiving compliments from family and friends all night about the details and decor of the wedding, but I am still in debate whether guests loved our ice cream cart (with custom decals, of course), our dessert bar, or our late night pizza delivery (one of our favorite foods as a couple, which also was our first meal on our first date) with mini to-go boxes for guests to take home the best. Either way, our “we just want everyone to have a good time” goal was a complete success and to say this was the best night of fun, food, dancing, and love with my new husband would be a complete understatement. It was the best night of our lives and could not have been complete without our incredible family, wedding party, friends, dogs (Olive the Boxer & Tia the Dalmatian), and of course, vendors!
Photography: BETSI EWING STUDIO | Floral Design: Perfect Petals by Maria | Catering: Good Fellas Catering | Makeup : Ritual Salon & Spa | Hair : Taylor Bugos | Venue: The Cree Estate | Custom Cake, Cupcakes, Churro Donuts: Over The Rainbow | Custom Cookies : Bee Sweet Confections | Event Planning, Design, Production : K2 Event Production | Pizza Delivery: NYPD (New York Pizza Delivery) | Printed Materials : Rita Alexis Design | Rentals: Signature Party Rentals | Rentals: Otis & Pearl | Wedding Dress + Shoes : Badgley Mischka