Today we have the most super gorgeous Palm Springs desert chic wedding to share with you all! Michael & Tim’s event, which took place at the notoriously stylish ACE Hotel, was pulled off in large part thanks to the couple’s creative talents and resourceful ways – with the help of some generous friends. The beautiful photos by Noa of Feather Love do an amazing job of displaying the unique style and joyful happy vibe that radiated throughout the day.
Michael and Tim chose the ACE because 1) they love Palm Springs and have tons of fun memories together renting a house and drinking margaritas by the pool and 2) they love the laid back midcentury style of the hotel and their event space, Commune. Most importantly, they chose to have their wedding where they love spending time and where their guests could enjoy an awesome weekend celebrating their relationship!
Nearly all the elements were handmade and designed by the couple. Michael, an artist and graphic designer, decided to take on the art direction, invitation design and production himself – which took a ton of time, but saved them so much money in the end. And they turned out fantastic! He created a couple simple icons that they incorporated throughout the event – a wind turbine and two palm trees.
Michael also custom designed some beautiful yellow IKAT-inspired fabric that were used to create their bow ties, skinny ties for the groomsmen (both crafted by Mr. Moss on Etsy), pocket squares for the boys, hand-sewn fabric flowers for the gals, and pennant flags for reserved ceremony seating. Pretty impressive, right?
Using the custom-designed ink stamps, the couple hand made 100+ save the dates, invites, place cards, table cards, menus, welcome cards, and more. Wow. But how pretty are they?
Michael found his white Valentino tuxedo on eBay, and Tim found his black tuxedo at the Burberry outlet store near Palm Springs, on the way home from their tasting at the ACE. Both fit perfectly. They bought tux shirts from Neiman Marcus, and Michael made studs from mother of pearl buttons found on eBay. Tim’s shoes were Dieppa Restrepo dark blue patent leather from TenOverSix, and Michael’s shoes are Surface to Air from Gilt Groupe. There are so many options out there now for discount stylish, quality clothing! Ebay, flash sales, and outlet stores being perfect resources!
And as always, we love showing some of the guest attire! Isn’t that orange striped dress below just divine?
The cute, cute wedding program was designed by Michael (of course!) in a faux newspaper style. What a sweet memento to be able to save & share.
Beautiful flowers and succulents are a desert wedding must, and Michael & Tim had a very specific vision with a modest budget. Bobbe & Todd of BV Floral Designs brought that vision to life using sculptural accents and drawing on natural elements like water and sand to create beautiful pieces that perfectly complimented the venue space and landscape.
For their table linens, Michael & Tim also bought cheap burlap online, and then cut all 150 yards in half. These were then cut on site at the ACE into table runners. It’s burlap week on 100LC! Seriously though, it’s a great material, inexpensive, and really easy to worth with since it doesn’t require any hemming.
This magnificent cake was baked in Palm Springs by a very talented friend who owns a bake shop in North Carolina. Talented friends are a hot commodity when it comes to planning your wedding!
From Michael & Tim:
“One of our biggest, and smartest investments, was photography. As I’m sure many folks know, it’s not cheap to find a decent photographer. Michael and I feel like we won the lottery with Noa / Feather Love. She was so fantastic to work with, a pleasure to have at our wedding and someone we hope to stay friends with. Her work speaks for itself. We could not be happier.”
A final list of tips from the couple:
– hire great vendors, and TRUST them to do their jobs
– accepts the talents of your friends, when they are offered
– everything will work out
“Everything seemed like it’s going to fall apart about 6 weeks from the wedding, and the chaos didn’t really stop until a few days before — but in the end everything worked out great.”
“I love Michael and our relationship has truly blossomed due to our wedding. We love all our friends and family, for making it such a kick ass weekend.”
Utterly gorgeous, all their hard work absolutely paid off ten fold. Best wishes for the future, Michael & Tim! And thanks so much for sharing your day with us!!
Venue: Ace Hotel, Commune, Palm Springs, CA / Invitation Design, Event Art Direction, & Fabric Design: Michael Frey, Groom and artist / Photography: Noa Azoulay-Sclater, Feather Love Photography / Florist, Event Design: Bobe Vagell & Todd Hughes / Officiant: Pam Butler, friend and artist / Cake: Jodi Rhoden, friend and baker, Short Street Cakes, Ashville NC / Videographer – Super 8: Lauren Graham, friend and filmmaker / Musical performance during ceremony: Crash Richard, friend and lead singer of The Deadly Syndrome / On site coordinator: Hilary Gluch / Day of coordinator: Angela Crawford / DJ: Joe Armenia, friend and music maven / Rings by Fay Andrada
