Lindsay and Amos took a cue from their venue, the Parker Palm Springs, as well as Lindsay’s antique emerald engagement stunner when designing the elements of their wedding celebration. With help from Artisan Events the couple incorporated vintage vibes into their adorable stationery by Anticipate Invitations (sandpaper mountains everyone!), vintage cocktail glasses hand-chosen for each guest and macrame owls made by the grooms mother on each table. Punchy, pink, graphic florals and elegant family-style tables added balance to the look while the bride’s relaxed glamour in Monique Lhuillier sets the tone of the event. Lucky for us, Mi Belle Photographers were on had to capture all the details and we’re thrilled to share the photographs with you today!
What made the wedding special and unique?
Fitting with our venue and my engagement ring (an antique), we took inspiration from vintage Palm Springs and wove that into all elements of the wedding. Some examples:
Our invitation featured a vintage Palm Springs postcard replica as the reply card, as well as sandpaper mountains! We also used unique vintage Palm Springs postcard replicas as the place cards. Everything came complete with vintage desert stamps. We asked our guests to send us marital advice or well wishes with their place card postcards, and we love receiving them regularly as a fun memory.
My parents finally gave in to my begging them for years for a set of vintage Cera cocktail glasses with poison names on them. Inspired by these glasses, we collected enough (over a year on eBay, Etsy, and at thrift stores) that we gave one to each guest. We tried to make them fit each person as best as possible. We used them, and local Old Potrero whiskey (distilled down the street from us and named after our neighborhood), for a “whiskey toast” to kick off the dancing! And we also used vintage matchbooks on the escort cards, again trying to match to the individual.
We encouraged all guests to wear Palm Springs festive attire, particularly to the welcome drinks, and we had many come prepared in caftans, short suits, and palm-printed pants in return. Amos even wore a blue palm-printed suit to the rehearsal dinner and welcome!
Tell us about the gown and where/how you found it!
I spent a whole fun-filled day in New York shopping with my mom and some of my best friends / bridesmaids. I couldn’t decide on a gown at the time and decided I’d try two of Monique Lhuillier’s gowns again in SF. Of course, as it turned out, I ended up seeing and falling in love with a third I had never seen before, and that’s the one I went with. I switched into a very Palm Springs-y beaded party dress by Alice & Olivia to maximize the dancing!
There was another gown I fell in love with by Bo & Luca, at a small boutique in SF (Loho Bride). While it wasn’t “the one” for the wedding, I couldn’t help but wear it for the Rehearsal & Welcome as it fit perfectly with the Parker in its art deco look.
What were some touches added to make the wedding personal?
We wanted to make sure our personalities and things we love really shined through, as well as those of our loved ones. Some examples:
The Parker features a wall of macrame owls (and one two-story one). We shared a photo of the wall on one of our wedding planning visits, and Amos’ mother got a “hoot” out of it. She mentioned how she used to make similar ones a while back. Little did she know she was signing herself up to make one for each table. We now have them as our own owl wall at home!
We are huge board game players. We play a game together at least every other day. Thus, after spending a lot of time trying to find a book reading, we realized the most “us” thing to do would be a reading from the rule-book of a board game. Amos’ sister, also a board gamer herself, read it flawlessly, which was not easy!
We have two cats that sadly could not make the trip (as they don’t leave SF) — Agatha Kittie & Angela Lanspurry. That said, they were sure to sign the guestbook first. However, our love of cats showed up in our vows (and cat-themed books in which we wrote them) and pretty much every toast.
Amos’ best friend from high school and groomsman is a really talented musician, so we asked him to play acoustic guitar for the ceremony. He was the best sport, since we picked just about the most difficult songs, e.g., Lana Del Rey’s This is What Makes Us Girls (not out of cruelty but because we listened to that non-stop when first dating) — and he still killed it.
Lindsay’s friends have amazing personal senses of style, so bridesmaid attire was a no-brainer. She gave them the wedding colors and asked them all to pick long dresses or outfits. One bridesmaid even wore a Palm Springs-inspired caftan two days in a row!
What was the most memorable part of the day?
Definitely our vows. We wrote them ourselves, and even though we didn’t compare notes, they were so closely aligned that everyone assumed we wrote them together. We keep them in our bedside drawers, and it’s so fun to look back on them. We were able to capture a lot of the shared things we love and many inside jokes while still being fun for others to hear (I hope!).
Also up there was our “first swim” at the end of the night — we got a lot of guests into the pool with us.
Tell us how you met and became engaged.
The story differs a bit on whether you ask Amos or Lindsay. We met through friends of friends but also at a trailer park-themed dive bar in San Francisco; the latter is a bit more fun to share. We quickly discovered a shared love of hiking, travel and adventures, board games, and takeout food. All of these occurred on our first date that lasted all day!
We grew to love day and weekend trips up to wine country from our home in SF, so Amos worked the engagement into one that we’d planned to ensure it was a surprise. After a wine tasting, we went for a hike in Calistoga, and Amos seemed anxious to find the best view possible and hurried up a rock. He had to propose quickly when I got up there as I kept saying how scared I was and threatening to go down, until he proposed of course. We finished the day with dinner and an overnight at my favorite spa.
lindsay + amos :: a parker palm springs wedding from Isabel Gonzalez on Vimeo.
Photographer: Mi Belle Photographers // Event Design, Day-of Coordination & Florals: Artisan Events // Stationery: Anticipate Invitations // Venue: Parker Palm Springs // Bride’s Gown Designer: Monique Lhuillier // Salon: Bridal Galleria // Hair & Makeup: Kacee Geoffroy Hair & MakeupVideography: Isabel Cinematheque