Tell us a little about yourselves!
Max is a drummer in a band and I work in fashion. We met the night before New Years Eve 6 years ago and live in East Los Angeles with our cat Eno and our dog Pepper. Max is originally from LA and I am originally from the Detroit area. I think the thing that makes us “Us” is our shared sense of humour, how we balance each other out and that we truly are best friends. Like I said in my vows, I feel exceptionally lucky to have found each other in this lifetime.
Why did you decide to get married where you did?
Max proposed in Palm Springs the night before my birthday in 2023. We had always gone to Palm Springs for a quick celebration – birthdays, anniversaries or just to get away. The hotel Max proposed at was around the corner from Casa Cody. I happened to follow Casa Cody on Instagram so when we drove by it after getting engaged, I thought to myself “That’s that cute little hotel I follow!” I emailed them the next day.
I went to visit the venue with Max’s mom, Robin, because he was on tour. We sat outside of our rooms for hours and hours, overlooking the lawn Max and I would eventually get married on – talking about how amazing a wedding there would be – filled with friends and family, the whole place to ourselves like a chic little summer camp. It felt like such a magical space. At that moment I was holding back tears just thinking about the possibility of standing hand in hand in front of the old stone fountain. It was a dream come true to get married there. There was nowhere else it could have been.
How many guests did you have?
88 guests.
What was your budget?
100k.
Tell us about your outfits.
I fell in love with Danielle Frankel in 2022, before we were even engaged. It was the first wedding dress I saw that I could imagine myself wearing. When I booked an appointment at Loho Bride I tried on a few Danielle Frankel styles and ultimately fell in love with the Camille Dress. It felt different, fashion forward yet classic and so, so beautiful. I knew it was the one when my most fashionable friend cried when I came out of the dressing room in it. I wore a Danielle Frankel veil that served as my train since my dress didn’t have one, and Sophie Buhai Jade and Pearl earrings to match Max’s custom green suit from the Knot Standard.. He had our initials and wedding date embroidered on the lining and wore his grandfathers’ vintage cufflinks and watch. We wanted to look and feel like ourselves.
For the reception I changed twice, first into a slip dress to be a little more comfortable and finally into a vintage sequin paillette dress from Happy Isles Salon that was perfectly Palm Springs. I’ve worked in fashion my whole career, so this felt like my opportunity to wear all the dresses.
I also wore an antique diamond tennis bracelet borrowed from my MOH Annie’s late mother, one of my grandma’s blue embroidered handkerchief and the other’s antique diamond ring. Max wore his grandfathers antique cufflinks and a vintage Rolex.
What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?
The most important aspect when planning the wedding was finding the right venue. We wanted something naturally beautiful, not too formal and a space that felt like an intimate get away – like you were somewhere else completely. We fell in love with Casa Cody for those exact reasons but also because it allowed us to spend more than just one day with our nearest and dearest. This was especially important for me because a lot of my family and friends live outside of LA. The venue requires a two-night buyout of all 30 rooms which meant we could spend the whole weekend with the guests staying on property, running into each other in the lobby grabbing breakfast, swimming together in one of the two beautiful pools, and hanging out in each other’s rooms. It was special to have that experience with everyone. Walking around the property on the wedding morning seeing everyone just felt right. We also just wanted the wedding to be fun and feel effortless – moving from one space on the property to the next for the welcome dinner, ceremony, cocktail hour and the reception – it felt easy, breezy and was also a perfect place to throw a party!
Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?
We ultimately wanted our wedding to reflect us, our style, and our relationship. We aren’t very formal people, so we wanted some fun, personal touches. Max suggested his sister-in-law Mikki would be perfect for what we were looking to do – handwritten lettering, little drawings, and portraits of our pets. She did such an amazing job on all the stationary – from welcome cards inside the gift baskets we put in every guest’s room, food and drink menus and our escort cards. She hand painted every single escort card! While we loved them all, a personal favorite was our Signature Cocktails Menu with a drawing of our dog and cat sitting at a bar having a drink. Another important element for us was to do our vows privately, with the nature of the venue, there wasn’t a lot of alone time or privacy for Max and I so it was really important to have that intimate moment to ourselves. It was probably one of our favorite things because we were able to spend more of the wedding day actually together and took some of the pressure off.
Because we chose to do our vows privately, we wanted to incorporate some personal sentiments during the ceremony. We asked our friend and Max’s bandmate Brandon to officiate, and it was honestly incredible. We didn’t know exactly what he would say but it was perfect – funny, sentimental, and encapsulated us in a way only a true friend could know how. We also asked my brother, Steve, to do a reading during the ceremony – Thoughts in a Garden by R. Gerhardt – it was one of those perfectly fitting moments and I’m so glad he could be part of our day.
Any tips for couples getting married?
Hire a wedding planner! Best decision we made was to hire our incredible planners, Jessica and Danielle from Bee Loved. Also, all the little things you spend night after night stressing about will not even cross your mind on wedding day, there’s just so much love, joy and adrenaline! Lastly, enjoy every moment – it truly was the best weekend/day of our lives.
Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?
Our amazing florist Emma from Roobarb Studio! From our initial call I knew she understood the vibes – we wanted wild, overgrown and playful florals. I sent her a picture from a hike Max and I go on often in the Spring when the trail is surrounded by mustard greens and told her that was what I wanted the aisle to look like. On wedding day, she and her team foraged mustard greens from the meadows in Malibu and drove them to Palm Springs. It looked like they had always been there, like they belonged at the ceremony site. For the bar arrangements I told her to just go nuts and do something funky and we ended up with this really cool lemon arrangement. For the tables I wanted a mixture of colorful, mostly wild flowers and citrus as a nod to all the citrus trees on the property. She really did such an amazing job, her florals are truly what brought all the other elements together.
Special shoutout to our caterer, Whoa Nelly who absolutely killed it. From the initial tasting to wedding day the service was exceptional and the food delicious. We are still getting compliments about the food!
I have to highlight my bridal salon – Loho Bride. It’s such an incredible place with a unique and modern assortment. I had the best stylist, Nicola, who truly made my experience. I felt completely seen and supported. I’d recommend it to any and every bride to be.
Lastly, I must mention our incredible photography and videography team, The Shalom Imaginative. As soon as we saw their documentary style photos, we knew we had to hire them. Igor and Karin made us feel at ease all day and we ended up with so many incredible photos and the video with super 8 footage we will cherish forever.
Photographer & Videographer: The Shalom Imaginative @theshalomimaginative | Planning: Bee Loved @beelovedweddings | Floral: Roobarb Studio @roobarbstudio | Ceremony & Reception Location: Casa Cody Rincon Lawn @casa_cody | Celebrant: A friend of the couple | HMUA: Beauty Bespoken @beautybespoken | Catering + Beverages: Whoa Nelly & Blue Flamingo @whoanellycaters @blueflamingops | Cake: Whoa Nelly @whoanellycaters | Stationery: Mikki Itzigsohn and Zola for invites @old_mik | Entertainment: Second Song @secondsong_official | Ceremony Dress: Danielle Frankel @daniellefrankelbride Camille from Loho Bride @loho_bride | Reception Dress: Vintage Sequin Paillette Dress from Happy Isles Salon @loho_bride @happyisles_salon | Suit: The Knot Standard
@knotstandard | Veil: Danielle Frankel @daniellefrankelbride | Earrings: Sophie Buhai @sophiebuhai | Engagement Ring: Designed by Jess and custom made by Marvel Jewellers using Max’s Grandfathers diamond | Wedding Rings: Berlinger (Jess) & Marvel Jewellers (Max) | Shoes: Dear Frances @dear_frances | Wedding Party Attire: Jacob (Bridesman) – Jacquemus suit, Annie (MOH) – Cinq a Sept, Alexa (MOH) – Sir, Hayley (Bridesmaid) – Mr Larkin | Bridesmaids Jewelry: Mondo Mondo
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