Katie & John

Katie & John hosted their multi-day wedding weekend at Kempa Villa and Hotel Paseo in Palm Desert. We kicked off their Friday welcome party at Hotel Paseo with a casual and delicious taco party featuring margaritas and churros. For their Saturday wedding, Katie & John wanted a joyful, colorful, community-centered wedding featuring delicious food, drinks, thoughtful design, and a live band.

Katie wore a showstopper custom Monique Lhuillier wedding dress! The dress had a sheer top layer with colorful floral and butterfly embroidered appliqués. Her dress glowed and flowed in the sunlight. We sprinkled thoughtful nods into the floral design and menus to represent their unique and diverse family origins. For example, we included Australian flowers and foliage to represent Katie's family and we served Paella during cocktail hour to represent John's Spanish heritage.

We designed custom invitations and signage to give the feeling of a cohesive and well branded resort. Katie & John brought some of their personal travel treasures for us to decorate with. We designed the reception space using rectangular farm tables, round tables, and natural wishbone chairs. The dinner tables featured wind-resistant heavy bottomed ceramic centerpieces filled with colorful and textural banksia protea, bougainvillea, and seasonal flowers. We set the family-style dinner tables with menus, stemless blue glassware, gold flatware, and a blue soft and textural napkin. After a delicious dinner, guests enjoyed a live band and a cozy bar lounge. At 10:00 pm we loaded up the luxury shuttle buses and guests went to the after party at a local wine bar in town. The following morning, guests were treated to a casual grab and go breakfast at Hotel Paseo.

I’m so thankful to have co-created this fun, thoughtful, colorful, soulful, community-centered wedding weekend with Katie & John!

Kempa Villa Palm Desert