Wedding | Maggie & Trevor

Tell us a little about yourselves!

We’re a couple of creatives — she’s a branding designer and UX researcher, he’s a creative director and worldbuilder. We were both trying to date casually and accidentally connected really hard on Hinge.

We love blinding each other on natural wines, checking out new restaurants, and having seaside picnics. We are yes people. Multi-hyphenates — not the award-winning kind, just the kind with a lot of interests. We’re the people that have tried every restaurant and have seen (nearly) every movie. Popcorn is a major food group in our household. What else do you want to know?

Why did you decide to get married where you did?

We love the transporting power of Palm Springs. That Old Hollywood energy that still hangs in the air. Our families live in different states and we wanted it to be a place where everyone could come together and stay a little while. We decided it was the perfect place to trap them for a weekend.

Desert Island struck the right balance of being a bit of a “blank slate” venue with strong aesthetic bones. It immediately elevates your mood walking through its saturated walls. The reception space was drenched in a red velvet curtain, which did the heavy lifting and meant we didn’t need to go overboard with decor. We also wanted an outdoor ceremony. It took place at the end of the driving range, with the grandeur of the San Jacinto Mountains as a backdrop.

How many guests did you have?

100 of our nearest and dearest.

What was your budget?

100K.

Tell us about your outfits.

Maggie: I had a lovely experience at LOHO in West Hollywood. I went in with my heart set on a corseted ceremony dress, but after trying on an oyster shell, silk gown by Danielle Frankel, I felt timeless, like if you took a film photo of this dress, you couldn’t place what year it was. I still couldn’t shake the corset idea for the reception, though, so a few months later I visited Seline Meisler in New York and found the most flattering lace corset. Paired with a matching mini skirt and mesh Prada heels—it’s my favorite outfit I’ve ever worn.

The meaningful touches were all in the accessories. The jewelry was handmade by Nadia Shelbaya and Faris, and I wore my late grandmother’s tennis bracelet and my earthside grandmother’s garter—a cheeky gift from her. The perfume was Le Dieu Bleu, chosen to honor both of our mothers: it’s formulated based on the oldest known Egyptian fragrance, and it’s also the name of a ballet. Trevor’s mom is Egyptian and mine is a ballerina.

Trevor: My suit was handmade by Connor McKnight. The guy is super sweet, and dripping in talent. I wanted something special for my wedding, so a friend introduced me and he graciously accepted. From measurements in his apartment in Brooklyn to him coming by our studio in Chelsea for the jacket fitting, it was a ride. Perfect fit, beautiful texture, and an experience I’ll never forget.

The rest of the styling was inspired by McKnight — a pair of Florsheim boots (the same style worn by The Beatles during their British Invasion) and a vintage Hermès tie. Nadia Shelbaya designed my ring to mirror Maggie’s. Best Bud completed the look with a tiny silver lapel vase — apparently called a tussie mussie — holding a single green orchid.

What was the most important aspect for you, in terms of planning your wedding?

The guest experience. Every decision went through a filter of: will this surprise and delight them? Do they know exactly where to go and when? Is everyone having a good time? We wanted all of our people to come together and really have a night. Ceremony at 3:30, dance until midnight.

Whenever we found ourselves in the weeds, we reminded ourselves: good music and an open bar, and our people will have fun. But we weren’t willing to stop there. A truly unique experience came down to uncompromisingly good design, vibey music (no slow dances— sorry), and food that people actually talked about. Death to unseasoned wedding food! Roasted Japanese sweet potatoes with lima negra, kaffir & lemon verbena fermented honey vinaigrette, macerated golden raisins, serrano chile pepper, cilantro criollo and cashew cream. And that was just one dish.

Were there any elements that were important for you to incorporate?

I’ve long subscribed to the Eames philosophy: “the details are not details, they make the design.” Some might say that’s just enabling me to overthink — but when it’s your wedding, you can think as hard as you want.

With our combined design sensibilities, we filled the day with meaningful little details that felt like artifacts of our own world. For the escort display, we designed custom matchbooks — one per guest, with their name where you’d typically find a phone number. The “brand” on each matchbook corresponded to their table, some of which were real places from our early relationship, like El Pescador, and some completely fictitious ones whose significance only we will ever know, like Black Eyed Susan’s House of Pleasure.

Another design detail was born from a wedding horror story someone told me — a coordination team had accidentally left produce stickers on the lemons in their centerpieces. That gave us the idea to do it intentionally, with custom stickers on the vegetables in ours. Guests lost their minds over them.

Any tips for couples getting married?

Greet every table during the reception — it’s perhaps the only way to guarantee a moment with every guest, and they will truly appreciate it.

And when the day comes, don’t be too precious about any individual thing that happens, because it’s the whole day that is precious. You had your time to worry about details, but forget about those on the day. It will be the best day of your life if you let it be what it will.

Are there any vendors that you would like to tell us a little more about?

Our floral designer Kath — owner of Best Bud — was the first vendor we hired and genuinely set the tone for our entire wedding aesthetic. She had the most original ideas and was such a delight to work with. The result was what Kath herself dubbed “Old Hollywood Swamp”: clouds of hydrangeas, an explosion of gerbera daisies we never could have imagined ourselves, and a monochromatic arrangement of florals and vegetables that guests were sneaking bites of all night.

We also want to shout out our friend Chef Juan Gonzalez of Mesa Agricola, who pulled off the most extraordinary dinner just weeks after a serious injury on his farm. His cuisine weaves his Baja roots with globally inspired dishes and pre-hispanic techniques, using produce grown by his wife Megan at their organic farm in Valley Center. They also run a beloved guisados spot in Escondido — go.

Lastly, our photographer Tom Irwin, who made us feel completely at ease, was always up for an adventure, and shot everything on film. The kind of photographs that become heirlooms. We’ll cherish them forever.

Photography: Tom Irwin @tomirwin.co | Ceremony & Reception Venue: Desert Island Country Club @desertislandcountryclub | Floral: Best Bud Floral @bestbudfloral @bestbudevents | Catering: Mesa Agricola @mesaagricola | Beverages: Surreal Wines @surrealwines | Cake: @conamorninayleon | Wedding Coordination: CCL Weddings @cclweddings | DJ: John Manhard @john_manhard | Rentals: Table Method @tablemethod | Photobooth: Photomatica @photomatica | HMUA: Jen Plus Colour Weddings @jenpluscolourweddings | Ceremony Dress: Danielle Frankel from Loho Bride @loho_bride @daniellefrankelbride | Reception Dress: Seline Meisler @selinemeisler.nyc | Suiting: Connor McKnight @connormcknight | Jewellery: Nadia Shelbaya @nadiashelbaya_ & Faris Jewelry @farisjewelry | Film Development & Scanning: Negative Lab @negativelab