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Ace Hotel Palm Springs wedding: Jessica + Aaron, Part 1

July 16, 2012

Get cozy, you’re going to be here a while. We’ve got a true Flashbash collab to share today! That means creative heads Bash, Please, Max Wanger, Shark Pig, Flashdance, and Yeah! Rentals were behind a lot of the amazing details in Jessica + Aaron’s epic three day wedding extravaganza. We just couldn’t help ourselves, so we’ve gone and made this a three part blog post! J + A wanted to host a wedding their friends would have a damn good time at and would last more than one night, so they did what we all wish we could do. They rented out the entire Ace Hotel in Palm Springs for four days! No biggie. Lots went on during that time, so let’s start off with day numero uno…

ace hotel wedding

Aaron is a bourbon and bow tie kind of guy. He sometimes even wears bow ties to brunch for no good reason. I think it’s cute, and it’s how we decided on kicking off the weekend. By welcoming our friends and family with a Bourbon and Bow Tie party.

Bourbon and Bowtie wedding event

Recognize those party-ready accessories they’re wearing? Ban.do set up a nice little spread to outfit guests with the “bows”, while a dapper Forage bowtie awaited the gentlemen in their rooms with an invite to the party.

wedding bourbon cocktail party vintage 20s wedding style bourbon bar wedding guest fashion

Jessica explains how they wanted to celebrate their wedding: These are the people we will turn to when we want to celebrate a win, or grieve a loss, or work through a tough time. These people were going to play a critical role in our lives and in our marriage, and we wanted them to feel celebrated and at the center of things.

Ace Hotel wedding bourbon party ace hotel wedding

And then Friday morning came! Jessica & Aaron’s closets friends and family were shuttled to Joshua Tree at 8am to attend their “Blessingmony”, a Thai tradition they took and made their own.

ace hotel wedding desert wedding

Last year we attended the Thai Blessing Ceremony of two close friends. We thought it was wonderful how they carved out time to connect with each guest. Since we were designing a high-tempo wedding, we wanted to carve out some time to slow down and connect with the couples we respected and we thought we could learn from, as well as close friends & family. Each couple/person sat down with us on the floor of the desert for a few minutes to share a blessing, thought, wish, story, or a few words of advice. We took a polaroid of each couple and we asked they write down their thoughts on a little card so that we could keep it forever. I love that we have a collection of thoughts and polaroids from that morning. Now they’re hanging in a little canvas bag from our bedroom door – always with us.

palm springs wedding palm springs wedding Palm Springs wedding vibrant chalkboard menu sign

There to cater the perfect desert brunch, that also sounds pretty amazing right about now, was Heirloom LA!

Heirloom LA caterer

Following the “Blessingmony”, guests were taken back to the Ace to kick off the pool party and spend the rest of the day lounging by the pool with dozens of black & white beach balls, custom drinks, BBQ, and great musical entertainment.

ace hotel pool party wedding Palm Springs wedding ace hotel pool party wedding

While guests sipped refreshing custom cocktails and munched on Beachy Cream ice cream sandwiches and BBQ provided by the Ace, the fabulous Leftover Cuties serenaded the gang.

ace hotel pool ace hotel pool

And on that relaxing poolside note, let’s take a little breather. Like we said earlier, we’ve got two other posts coming in just a bit with plenty more pretty details!

Event production: Bash, Please / Photography: Max Wanger / Officiant: good friend, Chris Cox / Florals: Bash, Please / Cake + desserts: Sweet Lucie’s, Beachy Cream, Fry Girl, Ace Hotel Palm Springs / Rentals: Casa de Perrin (champagne coupes & flatware), Yeah! Rentals (chairs & lounging furniture) / Lighting: Classic Party Rentals / Linens: La Tavola / Music (ceremony): Evan Lowenstein singing Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” (pool party) Leftover Cuties (reception) Rebirth Brass Band (after party) Michael Antonia aka The Human Jukebox (barat) Palm Springs High School Marching Band / Photobooth: Smilebooth / Makeup: Stacy McClure / Makeup & hair: Fiore Beauty / Grooming: Rudy’s Barbershop / Videography: Brian Morrow at Shark Pig / Balloons: Geronimo Balloons / Transportation: vintage Jaguar by Klassy Kars / Paper goods design: Gary & Robert Williams / Venue: Ace Hotel Palm Springs / Shoes: Jimmy Choo / Bride’s dress: Reem Acra / Wedding bands: Cathy Waterman / Veil: Toni Federici / Jewelry: Fred Segal / Food vendors: Ricky’s Fish Tacos, Heirloom LA, Let’s Be Frank, Handsome Coffee