Handmade Desert Wedding at the Hicksville Trailer Palace: Corrie + Ryan

hicksville wedding

Corrie + Ryan are a couple that tends to shy away from the spotlight. In fact, they dreamt of eloping on a tropical island. However, after considering how important each of their families are to them, they realized that celebrating their wedding day without their loved ones just wasn’t for them. As such, their tropical island elopement turned into an informal family reunion inspired wedding in the desert. I love seeing couples that are able to go with the flow and adapt their ideas to create weddings that are such a perfect reflection of their personalities! :)

The new family reunion themed wedding freed Corrie + Ryan to be super creative when planning their day….good thing that their families are full of creative people willing to help them realize their wedding vision. From handcrafting wooden appetizer boards to assembling bouquets out of dry flowers, their wedding was put together by hand by the people who love them the most.

From Corrie, “The entire wedding was DIY: my brother designed the invitations, my parents sewed the table runners and napkins, my aunt did the floral arrangements, my uncles acted as valets, and my husband made the food. And though it seemed as if we bit off more than we could chew at times, everything fell into place and we had our dream wedding – colorful, different, and a bit bizarre – all in the middle of the desert.” And big thanks to onelove photography for the gorgeous photos!

hicksville wedding


How fun is their venue!? It’s called the Hicksville Trailer Palace and it’s located in the middle of the desert in Joshua Tree, California.

gold wedding rings

hicksville wedding

bride in the desert

hicksville wedding

groomsmen

hicksville wedding

crossword ceremony program

dried flowers

hicksville wedding

hicksville wedding

hicksville wedding

hicksville wedding

Our Favorite Memory From The Wedding

I will always cherish walking down the aisle with my dad and seeing my soon-to-be husband waiting for me, tears streaming down his face. My other favorite moments from the day include enjoying snow cones in the shade, cheering on my husband in a game of ping-pong, and getting to hear from almost every guest (including the photographers!) about how much they cried during the ceremony.

hicksville wedding

hicksville wedding

dried flowers bouquet

hicksville wedding desert

bride and groom

bride and groom

bride and groom

giant tipi wedding

giant tipi wedding


My mom and I wrapped wooden dowels with colorful thread to create fun, striped arrows that could be attached to posts and chairs to carry our theme throughout Hicksville. I loved the arrows so much, we now have some hanging in our apartment!

arrows wedding decor

guest book table

guestbook stones

hicksville wedding

hicksville wedding

hicksville wedding

paper flowers


I water-colored, cut, rolled, and assembled 187 paper flowers according to a tutorial from Rachel Grace. In all honesty, by the 75th flower I began to question why I didn’t just buy real flowers like a normal person, but in the end I was really happy with the finished product that was not only whimsical, but also resistant to the desert heat.

mr and mrs fringe chair decor

fruit basket

cake letter toppers

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

Just like everyone tells you, things will go wrong on the day of your wedding. And you know what? When you are walking back down the aisle, hand-in-hand with your husband, it really doesn't matter whether your umbrellas were delivered without bases or that some of the sandwiches were mislabeled as vegetarian. Like my brother told me the night before my wedding, "What everyone is here to see is you two getting married. Everything else – the decorations, the food – is just stuff that's secondary to the celebration of your marriage." It took me until 8 hours before my wedding to accept that, but I think it's a great way to approach the wedding planning process and reduce stress along the way.

Congrats to Corrie + Ryan!

photography: onelove photography // venue: Hicksville Trailer Palace in Joshua Tree, California // cake: SusieCakes // dress designer: Sue Wong // groom’s attire: ASOS and Zara // jewelry: PureEssentia // bridesmaids dresses designer: Sugarhill Boutique via ASOS // officiant: Ryan Daffron // stationery: Curt Rollison // rentals: San Clemente Partymakers

 

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