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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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
Jen and Erin, you did such a fabulous job shooting this! LOVE! xoxo
I love seeing couples who pull out something truly unique for their big day. It’s very rare to see a handmade wedding where everything looks perfect and completely not hand made. What I love most is that they incorporated fun activities that you don’t usually see at weddings. Bravo!
I am using dried floral and grasses like the bouquets above and it’s so awesome to see how they’ll come out in photos! People look at me funny when I tell them I’m doing that but they are environmentally friendly, last forever, much cheaper than regular flowers, very DIY friendly and I think they look great. Beautiful job and I love the arrows!
I had the same thought on my 25th flower (small modified crepe paper roses)… and I only had to make 100 and I had help! They look lovely, though, don’t they?
I love those desert flowers! What a cool bouquet!
Thank you for featuring our wedding today! Green Wedding Shoes was always such an inspiration to me during the planning process and I am so grateful to be a part of it for other brides-to-be!
Also, for those interested, I will be selling the paper flowers in the coming weeks over on ruffledblog.com.
Thanks again for all of the kind comments and to onelove photography who were an absolute dream to work with!
xoxo
A very special wedding! Congrats!
What an awesome cool fun laidback simple wedding!! love all your details the cute arrows to the paper flowers and your wedding rings!! just wow!!
Corrie, such a delightful wedding! I LOVE Hicksville and always dreamt of a wedding there but never imagined it would happen so beautifully. Well done and congratulations!
Where was your ring from? It’s awesome!!
Thank you! My husband ordered it from the website http://www.lorimclean.com :)
How unique and fun is this wedding???
Love the old trailers, the hammock, the whole setup and everything about this.
Gorgeous images by the photographers!
This wedding is like a breath of fresh air, it’s so simple yet beautiful! You can tell bride + groom are so in love.
These two must REALLY be in love! I don’t think I could ever do anything like this. Too hot and dusty for my taste; and I like hiking around in the desert–just wouldn’t wanna get married there.
love it!!! love all the deatails..
I’ve been a guest at hicksville before and am thinking of it for my wedding. I was wondering what it was like having an event there and what the bride and groom’s experience was working with them… Any info you can share is appreciated!
Hi Misa,
Feel free to e-mail me and I can give you more details about my experience getting married at Hicksville.
My e-mail is corriemae (at) gmail dot com
:)
WOW MY GOSH! I absolutely love this. Feels like home :)
Great work, onelove!