Whimsical Handmade Desert Wedding: Kaila + Bill

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Seattlites, Kaila + Bill, chose the incredible Hotel Lautner in Desert Hot Springs, California as the setting for their fun + casual destination wedding, and if you like modern, whimsical design you’re going to love their celebration. Kaila, a former graphic designer, was excited to lend her talents to the day, DIYing tons of projects like the invites + paper goods, custom table runners and colorful ceremony backdrop to name a few. In addition to designing those elements, she sourced the table decor, handpainted the gold dinosaurs featured on every tablescape and worked with her amazing aunt of Fena Flowers, who crafted her incredible protea bouquet + sweet headpiece! We love a good DIY family affair :)

Kaila + Bill share, We really wanted our wedding to reflect the both of us. We are pretty unconventional, so when it came time to incorporating some of the more traditional aspects of the wedding process, we struggled. After lots of support from our close friends and family, we decided to throw out the wedding “playbook” and start from scratch. The blank canvas really allowed us to create a day that was purely ours; it was amazing. We just did things that made us happy. One thing being the gold dinosaur that became the jumping-off point for the theme of the wedding. It was just so random and funny that it made the night.

Big thanks to Rebecca Fishman of Birds of a Feather for the gorgeous photos below and congrats to K + B on sticking to their guns + going for a day that was totally them!

whimsical invitation

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Kaila wore one of our fave Sarah Seven dresses from The Dress Theory, paired with stylish gold + turquoise jewelry.

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

protea bouquet

Whimsical Desert Wedding

ceremony programs

The other major part in personalizing our wedding was writing our own ceremony. Our own quirkiness as a couple made the flowery language and “deep passionate love” speeches of normal ceremony scripts sound awkward when applied to us. So, my sister and I, with the guidance of our great officiant, sat down and just started writing. We made the ceremony about Bill and me; we added humor and light heartedness, we expressed our love in a way that only we could. It’s hard to explain but even the guests that say they never cry at weddings were crying at ours!

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Guests dined on delicious eats from MIHO and later danced under the string lights + stars.

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Whimsical Desert Wedding

Our Advice To Those Planning Now

Don’t be afraid to ditch the norm! If there are certain wedding traditions that don’t mean anything to you, then don’t feel pressure to incorporate them into your special day. People won’t miss them as much as you might think. In fact, our guests loved all our wedding “surprises”!

photography: Rebecca Fishman of Birds of a Feather // venue name: Hotel Lautner, Desert Hot Springs, California // planning: Courtney Tibbets of After the Engagement // florals: Fena Flowers // hairpiece: Fena Flowers // bride's shoes: Vince Camuto // bridesmaid dresses: The girls just got white dresses they liked that kinda worked with the look of the wedding // hair stylist: The Bride // makeup artist: The Bride // paper goods: The Bride // catering: MIHO // music: Choice Entertainment // officiant: Ceremonies by Bethel // wedding dress: Sarah Seven from The Dress Theory // groom attire: Pants from Express and a Shirt from Ted Baker // birthday cake: Hey There, Cupcake // rentals: Classic Party Rentals and Archive

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