Inspired by the lavish New Year’s Party Frank Sinatra commissioned the estate to be built for in 1947, Nikki and Joe’s February wedding was a stylish and intimate wedding full of romantic and personal touches. “The inspiration was how much I love the laid back but quirky nature of Palm Springs,” Nikki began. “It’s a sort of party town like Las Vegas is but the style is a presence – it’s vibrant and natural at the same time, it’s fun but relaxed, retro but modern. We had a family by the time our wedding came, and we just wanted to throw an epic party and spoil our closest friends with an epic vacation and a party in a sick house. Overall it was a really lush retro house party that happened to have a wedding occur in it!”

The celebration spanned a whole week, with around 50 guests travelling from all over the US to join them. “Many of our guests are musicians or are in touring bands and we have always had this sense of community, so the pandemic halted that since live music stopped happening. The destination wedding was one of the first times we all got to get together again and celebrate something. We are all very close knit and it was fun to come out of the pandemic, be in the same location, and celebrate with music, food, and a unique backdrop of the desert.”

In addition, Nikki describes the wedding as the event that really solidified their little family. “Me, Joe and our daughter Margo all got married that day. Getting ready with your little daughter isn’t all champagne and photos, I had to get her ready, help her stay occupied while I got my make up done – we even gave her a little point and shoot camera to take photos of the day from her perspective. We also hired a babysitter for the rest of the day to help occupy her and watch her around the swimming pool. It enabled us to enjoy her, and the day, without being worried about having to be mum and dad, too.”

The couple didn’t include traditions for tradition’s sake, instead choosing to include moments that felt meaningful to them; for example as parents, their drives in the car are their chances to catch up, so they hired a vintage Lincoln to get photos of them ‘on a drive’ together as a symbolic gesture. For their first dance they invited every couple to the floor to all dance their first dance together. Nikki didn’t throw a bouquet, or have any bridesmaids. “Every decision we made was intentional and served a purpose. It really helped make each part of the night be meaningful.”

With so many musicians involved in their celebration, their day had to have a rock-star feel. They hired live music photographer Kat Nijmeddin to shoot their day which gave a unique view to the wedding, and the musical choices for their ceremony were carefully considered, too. “We kicked off with Just Like Honey by Jesus and the Mary Chain, and then my processional was Godspeed by Frank Ocean. The recessional to walk back down the aisle was Nobody to Love by Sigma.”

Nikki’s sister got ordained especially to be able to conduct the ceremony, as a way of symbolising her importance to the bride. “She added the perfect level of humour, familiarity, adoration and closeness. We wrote out own vows, talking about what we admire about each other, how our love is not in promises but in actions. We each talked about how we have already been there in sickness and in health, in fun times and up with an infant at 4am, moves, school, distance due to touring, and all 8 years that led us to this moment. Margo cheered and put her bouquet up in the air at the end of the ceremony which was an amazing moment, but we did have one blooper – we forgot to kiss! We ended with my sister saying ‘I now present you Nikki and Joe, and now they are married!’ rather than ‘as husband and wife’  as that didn’t feel like “us”. However, we didn’t include a prompt to kiss and we should have because we totally forgot. We picked up Margo and walked to the end of the aisle and took care of it when we realised, lol.”

“Screw having a single day to represent your union,” the bride concluded. “Have a destination wedding and make a whole trip out of it – why do anything less?! Decide what you want the overall feel of your wedding to be when you walk away from the day – think early on about what your top 2 or 3 priorities are and spend your money accordingly. For us, we wanted quality over quantity in all aspects of the celebration – I never could have imagined hosting a 150+ wedding and less guests mean we could spend on a higher-quality event and treat our guests more.”