Villa Royale Palm Springs Wedding: A Rainy Day // Olivia & Adam
Welcome to the romantic story of Olivia & Adam’s Villa Royale Wedding in Palm Springs. Olivia and Adam invited their families to Palm Springs for a destination wedding weekend, only to realize they had brought the PNW rain with them. It hardly ever rains in Palm Springs, California, but when it does, it can be magical. The Villa Royale was a perfect location for their guests to lay poolside with cocktails before the sprinkling began. It poured for the majority of the celebration, with everyone crying, laughing and dancing under a clear tent with twinkling lights.
Olivia and Adam went with a classic white and black aesthetic with slight pops of yellow, pinks and emerald greens within the lounge and bar to brighten up the space. Kaleb Norman James decorated the space with classic white florals and dainty greenery. They opted for a cocktail-style dinner reception, where guests had the freedom to move and mingle throughout the night. Instead of plated meals, guests could get up for seconds, thirds and fourths of a variety of deliciousness by F10 Catering. It felt like an elevated hollywood affair with the soundtrack of rain and live music.
Villa Royale Palm Springs Wedding
Villa Royale Palm Springs weddings are for the couple who want an elevated experience & value design. From it’s tiled black & white accents to the ecclectic art, Villa Royale offers guests a beautiful and creative ambiance to relax (and party) in. It’s design lends perfectly to Palm Springs aesthetic that people fly in to experience.
As a wedding venue, it’s the perfect backdrop to share vows. The ceremony spot is full of greenery, palm trees and views of the gorgeous San Jacinto mountains, which can be dressed up with florals or left alone depending on your vibe. As an intimate boutique, it gives you the opportunity to have the entire space for yourself and your guests, allowing you that feeling of privacy you get in an estate.
A dreamy Palm Springs getaway since 1947, Villa Royale is ready to transport you and your guests to an eclectic, relaxing and elevated Old Hollywood experience.
Rainy Wedding Day Preparation
Southern California, and especially Palm Springs, is a destination that rarely experiences rain. In fact, most Canadians, East Coasters & PNW folk come down to Palm Springs to shake off some of the cold weather blues. That said, the weather can randomly be temperamental in the fall and winter. We’ve seen our fair share of thunderstorms, haboobs, and random snow falls.
For peace of mind, if your wedding is during this season, it’s important to put a clear or white tent on hold for unexpected rain. I’m biased that clear tents are the much more romantic choice… but the important thing is having a tent at all! Olivia and Adam’s wedding planner, Kelsey Timberlake, was more prepared than ever. The entire team maneuvered the ceremony space under the tent when the rain began 30 minutes prior to Olivia and Adam’s ceremony.
Another key note is to order these clear umbrellas from Amazon and have them delivered to your point of contact. These are great for guests as well as you during portraits. I always bring a couple in my car in the off-chance we’ll be caught in the rain. Being clear, they also make for great photos.
Some Loving Words
All in all, we had SUCH a fun, spontaneous, relaxed wedding day with Olivia and Adam. She even mentioned to me how Adam doesn’t love the camera (because most people don’t) and we were able to capture their relationship in short moments throughout the day.
Here is her review of working with me:
“Alex was a dream to work with and I highly recommend her to anyone seeking a fun, laid back, insanely talented wedding photographer. I found Alex through Instagram actually– her gorgeous photos spoke for themselves and I was hooked. Since we did a destination wedding in Palm Springs, we didn’t get a chance to meet Alex until our wedding day. Luckily for us, it turns out she’s a badass, fun, photographer who put both me and my husband (who hates having his picture taken) at ease. Leading up to the wedding, Alex was great to work with—she sent us a lovely and thoughtful care package once we hired her and was extremely helpful with vendor recommendations since we weren’t as familiar with Palm Springs vendors. She frequently checked in and made sure we were comfortable with our shot lists and was quick to offer help if we had any questions. The day of the wedding, she was fun and creative (it rained allllll day) and so easy going. I absolutely LOVED hanging with her all day. We received sneak peeks the week after our wedding—while most of my recently-married friends have received 3-4 pictures for their sneak peek, we received 20+ pictures which was so amazing to have so soon after the big day. We received our full wedding album 6 weeks after our wedding – and the pictures were incredible. Hands down, Alex was one of the best choices we made in selecting wedding vendors. Do yourself a favor and book her!!”
If you love the design elements of Villa Royale and want to see more venue options, check out my blog post on “The 5 Most Stylish Palm Springs Wedding Venues” and grab yourself some inspo! I swear Palm Springs is one of my favorite places to shoot and there are SO MANY good wedding venues there, so you’re going to want to check them out. And if you’re looking for a photographer who captures the heart and art behind your wedding day, let’s chat! Click here to inquire.
