Mary and Nathan were married at the Cree Estate in Cathedral City this past weekend on a beautiful spring day in the desert. The Cree Estate is a historic private estate with former clients such as Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Christina Applegate. It boasts one of the largest pools in the Coachella Valley and has ample event space to entertain up to 200 guests comfortably. The estate provides a natural flow of progression from the ceremony location on the Wishing Well lawn to the poolside cocktail hour and then to the large lawn where the reception takes place.

Mary and Nathan enlisted the services of April Seuss from The Events Department to coordinate their wedding weekend at the Cree Estate. Mary wanted a simple, clean look to her reception decor, and she chose floating candles in glass vases to achieve that elegant minimalism for her centerpieces. The reception site was lined with large white lanterns on bamboo poles, and these glowing globes really set the mood for a special time.

Guests' escort cards were attached to sparklers, which were lit for the couple's spectacular grand entrance. A tasty buffet catered by Jordan's Creative Catering offered tri-tip, pork ribs, barbequed chicken, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, salad and baked beans, making a very satisfying dinner for all. DJ THC Electra, aka Mike Bocek, provided a variety of great music for the crowd.

It was a beautiful event, and we thank Mary and Nathan for inviting Red Lantern to document their wedding.

DETAILS (all links open in a new window)
Venue: Cree Estate
Coordinator: April Seuss, The Events Department
Catering: Jeff Kaufman, Jordan's Creative Catering Concepts
Music: Mike Bocek, DJ THC Electra
Flowers: Mary Cass, Jensen's Florist
Rentals: Classic Party Rentals
Lighting: The Events Department

Below are additional images from Mary and Nathan's wedding taken by Red Lantern Principal Photographer Nader Coobtee and Second Photographer Kayla Savu. Be sure to click on each image to view the larger version.

Casey and Phil were married at Rancho La Quinta this past weekend under sunny blue skies.

Casey and Phil flew down from San Francisco for their destination wedding last week. They made their wedding a multi-day event, starting on Thursday with a beautiful rehearsal dinner at Canyons Fine Dining at BigHorn Golf Club. Canyons has a spectacular view of the Coachella Valley; a large lawn area for plenty of guests to enjoy; and friendly, attentive service, led by Canyons' Director of Operations Tom Emison. On Friday evening, they hosted a casual poolside get-together for all their guests at the Hacienda Suite at La Quinta Resort.

Celebrations of Joy's Cathy O'Connell and Dorry Wynham designed the color scheme and style for Casey and Phil's wedding. Working from their design theme, Joey Lizotte at Artisan created the centerpieces, bouquets, personal flowers and chocolate suede-covered ceremony "arch." The colors were snappy, modern and vibrant in shades of chartreuse, white and fuchsia. Kermit mums, orchids, white roses, hydrangea and curly willow were just a few of the flowers that embellished Casey and Phil's day.

Guests were served refreshing lemonade, iced tea, Arnold Palmers (half iced tea, half lemonade) and water as they arrived for the ceremony, which was held on the front lawn of the clubhouse.

The reception was held on the patio, overlooking the golf course and the spectacular mountains. A delicious dinner buffet included roast beef and pork; chilled shrimp and crab legs; cajun shrimp with remoulade sauce; a mashed potato bar with eight sauces and toppings; and caesar salad or iceberg wedge lettuce salad.

Under the stars, the eight-piece James Gang Encore band from West Coast Music kept the crowd on their feet all night. The band also played during the ceremony and cocktail hour as a quartet.

The evening ended in the wee hours of the morning back at La Quinta Resort. It was a magical day, and we are honored to have been a part of Casey and Phil's wedding.

DETAILS (all links open in a new window)
Venue: Rancho La Quinta Country Club
Wedding & Event Designers: Cathy O'Connell & Dorry Wynham, Celebrations of Joy
Flowers: Joey Lizotte, Artisan Event Floral and Decor
Cake: Samantha Ward, Exquisite Desserts
Hair & Makeup: John and Neeraja at Loran Loran, Rancho Mirage
Videography: Jon and Caroline Ruffridge, Epoch Productions
Band: James Gang Encore, West Coast Music
Invitations & Printed Collateral: Ashley Ruback, Point3Invitations
Rehearsal Dinner: Canyons Fine Dining at BigHorn Golf Club

Below are additional images from Casey and Phil's wedding taken by Red Lantern Principal Photographer Nader Coobtee.

Several years ago, Nader and I shot a wedding at the exquisite Greystone Estate in Beverly Hills. The bride and groom had a garden party reception, and, among many other tasty foods, they served Sprinkles Cupcakes as part of their dessert table. They served a variety of little cupcakes, some with sprinkles and some with the signature Sprinkles dots.

Since then, Sprinkles has become quite well-known, regarded as THE cupcake to have at your special event. I was lucky enough to finally try several of these revered little cakes recently, and they were definitely worthy of all the hype.

Nader and I purchased ten cupcakes in five flavors: vanilla; vanilla milk chocolate; red velvet; black and white; and strawberry. My favorite flavor for ice cream and cakes is vanilla. These cupcakes are made with top-quality, Madagascar bourbon vanilla for an authentic vanilla flavor. The flavor was definitely richer and more refined than the usual cupcakes you'll get at the market or some other bakeries.

I had never tried red velvet, so we had to try that. It was okay. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate, and while it was a light chocolate flavor, it was the cream cheese frosting that was worth the price of the cupcake all by itself!

I thought the vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting would be my favorite, but the vanilla milk chocolate (vanilla cake plus milk chocolate cream cheese frosting with sprinkles) was the winner! The combination of the Madagascar bourbon cake and the chocolate cream cheese frosting was superb! The cake portion had a nice moist crumb to it, so it didn't disintegrate into tiny bits if you were sharing. The strawberry was very good, as well. The flavor is subtle and not too sweet. I liked it more than I thought I would. The black and white (Belgian dark chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate sprinkles) was okay, again, not one of my favorites because I'm not a chocoholic. By the way, we didn't eat all ten cupcakes ourselves. We shared them with Nader's family. I COULD have eaten all ten, but, that would not have a been healthy idea. :)

Sprinkles creates seasonal cupcakes, and, when we went, it was just around Earth Day. So our vanilla cupcake had a little green tree on it to celebrate the day. You can get the vanilla with sprinkles or without, or you can do like we did and get one of each. :)

Currently, Sprinkles' latest seasonal offering is the Choco Loco, in honor of Cinco De Mayo. This is a Belgian dark chocolate cake with bittersweet chocolate and Mexican cinnamon frosting.

There is a large variety of flavors, but not all flavors are offered everyday. I would refer to the handy flavor card to see what day your favorites are sold.

For bridal showers, baby showers, graduations, weddings, birthday parties, and the list goes on --- Sprinkles is a delicious option for dessert instead of the usual cake. If you are lucky enough to work near a Sprinkles location, they make a decadent workday indulgence. Luckily for my waistline, I don't live close enough to one of their locations to indulge regularly. But I'll definitely be looking forward to the next time I can get my Sprinkles fix!