Bohemian Desert Wedding with Mid-Century Influence

Folks, it doesn’t get much better than a desert styled shoot with pops of turquoise, cobalt blue, and copper. Olivia Smartt Photography, Petite Pomme Design, and Amanda Luu Floral Design recently joined together to create this stylish wedding inspiration session with a dash of Mid-Century style, and we couldn’t be more taken with the result. There are plenty of amazing details to behold, so let’s get started!

From the event designer, Petite Pomme Design: This fresh, colorful, bright styled shoot is designed with the modern design-oriented San Francisco Bay Area bride and groom. We love discovering new venues, and who knew that there was a southwestern desertscape just east of gorgeous, foggy, San Francisco!? The Ruth Bancroft Garden, the ladies of Kinsley James Couture Bridal, Tara LaTour’s “Kinsley” dress and Rebecca Overmann jewelry all collaborated to combine the warmth of copper and rose gold, the softness of feathers, refreshing tones of blue, and dreamy, Earthy florals and flowing curtains. Supported by Danish-modern design and classically beautiful makeup and hair by Skyla Arts — we had to invite Hit Maker Films to capture it all on video!

The Ruth Bancroft Garden is an internationally renowned conservation garden awarded for striking, architectural design of its world-class plant collection. Behind this unique garden lies a love story that began when Ruth met Philip Bancroft Jr. on a blind date, then married and moved to the family farm in Walnut Creek. When their home outgrew her growing collection of potted succulents, Philip offered Ruth a modest 3.5 acres of his family land to plant her new garden. This garden is a frequent stop for many with a fascination for plants, but now, excitingly, it is available to couples seeking an intimate venue with amazing landscapes. In fact, the garden, and all its beauty, was our main source of inspiration for this shoot. We were immediately drawn to the array of captivating textures and colors of the dry garden, and at every turn of the garden’s paths we find something new and breathtakingly beautiful.

For this shoot, we created a dreamy and modern feeling where luxury dances with meaningful details. We highlight indigo blue and turquoise with accents of orange, rose gold and copper for contrast. Feathers, soft fabrics and plush pillows compliment the sometimes spiky texture of the gardenscape. Modern dream catchers and patterned antique Native American-inspired rugs enhance our warm southwestern feel. Mid-century modern iconic furniture pieces, such as the dresser, the hairpin leg table and Eames-inspired chairs, anchor the vignettes. Four intimate vignettes come to life inside the textural landscape of succulents of all shapes, sizes and colors.

Our engaged couple’s love was felt by everyone, the custom copper belt by Palo Alto’s The Chainery was perfect and minimal on top of the Tara LaTour raw silk wedding gown, and a custom floral hairpiece by Amanda Luu Floral Design completed the bridal look. The groom’s own shoes inspired our orange leather perforated bow tie (made in Detroit from Mercedes seat leather shop floor scraps!) and it all came together to add fun and flair to this styled shoot.