A Midcentury Palm Springs Party

Marissa Muller and Scott Plagenhoef first bonded over music, specifically Jürgen Paape's So "Wiet Wie Noch Nie," in September 2011. "It's a gorgeous electronic song from the German producer and it has one of the most beautiful lines in it, which translates to 'we make years out of an hour,'" Marissa explains. "That's how every time we hung out felt. We would talk for hours about music, pop culture, and our personal beliefs and it was never enough."

Fast forward to February 2015, when after a long time apart (Marissa had been freelancing in Berlin and Amsterdam), Scott suggested they meet up in Paris for a week-long vacation. "When Scott arrived, before unpacking or even grabbing a bite to eat, he pulled out a ring box from his pocket, got down on one knee and apologized," Marissa remembers. "The first thing he said was, 'I'm sorry, I had a whole evening planned and was going to take you to Laperouse to ask but after seeing you and missing you so much I couldn't wait any longer.'"

And on March 12, 2017, they met up in another location—this time at the Parker Palm Springs in Palm Springs, California, with 80 guests in tow, for their wedding. There, at the venue's Gene Autry House, they exchanged vows—Marissa's included the song lyric they originally bonded over—in a colorful ceremony and reception with midcentury vibes.

Keep scrolling to see Westlund Photography's snaps from the big day.

The bride and groom wanted their wedding to channel the midcentury feel of the Parker Palm Springs and they started with their invitation suite, which was inspired by sculptor Alexander Calder's work.

Marissa quickly realized that she needed to go custom on her dress and (thankfully!) found designer Delphine Manivet. Together, they worked at her atelier in Paris to create a look that would work for the ceremony and reception. "Wedding dress shopping was probably the worst part of the experience until I found Delphine, which was less of shopping and more of a collaboration," she says. The final result was a V-neck gown that featured clean lines and a lace overlay, which Marissa removed for the reception.

The stylish bride accessorized with Prada shoes and a leather jacket by Acne Studios after dark—and after dinner, she made another change into a white eyelet dress by Isabel Marant.

The maid of honor was nearly as the stylish as the bride. And not surprisingly so, given that she has a degree in fashion design and created her own dress, too.

The couple exchanged vows under a birch chuppah covered in white dendrobium orchids, white fuji mums, and green helleborus flowers. Marissa and Scott's vows were handwritten and consisted of the things they love about each other, as well as promises that they made to one another. "My favorite line in the vows I wrote to Scott was the closer, which got a few laughs: I promise you that things will never be boring," Marissa says. But this wasn't the first time Scott had heard the line: "The morning of the wedding, when we woke up, we decided that after writing our vows in secrecy we wanted to share them in private for the first time. So we read them to each other in bed and got all of our crying out of the way before the actual ceremony."

After the ceremony, the newlyweds exited to Penny and the Quarter's "You and Me," which was a lost soul song that was unearthed in 2011 when they started dated.

The couple served their signature cocktails—Bees Knees for Marissa, and an Old Fashioned for Scott—on a rolling drink cart. How brilliant!

After cocktails and lawn games, guests dined on a special dinner, which was hand selected by the bride and groom, under bistro lights. "One of the reasons we chose the Parker is because we knew that the food would be anything but what you typically get served at weddings," Marissa says.

Marissa and Scott asked a work colleague to deejay and created their own playlist of songs that captured the vibe of Palm Springs (think Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" and Lana Del Rey's cover of "Blue Velvet"). For the first dance, they selected Donnie and Joe Emerson's "Baby"and did a choreographed dance—to everyone's surprise. "We practiced in secret for a month leading up to the wedding," she says.

The newlyweds ended the night on a sweet note with a lavender lemon cake and pink oreo cookies, handmade by the Parker. "I still dream about them to this day," says the bride.

Finally, after planning a seriously stylish party, Marissa has this advice for those in the midst of planning: "Take time to yourselves often. Everything can be so stressful finding time to connect can be a challenge. Try to take a romantic getaway before the wedding and block out at least a week to decompress right after."