Palm Springs Wedding Officiant

Maybe? Here are *some* of the Palm Springs wedding venues where I’ve had the pleasure of performing marriage ceremonies. In fact, you might recognize some in the photos on this page!

• Ingleside Inn
• Moorten Botanical Garden
• The Avalon
• The ACE Hotel & Swim Club
• La Quinta Resort & Club
• Frank Sinatra Twin Palms Estate
• The Saguaro
• Indian Wells Resort

As a Californian, I love that 95% of my weddings are outdoors. The exception to that is summer in the desert.

I do not do outdoor ceremonies here Jun – Sep for the health and safety of all involved due to the extreme heat.

Why? Because our heat waves — which sometimes hit up to 115°F/46°C through late September — are dangerous. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke can develop within minutes when temperatures are in the 100°F+/37°C+ in a desert with no shade. 

Fun story: The hottest wedding I ever did was years ago in Palm Desert in late September (near the end of the month). It hit 120°F at 4 pm — the ceremony start time. We had to delay the ceremony by an hour and there were still several cases of heat stroke, which obviously impacted the ability to celebrate properly that evening.

For the Let’s Get Married service:

• I allow bookings up to 18 months in advance, so pretty much once you secure your venue in Palm Springs, you should secure your day with me. Seriously.

For the Short & Sweet:

• This service may be booked up to six months in advance due to the simple, straightforward nature of a pre-written ceremony.

There are only three situations in which I attend wedding rehearsals.

1. You don’t have a professional (like a wedding planner or venue coordinator) to run it for you. In this case, I will run the entire rehearsal for you! However, most Palm Springs weddings have either a wedding planner or a venue coordinator involved, so this doesn’t come up as often.
2. Your ceremony is complex. We have an abbreviated tea ceremony as well as the lasso, aras, and veil, not to mention your two readers and a grandparents’ blessing… This is obviously a more extreme version, but you get the idea! A complex ceremony means I need to be at the rehearsal to help you sort out everything so everyone involved feels comfortable with what is supposed to happen on wedding day.
3. It is really just going to make you feel better that I’m there. Yes, it can be that simple!

Please note that a rehearsal is a $175 USD add-on to cover my time and travel.

For the Short & Sweet:

• Two with several hours apart.

For the Let’s Get Married service:

• Only one! That’s one of the benefits of a custom ceremony – you have my full and undivided attention on wedding day. 🙂

I know some officiants charge based on the number of guests but that’s just not how I roll. Seriously, have no one but us or 1,000 of your nearest and dearest – it’s your call!

No, because I assume that you two are grown adults and can decide for yourselves what you want to do with your lives. So weird, right?

I do offer a Premarital Course if you’re interested in having your arguments bring you closer together instead of driving you crazy, but it is in no way required!

Since I only do custom ceremonies, the answer is “it depends”. I’ve done ceremonies as short as 8 minutes and as long as an hour. I’d say my Palm Springs weddings average somewhere between 15-20 minutes.

Ultimately, the length of the ceremony is up to you! We’ll talk about what you want and don’t want in your wedding and we’ll collaborate to make it awesome.

Usually, just twice. The first time is for a consultation, which you can schedule HERE, either in-person or online. The second time is for our ceremony planning session, which happens 2-3 months before your wedding.

Please know that I don’t limit our meetings, but in the over 1,200 marriage ceremonies I’ve done, we’ve only had to meet more than usual only twice. 

I require 50% of the total price as your reservation fee. The remaining balance is due 2 weeks before the wedding.

All of my contracts and payments are done online, so if you want to pay $75 each month leading up to your wedding until it’s paid off, you can do that! Or if you want to pay off your balance 6 months ahead of time at 1 AM because you’re on a roll paying everything off, you can do that too!

I will guide you through the process of how to obtain your marriage license when it is time to get going on that. So many people look into it months too early and then forget until the last minute! That’s why I’ll guide you through what needs doing when it’s relevant. 🙂 

After your ceremony, I will sign your marriage license (to sign it before the ceremony is legally fraud) and file it as required by law. I’ll also reach out when it’s time to get your Marriage Certificate and send you helpful tips on how to change your name, should either of you be electing to do that.

No, you don’t! A Marriage License issued from any County is valid throughout the State of California.

For Palm Spring weddings, I do not stay beyond cocktail hour, which is usually when you’re taking photos and I’m trying to sneak in a few with you. But honestly, I would never see my family on the weekends if I stayed for every wedding reception (especially when I do 80+ ceremonies a year!). So I tend to chat with your loved ones and take a few photos with you during cocktail hour and then leave you to celebrate with your loved ones while I go home to see mine!

Now, if you really truly absolutely *must* have me there, I might be able to stay – just ask!

Sí, hablo español! Pero aunque mi mamá es de México, realmente no lo aprendí hasta que fui adulto. Y es mi tercer idioma! Por eso solo hago ceremonias en spanglish, no solo en español.