Ashley & Alex’s Bold, Playful Day

A FEBRUARY CELEBRATION AT THE OLD POLO ESTATE

Bold color, playful pattern, and a wedding planner who finally got to plan the best one of all.

There’s something especially joyful about watching a wedding planner plan her own wedding. Ashley Babin, the woman behind Three Summer Days Events, the one who has poured her heart into bringing other couples’ visions to life year after year, finally got to throw the party entirely on her own terms. And if you know Ashley at all, you knew it was going to be a lot of fun, completely fearless, and absolutely full of color.

Set at The Old Polo Estate in Coachella, California on a February weekend that felt nothing like winter, Ashley and Alex’s celebration was a love letter to everything they are together: adventurous, warm, playful, and deeply devoted to the people in their lives. Their tribe showed up, the colors were turned all the way up, and the party delivered on every single promise the invitation suite made.

THE SETTING: THE OLD POLO ESTATE, COACHELLA

The Old Polo Estate has the bones of a place built for celebration, sprawling, sun-drenched, and dripping with that particular desert glamour that only the Coachella Valley can pull off. Against a backdrop of palm trees and open sky, it gave Ashley and Alex exactly the kind of canvas they needed: big enough for bold ideas, beautiful enough to let them land.

THE AESTHETIC: COLOR-BLOCKED, PATTERN-FORWARD, AND COMPLETELY FEARLESS

If anyone was going to throw out the rulebook on what a wedding is supposed to look like, it was always going to be Ashley. The design vision was bold from the very first piece of paper goods and those paper goods, designed by Joy Fremont, set the tone for everything that followed. The invitation suite was a feast: abstract color-block swirls of teal, coral, hot pink, cobalt blue, lavender, and saffron, each card in a different colorway, tucked into a bright orange envelope with a vintage Danish stamp. The “Dive On In” pool party insert, blue and yellow, casual and cheeky, told you exactly who these two are.

The tablescapes brought that same energy into three dimensions. A dramatic marble-print tablecloth in black and white anchored everything, giving the riot of color on top of it something graphic and grounded to play against. Black plates with gold rims, lavender linen napkins, smoked glass tumblers. And then the arrangements, by the incredibly talented Georgia Douglas, which were nothing short of electric: red and orange tulips, yellow ranunculus, pink stock, marigolds, and mimosa blooms bursting out of their vessels with barely contained joy. Scattered between them: halved papayas showing off their vivid coral-pink flesh, persimmons, kumquats, and clusters of small fruit that made the whole table feel lush and alive and a little bit like you’d arrived somewhere very far away and very wonderful.

THE CELEBRATION: A TRIBE, A DANCE FLOOR, AND A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER

Ashley and Alex are the kind of people who don’t just get married, they gather their people and make a whole weekend of it. The rehearsal dinner at LG’s Prime Steak House in Palm Springs was exactly the right warm-up: a classic, legendary spot that matched the occasion. Guests staying at The Marley Hotel had their own little home base for the weekend, which, given the pool party the day after the wedding, turned out to be a very important detail.

On the wedding day itself, Reverie Films captured the motion and emotion while Charplenz documented every still moment worth keeping. The florals by Georgia Douglas gave the space a wildness and a warmth that felt completely in sync with the couple. S&O Dessert Co. delivered a cake worthy of the occasion, and Encore Events Rentals and Bright Event Rentals provided the pieces that held it all together.

And then there was Ashley’s look, because of course. A gown from Vagabond Bridal and Lovely Bride, shoes from Lulus, and for the reception: a fringed jacket from Fringe + Company and Betsey Johnson heels, because why would you not change into something that lets you really dance? Alex was equally sharp in a custom suit from Tailors’ Keep and shoes from The Alden Shop, two people who dressed for the celebration they actually wanted to have.

THE TEAM THAT MADE IT HAPPEN

Ashley has spent years building and championing the most talented vendor community in Northern California and beyond. For her own wedding, she trusted that same caliber of creative partners, and the result speaks for itself:

Beauty: Nixey Artistry
Cake: S&O Dessert Co.
Cinema: Reverie Films
Florals: By Georgia Douglas
Month-of Coordination: Courtney Lawhon
Events Paper Goods & Signage: Joy Fremont
Photography: Charplenz
Rehearsal Dinner: LG’s Prime Steak House
Rentals: Encore Events Rentals & Bright Event Rentals
Styling: Erin Long
Wedding Dress: Vagabond Bridal & Lovely Bride
Wedding Planning & Design: Three Summer Days Events Wedding
Party Lodging: The Marley Hotel

Ashley has helped so many couples find the words for what they want their wedding to feel like. Hers felt like a weekend with your favorite people in one of the most beautiful places in the world, dressed in every color at once, dancing until it was time for the pool. Exactly right. Completely her. One hell of a party.