Natalie and Will had two requirements when they started wedding planning: warm and fun. In practice, that became a private desert venue outside San Jose del Cabo, Bird of Paradise orange woven through the details, dinner that guests are still talking about, and a reception designed to get progressively louder as the night went on.

Their Monte Cardon wedding moved through different corners of the property, from an outdoor ceremony surrounded by desert, mountains, and ocean views to a reception with draping, disco balls, club lighting, and a packed dance floor. It was polished without being precious and, more importantly, gave this self-described loud bunch plenty of room to party.

The couple met through a mutual friend at the University of Arizona in 2012. They spent years moving in and out of each other’s orbit, including a long stretch of dating between Arizona and Washington, an apartment in Seattle, Natalie’s work in Tucson, and a year when Will worked in Nashville.

By 2020, as Natalie puts it, they decided to “go full send” on their relationship. Will eventually returned to Seattle, proposed during a 2024 Christmas tree outing on Vashon Island, and Natalie moved there full-time the following year.

Maybe all those years of coordinating flights and weekends explain one of their destination wedding rules: they weren’t interested in asking guests to spend hours traveling after they had already gotten off a plane. “We were interested in a destination wedding but wanted it to feel like us and didn’t want longer than an hour drive after a flight for our guests,” Natalie says.

They also wanted to spend the entire wedding outside, away from a city center and curious passersby. Noise restrictions were another consideration. “Frankly, we are a loud bunch who loves loud music,” she says.

What We Love About This Monte Cardon Wedding

• Bird of Paradise flowers carried from the invitations and welcome bag tags through to the wedding-day stationery
• Espresso, olive, and chartreuse bridesmaid dresses chosen individually by each member of the wedding party
• Shark tooth bolo ties that gave the groomsmen’s classic black suits a little Western edge
• A childhood notebook with a baby tiger floating in outer space that Will used to hold his vows
• A floor-to-ceiling draped wall that doubled as a photo booth setting

A First Look Gave Them A Quiet Start Before Everyone Arrived

Natalie had originally been indifferent about having a first look and left the decision to Will. By the wedding day, she was glad they’d made room for one. They hadn’t seen each other since 7 a.m., and the nerves had been building separately. Seeing each other before guests arrived gave them a few minutes alone before the pace of the day changed.

That wasn’t the only pause they protected. Immediately after the ceremony, the newlyweds slipped away again for a few minutes alone, sharing happy tears and taking in the fact that they were officially married before heading into the reception. For a day designed around being surrounded by people, those two pockets of privacy became some of the moments they remembered most clearly.

Finding The Venue First Made Every Other Decision Easier

With no particular city or state tying them down, Natalie and Will searched for the venue before assembling the rest of their wedding team. Natalie had already been considering Cabo when an Instagram rabbit hole led her to a single photo of Monte Cardon.

It checked an unusually specific list of boxes. The ceremony and reception could happen in separate outdoor spaces without requiring guests to leave the property. There were full bathrooms and accessibility for older family members. It was private. And there were desert, mountain, and ocean views in virtually every direction.

The biggest bonus of their Monte Cardon wedding turned out to be something they couldn’t fully appreciate from Instagram: the food. “I was ready to book based on the venue vibe and looks alone, but the food and drinks at this venue was better than any restaurant we’ve ever been to,” Natalie says. That helped settle their first major budget priority.

Will’s Vow Notebook Was About As Will-Coded As It Gets

One of the couple’s best friends officiated the ceremony, but even Natalie wasn’t expecting what he pulled out when it was time for Will’s vows. It was one of Will’s childhood spiral notebooks, complete with a baby tiger floating in outer space on the cover and pages containing his old third-grade writing.

Natalie already knew the notebook well, which made its appearance even funnier. “Classic Will,” she says. The childhood notebook added an unexpected bit of humor to the ceremony and made Will’s vows all the more memorable.

Bird Of Paradise Orange Gave The Desert Palette Its Starting Point

Bird of Paradise flowers set the direction for the wedding’s color palette. Natalie loved their bright orange, so every other color was chosen to complement them.

The flower also gave Natalie a way to add some consistency without attempting large DIY projects from another country. It appeared on the invitations, welcome bag tags, menus, and name cards before showing up again in the florals at the wedding itself.

For the bridesmaids, Natalie gave everyone a palette of espresso brown, olive, and chartreuse along with suggestions for fabric and length. She even made a Pinterest collage of options, but left the final choice to each person. Her maid of honor was the only one in chartreuse.

Their Wedding Fashion Mixed Silk, Classic Tailoring, And A Little Western Influence

Natalie’s own priority was fabric. After trying everything from lace and beading to different necklines, she chose her dress based on how it moved: a made-to-measure, two-piece 100% silk Reev gown with a corset and skirt from A&Be Bridal. She paired it with two custom veils by Bridal By Valeria, wearing a 120-inch veil for the ceremony before switching to a short version for the reception.

Will wore a custom light gray suit, bolo tie, and black cowboy boots. The groomsmen kept things classic in black suits with olive pocket squares, then added shark tooth bolos Will had chosen for them as gifts. The choice wasn’t purely aesthetic. Natalie and Will both love the rodeo, and the bolos offered a small way to bring that part of them into a Cabo wedding without turning it into a theme.

Spending Time Finding The Right Planner Let Them Hand Over The Rest

Once the venue was booked, Natalie returned to social media to find a local planner. Her research started on Instagram and TikTok before moving to Reddit. She contacted four teams before meeting Denisse of The Planner Events. “The vibes were high and there was just an ease in our communication that immediately made me feel comfortable,” Natalie says.

The first vendor they booked together was Junebug vendor Talia Lopez, whose mix of candid imagery, film, and drone photography matched what Natalie and Will had in mind. After that, they trusted Denisse to guide them through the rest of the team and, just as importantly, the budget.

Natalie discovered that she could often explain what she didn’t like more easily than prescribe exactly what she wanted. Denisse could then narrow down rentals, florals, stationery, and decor while showing the couple where one larger choice might make several smaller additions unnecessary.

A draped wall at the reception became a perfect example. Its scale changed the room enough that Natalie was comfortable skipping details that only a small portion of the wedding party would have seen.

The Reception Focused On Good Food And A Great Party

Natalie and Will wanted every part of the property to have its own character while still moving naturally into the next. By the reception, the desert dinner party was ready to become something closer to a club. Draping covered the back wall behind the venue’s arched glass doors and later doubled as a photo booth setting. A dedicated dance floor and DJ booth were joined by disco balls and lighting as the sun went down.

Then there was dinner. For a couple who had placed food and drinks near the top of the priority list, hearing the same feedback from guest after guest was particularly satisfying. “Every single guest who attended our wedding told us it was the best food and drinks they have ever had,” Natalie says. Once dinner ended, their DJ took over. “Perfect transition, totally able to read the vibe and kept the bangers coming,” she says. 

Planning For The Things That Matter, Then Giving Themselves Permission To Roll With The Rest

Natalie expected Cabo’s heat. She didn’t quite expect how warm she’d get in a full silk gown, and briefly worried about whether her hair and makeup would survive it. Both did. More broadly, she and Will had already talked about what they’d do if something went wrong. Their conclusion was basically to laugh. “If something went wrong it would be fitting for us,” Natalie says. “We were prepared to laugh if anything went wrong like tripping down the aisle or something lol.” Nothing major did.

The thing they couldn’t slow down was time. Their advice is less about a particular vendor or design decision and more about remembering to actually look around once all those decisions have done their job. “What everyone says is true: it goes by so fast,” Natalie says. “My best advice would be to remember to be present and nothing else matters except the love.”