A Desert Ceremony at Cap Rock in Joshua Tree National Park

Getting Ready at the Desert House

The rented desert house was where the family gathered before the drive out. Hair and makeup finished, the dress went on, and Ricki's white-and-green bouquet — tied loose and a little wild — was ready.

They'd decided to see each other before the ceremony, so they did a first look right there at the house, just the two of them, before the family loaded onto the party bus for the long ride out to the park. Cap Rock sits well inside Joshua Tree, so the bus wound up through the high desert for close to an hour and a half, the boulder fields and Joshua trees building up on both sides the whole way. It is a proper journey out there, and that is part of it.

The Joshua Tree National Park Desert Ceremony at Cap Rock

The ceremony was at Cap Rock, out in the open desert, and there were no chairs, everyone stood in the sand while Ben came in with his mom and dad, then Ricki with her mom, walking to 'A Thousand Years.' Allen Bencomo officiated, the monzogranite boulders piled up behind him and the Joshua trees scattered across the flat in every direction.

They exchanged vows and rings, and then Ricki closed the ceremony the way she wanted to, breaking the glass underfoot with everyone gathered close around her. They walked back out to 'Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I'm Yours),' twelve people clapping in the desert air.