Actress Melanie Field and Zachary Likins, a GIS analyst, matched on Bumble, and after a year and four months, he proposed during a trip to Philadelphia to see her family. Mel’s sister helped plan the proposal. They all went on a family walk by a stream, and Zach hired a guitarist to play their then-song, “Baby I Love Your Way,” on a bench. As Mel heard the music, Zach dropped down to one knee, and after she said, “Yes,” her cousins jumped out of the bushes with their cameras. “It was a really special moment—just perfect,” Mel remembers.
Once engaged, the couple agreed they wanted to share their love of the desert with their loved ones at their wedding. They chose a venue, but four months out, it cancelled on them and they luckily found Morada Joshua Tree. “We knew we wanted to have our closest friends stay with us on site, and Morada offered stunning accommodations in addition to an expansive landscape and our favorite thing—boulders!” Mel exclaims. “We were also able to host a rehearsal dinner pool party there, so the whole weekend felt like one big house party which was exactly what we wanted.”
The two set a date for May 14, 2022, and enlisted the help of Jane Yu of Yu & Us Events to help plan everything.
After unsuccessful trips to traditional bridal boutiques, Mel realized she wanted something more unique. “I wanted to look and feel regal like a princess but from another universe,” the bride says of her wedding dress vision. “And I knew I wanted tulle and lots of it, so I could just plop down on the ground in a pile of tulle. I quickly became obsessed with the contrast of a light blue color against the brown/tan/neutrals of the desert backdrop.” This color palette then became the base for the whole event’s design.
Mel found Millia London on Instagram, and the designer, Ruth, was able to make her vision come true. On the morning-of, Mel got ready with makeup artist Angie Bulmer and hair stylist Ramona Collazo. The bride also ordered her second look from the London-based label. “As a plus size woman, I’ve spent most of my life feeling very excluded from high fashion. My experience with Millia London was not only lovely but healing in many ways,” Mel shares. “I didn’t have to settle on my special day, and I one-hundred percent felt like the wormhole space princess who fell from the sky—just like I dreamed I would.”
The couple’s best friend, Harry Ford, officiated the ceremony, against a rock formation and under a floral installation from Desert Rose Creative, and wore a fabulous Johnny Was floral print. The service started with all of their guests vowing to support and love the couple in their marriage. After their own vows, the two exchanged rings and shared their first kiss as a married couple. “I think it was the single most intense, moving, fully embodied experience of my life,” Mel says of the ceremony. “We talked a lot leading up to the wedding about how we wanted to be present with each other.”
After being declared as officially married, the newlyweds enjoyed a spread from Mojave Desert Charcuterie Company and Soho Tacos with guests and danced with DJ Jon Doe of Yu & Us Events. To kick things off, Mel and her college friends did an impromptu lip-synced performance of “The Middle” by Zedd—an inside joke/tradition they’ve been doing for each other’s birthdays for years. Then, the couple stepped away to cut their delicious wedding cake from Picnic Baked Goods. Thankfully, because Morada is so remote, Joshua Tree’s noise ordinance wasn’t a problem, and the celebrations continued throughout the night.
Guests who weren’t staying onsite took shuttles back to their hotels, while the party flowed on to the hot tub. “Mel may or may not have fallen asleep basically half-standing up, half-lying in bed with our dog, Maude,” Zach chimes in. He very sweetly tucked her in—a sweet and thoughtful start to married life.
The adventurous newlyweds then embarked on a daunting honeymoon—walking the Camino de Santiago, starting in France and ending in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. “It took us 34 days, and we walked 486 miles…We are changed forever.”
