Palm Springs Tram Engagement Session

Oh friends, do we have a beautiful treat for you! Ever since we moved back to California a couple of years ago, we’d been wanting to shoot an engagement session (or a wedding!!) up at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, on Mt San Jacinto. It’s one of our favorite places to be – even if Ashley isn’t the biggest fan of the trip up (longest 11 minutes – each way – ever!). But – for friends like David + Malia, we’ll brave the ride for a gorgeous Palm Springs tram engagement session!

These two are so adorable together, and we LOVE their story. They laugh when they tell this story because it’s definitely not something either one of them were expecting! If you ask David, he’ll actually tell you that he replied to Malia’s Craigslist ad! 😉 But the REAL story is that once upon a time, Malia was living in Long Beach and she and her roommate ended up needing to find a new roommate for the third room of their house. Initially, Malia wasn’t too enthused about considering having a guy roommate (because hello – that could be kinda awkward), but when David came over for the interview – he immediately won Malia over with his fun and outgoing sense of humor. After only a few weeks of living together and becoming good friends, they both realized they had feelings for each other and began to date … and now, here we are!

They chose to have their engagement session at the top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway because it’s the spot where David proposed to Malia.

Malia told us that she was flying out to California for her friend’s Bachelorette party, and she’d flown out a few days early to spend some time with her aunt in Palm Springs, not realizing that the Palm Springs trip was part of Dave’s proposal plan. The plan was that Dave and Malia’s dad were going to up on top of the Palm Springs Aerial Tram and her aunt and mom were going to bring her up at sunset for happy hour, and then Dave would surprise Malia at the top and propose. But, of course thats not exactly how it happened!! Dave was flying out that day from Charlotte to Palm Springs and ended up missing his connecting flight from Phoenix to Palm Springs. They rerouted him to Ontario and luckily there was a lady who Dave had met on his flight from Charlotte who also missed the connection to Palm Springs. She said she was going to have her husband pick them both up and then drive Dave to Palm Springs to make the proposal. Malia’s mom showed up as a surprise that day, and they had to rush to the tram because they were supposed to be up there at sunset and we were running late, not knowing that Dave and Malia’s dad had missed their original planned tram because they went to go buy champagne (which totally fits them – ya can’t forget the champagne!). Malia’s mom, aunt, family friend and Malia made it up the tram to have a glass of wine and appetizer, and Dave and Malia’s dad made it up on the very last tram of the day and came out of nowhere!

All Malia can remember saying was “what are you doing here?!?” and “is this for real??!”  because it was totally unexpected! Dave got down on one knee and Malia’s dad handed him the ring and he proposed!

And now they are in the midst of planning their November wedding at Desert Falls Country Club, which we are SUPER excited about! We loved spending the afternoon in the mountains, adventuring with these two and cracking open not one but TWO bottles of champagne to celebrate!

Are you looking for a Palm Springs engagement photographer in Southern California??

Hey there, I’m Ashley Durham, a Palm Springs engagement photographer specializing in unposed, authentic and romantic intimate weddings that capture the love, fun and realness of couples and wedding days.

I am happy to serve couples from Palm Springs to Phoenix, and all over Southern California, Western Arizona, Southern Nevada or anywhere else I can drive or fly. You ready to have an incredible time together for your wedding?? Message me today!