Margaret French Presents is going on the road!

We are partnering with the brilliant Nicole Sloan to bring you our most ambitious retreat yet, Starlit Sirens. Inspired by the beautiful and strange landscape of the Joshua Tree National Park, Starlit Sirens delves into the weird and wonderful.

Our team will pick you up from the Palm Springs airport and bring you to Gaia Villa, a beautiful retreat space just minutes from Joshua Tree National Park. Our private chef, Raul, will cook all of your meals while you participate in three highly themed photoshoots and a weekend-long papier mache mask making class. You will be surrounded by other joyful weirdos for a relaxing weekend of creating art and community.

Ours for the weekend, Gaia Villa offers a peaceful Santa Fe–inspired property in Joshua Tree. With a salt water pool, hot tub, dedicated indoor and outdoor yoga spaces, a fire pit, and cold plunge, , it offers a peaceful and elevated setting for group experiences in nature.

Welcome to Gaia Villa

Check Them Out

A few months before your retreat you will receive a preference sheet so Raul, our wonderfully talented chef, can craft a menu that not only accommodates your dietary restrictions, but caters to your tastes.

Friday

Lunch

Cuban chicken with tostones, white rice, and beans

Dinner

Hand made pepperoni, chicken pesto, cheese, vegan veggie, and gluten free pepperoni pizzas

Sundae bar

Saturday

Breakfast

Baked french toast with powdered sugar, fruit, bacon, sausage, and mimosas

Lunch

Baked potato (and sweet potato) bar with butter, sour cream, shredded cheese, cheese sauce, chives, bacon, broccoli, marshmallow topping, maple brown sugar candied bacon bits

Dinner

Shrimp & tofu summer rolls

Pho with chicken and veggie broth options

S’mores

Sunday

Breakfast

Eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits, potatoes, fruit, and mimosas

Lunch

Picnic with-

Hummus with pretzel rods, celery sticks, carrot sticks, and pita bread.
Turkey, gouda, apple tea sandwiches
Spinach & feta pastry rolls
Cannoli dip with sugar cones
Strawberry sandwiches
Locally baked pastries
Fruit

Dragonfruit passion green tea

Bubbly sangria

Dinner

Chilibean feta dip, charcuterie, and spicy korean cucumber salad to start.

Chicken pesto pasta, blackened tilapia, and flank steak with chimichurri sauce.

Kale apple walnut salad, mashed potatoes, maple bacon brussel sprouts with cipollini onions, honey glazed carrots, and roasted asparagus

Monday

Breakfast

Homemade breakfast burritos for the road

Sample Menu

Our first photoshoot will be Starlit Sirens, a retro sci-fi dream inspired by the alien beauty of the desert.

We're taking a little field trip for our Gothic Western Vampire shoot to at a private old west movie ranch in Pioneertown, built to look like it's still the 1800s.

And our final shoot is one we’ve never done before, a choose-your-own adventure. Work with Nicole and Margaret to plan the desert shoot of your dreams.

Nicole Sloan

she/they

@nicolesloanphoto

Nicole has talent in spades, but she is also technically skilled beyond measure. Shooting with her is seeing an artist at work.

Past retreats:

Fantasies & Fables 2025
Vicious Vixens 2025
Ren Faire Follies 2026

Upcoming retreats:

Bloodcurdling Belles 2026
Starlit Sirens 2027

Our papier-mache mask making workshop is a little different from the others as it takes all weekend, you'll get to build the mask from paste, paint, and finish it during your downtime throughout the weekend.