Santa Barbara Destination Wedding with Succulents

Whenever we hear a couple wants to go for a party vibe, we get just a little excited. Tristan and Blair are just such a couple — they wanted a classic and romantic day, but they definitely didn’t want to skimp on the fun and party atmosphere. Thanks to a team including Anna Marks Photography, Katie Rebecca Events, and Tango and Foxtrot, they got everything on their list!

From the groom and bride, Blair and Tristan: When we started planning, we decided early on that we wanted to have a destination wedding. Tristan attended UCSB and fell in love with Santa Barbara while living there. We visited many venues in the Santa Barbara area, as well as some wineries in the Santa Ynez valley, but we knew the moment we saw the courtyards at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum it was the one. The Spanish architecture and flavors throughout the Museum, as well as the different courtyard locations for the ceremony, cocktail hour and reception areas won them over. One of the big selling points for Tristan was the beautiful string lighting used over the reception area – the way it lit up the courtyard was magical!

When describing our wedding style to vendors, we used the words classic, romantic, fun and party! We really wanted the event to be classy and elegant, but we are pretty fun people so we definitely wanted to incorporate a party vibe as well. We decided on white and gold for our main colors (because those are always classic and in style!), with accents of light pink and mint to add some brighter shades to the festivities. We also wanted to incorporate the Spanish vibe of the city and venue, so we served Spanish-style appetizers and a buffet dinner, complete with a quesadilla bar and signature citrus mango margarita drink.

It was important to us to honor and remember our grandparents, who have all passed with the exception of Tristan’s paternal grandmother who was not able to travel for the wedding. We especially wanted to honor Tristan’s maternal grandmother who passed just a few months before the wedding. We enlisted the help of our incredible design team, Katie Rebecca Events, who made celebratory poppers with Tristan’s grandmother’s favorite candy inside with a note about her and how much she loved the candy and a good party!

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The sparkly gold tablecloths used for the guest book table and our sweetheart table really made my day. They were a surprise from, again, the amazing KRE design team. I fawned over these specialty tablecloths and table runners while picking out linens, but decided it wasn’t really in our budget to splurge on specialty linens. So imagine my surprise at the ceremony and reception when I spotted those! The KRE team did an incredible job with all of the décor and styling, it’s pretty difficult to pick a favorite. The gold linens? The hanging orbs with succulents at the altar? The surprise succulents on the altar draping? The gold cutlery? They were all beautiful! As everyone will tell you, the whole day is somewhat of a blur! But I do know my favorite moments were those that occurred on the dance floor during the reception. The DJ, Will Magid, was absolutely fantastic and really added to the party. I do have vivid memories of him coming out to the dance floor with his trumpet and all of us going crazy for him! And, of course, passing his band leader hat around for everyone to try on.

From the event designer and planner, Katie Rebecca Events: The way Blair looks at his bride with such adoration is enough to make a grown man go weak in the knees. The way Tristan holds and comforts her groom shows the honest connection they have with each other and just how head over heels in love they are. This whole wedding was about love…fresh bright fun love. From the tissue paper poppers we hand made in honor of the brides grandmother to the sequin tablecloths that we (literally) shocked and surprised the bride and groom with all down to the adorable hand painted potted succulents we created… it was the perfect setting for this Santa Barbara affair. We were so incredibly honored to be a part of this magical day and will be craving this venue, the colors and this couple for a long time to come.