Chic Santa Barbara Wedding

We absolutely love the fresh breath of air an ethereal blush pink wedding can provide. This next wedding has my inner girl positively giddy with delight, from the handmade fabric details to the darling, feminine bridesmaids dresses. As usual, joielala photographie was on hand to capture the day brilliantly!

From the bride, Tanya: Dylan and my story began sophomore year of college, we met through my best friend from high school who attended the same school as Dylan in San Diego. Although, our short-term summer romance didn’t last we remained good friends throughout our final years of college. After graduation from UCSB, I moved back down to San Diego. As luck would have it Dylan and I ended up settling in the same sleepy beach town in northern San Diego. That December, Dylan asked me to accompany him to his first company holiday party… fast forward six years later in the middle of Central Park in NYC Dylan dropped to one knee and asked me to be his wife!

It didn’t take long for me to get the planning bug; it began as soon as we sat down on our flight back to California. Santa Barbara was a no-brainer for us. Dylan grew up in Ventura, which is a short twenty minute drive and I graduated from UCSB; needless to say Santa Barbara has held a special place in our hearts throughout our relationship. My first and most pressing issue was finding a church and not just any church as I had my sights on The Mission. It took many persistent phone calls, emails and even visits and we finally secured our date for October of 2011, which left us seven short months of planning! Next course of action was the location for the party… I mean reception. Like my vision for the church, I was not willing to settle on just anywhere, it had to feel special. I had always dreamed of dancing under the stars on my wedding night which pretty much only left the option of a private estate. It took a couple of months of searching and contacting rental agencies, event planners and scouring Google until I found the most unbelievable location, La Bella Vita Gardens. From the moment Dylan and I walked through the grounds, we knew this was the spot!

After securing the locations it was time for the fun part – decor! Admittedly, I have been a slave to all of the wonderful wedding blogs long before our engagement. I had a pretty clear idea of what I envisioned and lucky for me the estate that we chose for our reception was pretty much a blank canvas. I wanted whimsical meets rustic charm meets shabby chic with some vintage details… if that makes any sense! The inspiration began with the idea to sew our own napkins… all 200 of them! My Mom and I made many trips to a local quilting shop and settled on seven fabrics including floral and polka-dots. During my stationery appointment I became giddy when I found out it was possible to have our selected fabrics stitched to the back of our invitations and reception cards! Then the light bulbs began to go off with all of the fun ways we can incorporate the fabrics. We used modge podge to secure the fabric on to wooden numbers for the table numbers, cut numbers out of scraps for the shoe sizes for the flip-flops, banners, squares for our quilt guest book, wrapped around the bridesmaids bouquets, hearts and bows for the canvas welcome bags … seriously the list could go on for days! My Mom and I also managed to track down 200 vintage china dinner plates at thrift shops, consignment stores and estate sales. For the bar menu, dinner menu and seating assignments we wrote on old windows and doors that we found at an architectural salvage dump in downtown San Diego. For the desert table we found large vintage platters and glued them to the tops of candle stick holders all ranging in different heights.

See Also

A Tuscan Inspired Wedding with Pastel Hues at California’s Filoli Gardens

Aside from all of the DIY details there were a few other things that were on my must-have list. This included long feasting tables where we would serve a family style meal, lit chandeliers strung through the trees and a competitive game of corn hole! Our wedding day was an absolute magical day filled with love, laughter and a whole lot of dancing!”

Wedding Vendors (Santa Barbara, CA):

Ceremony Venue: Old Mission / Reception Venue: The Gardens of La Bella Vita / Wedding Photographer: joielala photographie / Event Coordinator: Toast / Invitations and Printed Materials: Paper & Thread / Wedding Dress: Tara Keely “Mon Amie” / Wedding Shoes: Manolo Blahnik / Bridesmaids’ Dresses: BCBG / Wedding Hair: Vanity Hair Salon / Wedding Makeup: Kacee Geoffroy / Groom’s and Groomsmen’s Suits: Jos A Bank / Groom’s and Groomsmen’s Shoes: Sperry / Wedding Caterer: Pure Joy / Cupcakes: Crushcakes / Wedding Rentals: Classic Party Rentals / Event Lighting: Bella Vista Designs / DJ: Chris Cote – [email protected] / Photobooth: Scott Lawrence / Fabric Napkins: DIY by bride and bride’s mother