Seaside Santa Barbara Wedding

The original plan for Thea & Ben's wedding was a gorgeous seaside ceremony & cocktail hour followed by a reception in the Dos Pueblos Ranch barn. Due to winter storms, the Santa Barbara area had yet again faced mudslides and debris rushes only 2 months before the wedding. After a site visit only 6 weeks before the wedding revealed debris, mud and a re-routed river that compromised the barn space, with another storm on the way that week, the executive decision was made to move to a plan B for the reception-a tent on the ocean view bluff just above their ceremony location. Luckily, Dos Pueblos Ranch has so many beautiful options for creating the perfect layout!

Seaside Santa Barbara Wedding

For Thea & Ben, planner Vanessa Noele began with a clean black and white palette and expanded on that to add in various shades of neutrals and just a hint of spring color. The couple wanted the classic style that black and white evokes, but with more softness and romance rather than crispness.

The ceremony was kept light and airy with whitewashed chairs and beautiful statement floral that only a March wedding can offer-hello blooming branches! The color palette between the ceremony/cocktail space and the reception space was cohesive, but also felt a bit like a journey-beginning with more effervescent softness, then formality as black in the reception space was introduced.

Multiple table designs were used with this larger guest count. The starting point was Luxe Linen's black and white toile linen on long banquet tables. There's a beautiful old fashioned-ness to toile that led to an interesting and beautiful juxtaposition with some of the more modern elements like the black bentwood chairs and acrylic & marble-like signage. Round tables were dressed in an oatmeal velvet to break up the toile pattern throughout the tent and the head table featured a grandiose farm table with a faux leather runner. Each table style also featured different china and flatware to compliment the linen and offer even more interest.

While the tent on the bluff wasn't the original plan, so many guests, Thea & Ben and their parents all commented on how it really felt like plan A. Who can deny the beauty of dinner, drinks and dancing with full views of the Santa Barbara coastline?