Real Weddings Wednesday: Santa Barbara Wedding

Here to get you through that mid-week hump…it’s Real Weddings Wednesdays! Today, we present Nicole & Nick! Enjoy!

Nicole & Nick | Santa Barbara Wedding | Backyard Wedding Inspo | Valley Images Photography

Tell us a little about you and your beloved: We met during college in Santa Barbara in 2010, and both knew at just the age of 20, we were destined to be together. Nick proposed while we were spending a casual day at the beach on the beautiful Sonoma Coast in Fall of 2017. We got married in Santa Barbara, the place that brought us together, nine years after we first started dating.

Neither of us ever desired to have a big fancy wedding. We talked of eloping, or having a casual backyard party, but when it came time to actually plan, our vision changed. We wanted a ceremony and celebration that symbolized our relationship and to share how meaningful our love is with everybody else we love. We share the same values of what felt important throughout the planning process and prioritized all of the different elements without getting carried away. We honed in on the big stuff first (venue, food, photographer, music) and then got to have fun with adding our own personal touches.

What was the most amazing part of your day? Having all of the most special people in our lives together in one place to celebrate with us. It’s perhaps the only time in life you get to have everybody, from all the different groups, families, phases in your life, in the same room—at least for an occasion so joyous! The presence of love was palpable. We will never forget how that felt.

What else would you like to share about your big day? We had a very serious medical emergency occur after our ceremony, right as we all assembled for dinner. It was terrifying and the last thing we ever expected to have happen at our wedding. Thankfully, it all turned out okay, but there were many powerful lessons to be gleaned from what happened. We, nor anyone else, let the trauma permeate the remainder of our celebration, and the outpouring of love and support was the most amazing thing we’ve ever experienced.

Ceremony and Reception Site: Santa Barbara Woman’s Club

Officiant: Nicole’s mother, Ivy

Photographer: Valley Images Photography

Videographer: Jeremy Foster

Caterer: Feast & Fest

Cake/Desserts: Chooket French Patisserie

Flowers: Blue Blossoms

Favors: Honey harvested from our backyard beehives

Bridal Attire: Flares Bridal + Formal (Walnut Creek, CA)

Hair: Rachel at La Rouge

Makeup: Blue Mercury

Invitations: Zazzle

Signage: Zazzle and DIY

DJ Music By Bonnie

Furniture Rentals: Amigo Party Rentals

Linen Rentals: La Tavola Fine Linen Rental

Honeymoon Location: Sea Ranch, CA

First Dance Song: “Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison

Any advice you’d give to our readers who are planning their weddings right now? Don’t get too hung up on, or overwhelmed by details; they don’t matter at the end of the day.

Anything that you would have done differently if you were given the chance? Hire a videographer! We totally lucked into having a videographer…we weren’t even going to consider it, given our budget. It turned out our DJ knew an experienced videographer who wanted to try out new equipment free of charge. In hindsight, it would have been worth every penny. The video footage of our wedding is invaluable, and we’re so glad we have it.