Hi Everyone!

This is that time of year where I am doing a lot of website updates and kind of taking a big journey down memory lane looking through all of the fun we got into throughout the year! Every once in awhile, I will be reminded a wedding day that had a particularly well thought out flow through their day and this is when they will usually reveal themselves.

I was adding this lovely wedding day at The Unitarian Society to the website gallery and wanted to share some of our favorite pieces from their day!

The day started for Katie & Brian, getting ready at The Simpson House, which is honestly a big piece of what inspired this post! Let me just say, if you’re thinking about having your wedding party, family, or even just you two getting ready at The Simpson House – book it!! It truly is an absolutely perfect area for so many of the pre-ceremony sections of the day.

All of the various rooms that they offer have a cottage feel to them, yet more elegant than rustic I think. They do a fantastic job at making you feel like you are in some wonderfully cozy luxury at the edge of Santa Barbara’s downtown district. The rooms or cottages that we had for the bride, her bridal party + family were absolutely stunning. The quality of light in the brides room was an absolute dream and worked so well for the moments leading up to First Look.

Next to mention about The Simpson House are the gardens and the grounds that they host. The beautifully landscaped gardens seem to be a perfect fit for any portrait groupings and there are plentiful backgrounds to work with as you circle the main house + lobby. There is tons of really pretty greenery to shoot through, as well as clean hedge walls, and shaded opportunities for the warmer days. The lawns are massive, with enough space to easily fit any wedding party or the largest family photo of the day. You could honestly accomplish most of the formal photos from the day right here at Simpson House if you wanted to!

For Katie & Brian’s day in particular, we had most of the getting ready section happen here, First Looks with Groom and Father of the Bride, Wedding Party Photos, and Immediate Family Photos before walking (literally across the street!) to The Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara.

The Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara has some absolutely stunning grounds for your ceremony and reception. It’s a perfect fit if you are interested in having a church-setting for your ceremony and I must also add that it is a very inclusive church, which we think is pretty cool! Here are a few notes from their website to give you a feel for their mission and see if it might be a good fit for your faith & values:
Although our historical roots are in the Christian and Jewish traditions, we have become a faith that welcomes insights from many sources, including world religions and philosophies as well as the arts and sciences.
Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion — that is, a religion that keeps an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places.
We believe that personal experience, conscience, and reason should be the final authorities in religion, and that in the end, religious authority is not found in a book or person, but within ourselves
We are a “non-creedal” religion: we do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed or statement of faith.
However, we do strongly affirm and promote seven ethical statements that constitute our Unitarian Universalist Principles (plurism, generosity, interdependence, equity, justice, & transformation)
Visit their site to learn more here — https://ussb.org/about/

All of this info aside, this couple had a really special and meaningful ceremony lead by a close family member that actually had no affiliation with the church whatsoever. I mention this to make the point that even if you might not be envisioning having a church ceremony or perhaps you don’t love the idea of a traditional ceremony lead by a pastor, priest, or church member – you can still have the ceremony you are envisioning at The Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara! I can tell you from our experience photographing countless church ceremonies, this one stood out as a much more loose and fun ceremony than we are used to!

Another awesome factor about The Unitarian Society is that they have everything you need for your wedding day right on property there! First of all, Alice Keck Park is right across the street, which has endless beautiful backgrounds amongst the stunning gardens to explore there. We’ve had full wedding days there as well, so it’s kind of fun to have this venue function almost as a “two-in-one” wedding venue. There is a perfect area to host cocktail hour to follow ceremony, a dreamy courtyard to have your reception where the light falls perfectly around sunset, and an indoor parish hall to dance your heart away into the night! It really does feel like a perfect all-in-one venue if it fits the vibe you’re going for and we’ve heard that it’s actually pretty affordable! Especially for that style of venue in Santa Barbara where you can have nearly your entire day happen on property there! They list their rates online as starting at $1200 for a Micro-wedding, to full day ceremony & reception packages starting at $5500.
https://venue.ussb.org/

There are some really beautiful backgrounds throughout the space and we love the historical Spanish-Style architecture that this special church boasts. It really is a beautiful + aesthetically pleasing venue that seems like a perfect indoor / outdoor space to host ceremonies and receptions for really any couple. There is endless opportunities for backgrounds on property and closeby for any section of the day including first looks, family photos, wedding party, romantics, and of course all of the traditional events throughout the day.

Please let us know if you’d like to hear some more info on how this couple structured their day and what this might looks like for you if you are planning your wedding day in Santa Barbara and on the search for venues. We would be so happy to offer any insight we can for how to book The Simpson House for getting ready with your wedding party or chat through some of our favorite aspects of what a wedding day looks like at The Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara! Even if you’re just looking for some Santa Barbara wedding venue inspo, we’d be happy to share some of our favorite options with you!

Feel free to browse some of our favorite moments of the day below and see if this might be a good fit for your special day! Regardless, we would love to hear more about the unique day your planning and bring your vision to life!