Old Mission Santa Barbara Wedding

"On August 2, 2014 in beautiful Santa Barbara, a pair of high school sweethearts became husband and wife. Both Illinois natives, we wanted a more intimate California wedding and create a vacation weekend for all our out-of-town wedding guests. Santa Barbara was a favorite getaway for the both of us to escape the hustle of our current home in Los Angeles, and Santa Barbara was also the memorable location where John finally proposed." -John & Pam

About their wedding: Our planning process was pretty straightforward: Do everything as early as possible so that we don't stress about it later! With a year and a half worth of time to plan the wedding, it was relatively easy to book the church, reception venue, and all of the vendors very far in advance, especially with our wedding taking place during Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days Festival. With both of us working full time and in graduate school, the extra time was definitely necessary. Did we stress out about it anyway? Oh yeah. Was it worth going through the heavy lifting up front? Definitely!

We spent much of the extra time working on personable projects to make the wedding our own. We put together table numbers, picture displays, custom painted our lawn games, and even built a beverage stand from scratch! We really put our personality into the wedding details, and we think it showed. There was even a surprise flash mob performance choreographed by the groom for his bride! In the end, there were so many things that made our wedding the ultimate expression of who we are as a couple and what our lives represent. It was easily the best night of our lives, our dream wedding.

Wedding planning advice: As a future married couple, work together on important tasks and appreciate each other’s help whenever possible. This will help prepare for future important planning processes. Please learn to delegate tasks to others instead of doing it all yourself. Try hard not to get mad at each other during this process!

Honeymooned in: Europe (Rome, Paris, and Madrid)

About their honeymoon: John had never travelled internationally, so we knew our honeymoon was the opportunity to pursue it! We spent about 4 days in each country, enough to get a little taste from each location. In Rome, we visited the historic Colosseum and Vatican, and had lots of wine and pasta. In Paris, we gazed in awe at the Eiffel Tower, watched a show at Moulin Rouge, and visited multiple museums. Madrid gave us good tapas, good shopping, and the opportunity to watch a bullfight.

We enjoyed experiencing the different cultures and foods throughout our trip. Of course it was amazing to spend time together and not think about the stress of work and school waiting for us back home. We are looking forward to traveling more together in the future and visiting more countries!

We definitely recommend an international honeymoon for anyone!

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Old Mission Santa Barbara Wedding