• Real Weddings

Jessica and Aidan searched all over California for that perfect wedding venue, before long they realized that exactly what they were searching for was in their hometown of Santa Barbara, California. El Presidio de Santa Barbara Chapel and El Paseo Restaurant, and both were available on their desired date, so it was definitely meant to be. In less than six months they planned  a simple and classic wedding of their dreams.
Be sure to read on for more from Jessica about their wedding and about staying on budget. As always there is so much to see in the full gallery here, beautifully captured by Lisa Mallory Photography.

From the Bride On What She Would Have Done Differently:One thing I would have done and didn't think it was worth it in the beginning was hire a VIDEOGRAPHER at least for the ceremony and speeches during the reception. We were both so excited and in the moment with each other, once things were all said and done it felt so fast and like a blur! We would have loved to gotten to watch that together and really remember the sweet things our wedding party said and the prayer our Priest prayed for us as newlyweds. However, when it is all said and done, I got to marry the man of my dreams and our wedding day was the most special day in our lives, that we didn't even notice all the small details we worked on and cared about so much leading up. All we saw was each other and the love we feel for one another and all the love we had from our good family and friends who were able to share in our celebration.

Both Aidan and I were really hands on the entire process of planning our wedding. The two of us wanted to have something that was simple, classic and fun, a wedding that matched our personalities and that we could create ourselves. Luckily for us, both venues were so colorful and unique on their own we didn’t need to add too much decoration, doing so would have changed the entire feel into something they weren’t. We wanted these locations for the charm and style and after meeting Paul at El Paseo, he was so professional and organized, we quickly became confident he was going to handle everything for us and ensure the reception of our dreams played out, and it did.

One thing Aidan did was make the centerpiece boxes for all our tables. After buying our house and rebuilding the backyard fence Aidan saved all the wood boards to reclaim and one day put to good use… Well that day came in our wedding. He made the boxes and we planted them with succulents from our yard, along with planting mini terracotta pots with succulents for all our guests to act as take-away and place-cards. Everything, every detail, we thought out and incorporated to tie the whole wedding together from start to finish, from the old picture Aidan took of El Presidio Chapel we used as our invitations to those succulents we had home grown.

Staying on budget (ours was more then enough, and just over your average wedding budget) was more then possible, and having a number to stay within helped for more creative planning and prioritizing! It was so easy early in our ideas to get carried away, but in reality, we didn't need so spend hundreds of dollars on centerpieces when all the styles and ideas we liked, we could do ourselves!

• Beauty: Carlyle Salon
• Cakes & Catering: Your Cake Baker
• Caterer/Reception: El Paseo Restaurant
• DJ: DJ Patrick B.
• Flowers: Pink Rose Pretty Girl
• Photographer: Lisa Mallory Photography
• Rings: Tiffany and Co.
• Shoes: Badgley Mischka
• Venue: El Presidio de Santa Barbara Chapel
• Wedding Dresses: Nicole Miller