Today marks four months since we eloped in Santa Barbara — just the two of us. Marriage has been such an effortless transition for us and I’m so happy we chose to elope and make this special day intimate and all about the two of us. We’ve been together for so long and keeping it small and intimate really felt right for us. We loved every minute of it and really got to relish in our time together. I know there’s a lot of pressure to have the perfect day and make a ton of people happy, but it’s totally doable to have a mostly stress-free, happy day just the two of you. I’m so glad we did!
I’m in the process of putting together some photo albums of the day, and framing prints and thought I’d share some of my favorite moments from the day. When we knew we wanted to elope finding the right place felt important. We’ve spent years visiting Santa Barbara — we’re only 1.5 hours away in LA, and my sister actually lives there so we tend to visit often. If you’ve ever been you’ll know the Santa Barbara courthouse is one of the most stunning in the world. It feels like a literal jungle amongst old Spanish mission style architecture. It’s truly a dreamland and made our day extra special to be somewhere we’ve loved going for years.
We headed up to Santa Barbara the day before the wedding and had a nice vacation before the big day. We pretty much always stay with family when we visit so it was really nice to actually feel like we were on a vacation in sunny Santa Barbara. We kept everything very low-maintenance, got ready in the morning, and headed to the courthouse. My sister and brother-in-law were our witnesses, so it was super intimate.
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It turned out to be the perfect day. The ceremony was in the garden right outside of the bell tower and absolutely stunning. One of the perks of getting married in Santa Barbara has to be the endless photo locations: there’s stunning architecture, lush landscapes, and dreamy gardens to chose from. After the ceremony we bopped around Santa Barbara taking more casual, candid photos with our photographer Michelle Roller. My sister helped us have everything we needed, and Michelle captured the day so beautifully, so we had lots of fun doing it. We walked around town, and then had the sweetest picnic at the Mission rose garden. We got the loveliest floral cake from Flouring LA and cut our cake in the rose garden, then rented a vintage car to cruise in. Fun fact: it’s the same car Drew Barrymore rented for her wedding! The chauffeur was so charming and sweet which made the day even more special, and we snapped photos with the car and then drove off around town. We cruised the streets of Santa Barbara, and then headed to the local tiki bar Test Pilot (very us!). We had some cocktails, then headed to a sweet intimate dinner at Loquita. I changed into something a little more low-key for dinner, a white sun dress, and Joe switched into a vintage tiki shirt with his suit pants. It was such a delicious dinner nestled in the corner by the fireplace right under this giant bougainvillea and we of course went all out and got almost all of the Spanish tapas on the menu. It was such a special day. Everything turned out exactly how we wanted: low-key, minimal stress and all of our most-loved things (vintage, tiki, architecture, and plants to name a few!). The weather was perfectly sunny, our evening cruise was a dream, and everything about the day was so magical. We couldn’t stop smiling!
The next morning we headed up for a mini-moon in the valley of the moon — Ojai — for a few days. We stayed at a place we love, Capri Hotel, and soaked up the sun and drank wine on repeat. We had a sort of impromptu coincidental honeymoon in Mexico two weeks after the wedding that we had booked in January as a reward for renovating the house, and it just so happened that the dates aligned to be a sort of unplanned honeymoon in Tulum. Of course since it lined up with our wedding we immediately upgraded our room to an ocean view upon arrival and really went all out and added on a second stop to the trip in one of our favorite cities, Mexico City! We did all of our favorite things like Luis Barragan architecture tours, ate at amazing restaurants, and had a fun trip as newlyweds. We still want to do a planned honeymoon this spring so stay tuned for that adventure…
After we got back from Mexico I put all the photos and keepsakes from the wedding and our trips in to a big white box to remember on our anniversaries. It was so nice to come back home as newlyweds. While I don’t feel much different being married I have to admit the word husband hits a little different, and is really fun to say right now!
Photos by Michelle Roller