Romantic Spanish Inspired Wedding in California

This wedding pup is so happy for his humans

We love it when the whole wedding day seems to come together in a flawless and cohesive masterpiece! This romantic Spanish inspired wedding in California took full advantage of the venue and modeled the whole event on the look and feel of Santa Barbara's Casa De La Guerra!

Beauty isn't the only thing this wedding boasts, this lovely bride also has some awesome advice for future brides that might be feeling the pressure to extend their guest list further than they would like. Keep scrolling to find out what she says and don't forget to stop by the full gallery to see all the magical moments captured by Danielle Bacon!

champagne glitter wedding shoes

lace wrapped wedding invitations airing out the wedding dress before the "i dos" getting wedding ready chandelier wedding earrings

romantic and curve hugging wedding dress

gotta love that wedding veil wedding photography for the bride and groom for love and palm trees

dapper groom in grey and ivory with funky socks

glamorous wedding gown with off the shoulder straps romantic bride and groom photo idea

classic bride and groom

Spain + Mexico = Love

From the Bride: The vision for my wedding was Spain meets Mexico. Santa Barbara is the beautiful city I was born in. The entire city boasts white walls, red tile roofs and Spanish style buildings that are as beautiful as ever. The vision for my reception space was definitely Hacienda style, and I didn't have to work very hard as Casa De La Guerra is already a beautiful historic building. My aunt sent "papel picado" from Mexico that we strung across the space. The mariachi playing in the background made everyone feel like they were in Mexico for a bit! I loved the way everything came together.

I chose my wedding venue because it represents Santa Barbara so well. Casa De La Guerra is a historic museum. The white adobe walls, packed dirt on the floor and heavy wooden doors all came together so beautifully the day of our wedding. We didn't need to decorate much in order for it to create the environment we wanted!

bridesmaids in long pink dresses and groomsmen in neutral and sage

Spanish style wedding church newlyweds so in love

burlap and lace pew and wedding aisle decor

you may now kiss the bride catholic wedding ceremony

dramatic and romantic wedding kiss

Favors From The Wedding Family

The reception was so centered around family. It warms my heart to re-live it. My aunt hand-crafted tortilla warmers to give out as favors and sent them all the way from Mexico, so it was a group effort even from so far away to create the wedding day we hoped. I loved to see so many people having so much fun.

We gave away succulents at our wedding with a tag saying "Let Love Grow". My mom DIY'd the cute little wooden stands and burlap they were wrapped in. So many of my guests have planted them in their own yards! It's such a nice way to continue sharing memories of our big day. My aunt also sent some tortilla warmers all the way from Mexico that she handmade herself!

join us at our wedding reception

cute DIY potted succulent wedding favors Let Love grow succulent favor cute little wedding favor table

handmade tortilla warmers for favors

An Unexpected Flower Toss

We wanted to stay budget conscious throughout the wedding planning process, and had the bright idea of transferring our own flower arrangements from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara. Horrible mistake. They all toppled over on the drive. Roses. Everywhere.

Thankfully, my friends and family came through, ran to the Santa Barbara flower market that morning and filled in any gaps in the centerpieces with fresh roses. Crisis averted. No guests knew once reception time came. I'm so grateful for our wonderful support system that day.

wedding reception wine bottle table number

romantic pink rose mini tree centerpiece

tulle and burlap seat decor wedding menu

sweet little sweetheart table

What To Expect When You're Not Expecting...

So, you have spent time planning who you want at your wedding and you have sent out invites to certain people with the expectation that they will join you for your big day; but suddenly they now have friends they want to bring with... What do you do? Elaine has some good advice for you, click to read more about her big day and its growing list of guests..

Have power over your guest list! I heard this over and over again during my planning process, and still ended up with WAY more people at my reception than I wanted. I didn't make time to really walk around and mingle with everyone, and it seemed a bit overwhelming. Both my husband and I have huge families, but I wish I would've put my foot down and only invited who I really wanted at my wedding. We had so many people show up, some that we didn't even invite and asked to be added to our guests RSVP! It was a bit of a disaster having to pull extra tables from the venue space. Given a second chance I would've been more hands on and taken full control over who was there.

cheers to the new Mr and Mrs

fruit hors d'oeuvre for cocktail hour strawberry punch for your guests

authentic mariachi band for your wedding

traditional papel picado wedding banner delicious wedding food

first dance as husband and wife

Another Bit Of Advice

EAT! EAT! EAT! Again, I had so many former brides tell me to take some time and really enjoy dinner with my husband. It didn't happen. I was pulled in a million different directions for pictures and ended up barely touching my cold dinner. DON'T DO THIS! Enjoy the dinner you planned! This is your day!

I wanted one thing for our wedding cake: for it to be delicious. CrushCakes Cafe makes their cakes in house with delicious organic ingredients. I wanted a simplistic cake that matched the walls of Santa Barbara. We threw some artificial succulents on there the day of the wedding to mesh with our theme. They did not disappoint!

dessert table idea a kiss after the cake cutting cake pops for your guests

succulent topped wedding cake

Keep reading to see how much this romantic Spanish inspired wedding in California cost. Please note that costs change as the years go by, and prices are subject to change. This is just one couple’s breakdown to give you a rough estimate on how much a wedding like this may cost you.

Budget breakdown: