Santa Barbara & Ventura Wedding Venues
The Santa Barbara and Ventura coast — the “American Riviera” — pairs Spanish-colonial architecture, oceanfront bluffs, mountain valleys, and gardens within short drives, all in soft golden light. From Montecito estates and five-diamond resorts to Ventura beach hotels and botanical gardens, the range is wide and reliably photogenic from late spring through fall. The venues below are ones we've photographed across Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
For oceanfront luxury, The Ritz-Carlton Bacara and Belmond El Encanto lead in Santa Barbara, while Lotusland offers one of California's most extraordinary garden settings. Along the Ventura coast, the Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach, Ventura Beach Marriott, Pierpont Inn, and Hotel San Buenaventura put ceremonies steps from the sand, and McCormick Home Ranch brings a rustic ranch option inland.
8 Santa Barbara & Ventura venues we’ve photographed
Each links to real wedding galleries from that venue.
McCormick Home Ranch
A garden filled, chic rustic ranch style outside venue, the McCormick Home Ranch is a Colonial-style house with a touch of country.
Crowne Plaza Ventura Beach
Couples love the range this hotel offers under one roof — vows exchanged barefoot in the sand, cocktails on The Lanai’s ocean-view deck, and dancing twelve stories up in a circular ballroom wrapped in floor-to-ceiling glass.
Hotel San Buena
In the heart of downtown Ventura, Hotel San Buena is a 1928 Spanish Revival landmark that reopened in 2024 after a full restoration.
Belmond El Encanto
We love working the hillside view terraces, where the whole city and coastline unfold below, then moving into the terraced gardens and Spanish Colonial walkways for something more intimate.
Lotusland
Lotusland does not have on-site getting-ready facilities, so most couples get ready at a nearby Montecito or Santa Barbara hotel and arrive dressed for their vow ceremony.
The Pierpont Inn
Perched on a bluff above the Pacific in Ventura, The Pierpont Inn has welcomed guests since 1910, when Los Angeles architect Sumner P. Hunt designed the property.
The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, Santa Barbara
Couples choose the Bacara for its resort-scale grounds and true bluff-top ocean setting — the lawns sit high above the water, giving ceremonies and portraits a dramatic sense of scale.
Ventura Beach Marriott
Fully renovated in 2019 and set within 200 yards of Ventura Beach, the Ventura Beach Marriott pairs a full-service, 286-room hotel with direct access to the sand.
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