Janki and Samir invited us to document their wedding down at Hilton Santa Barbara Waterfront Resort (previously Fess Parker at the time of the wedding) and we couldn’t be happier! This is our favorite Indian wedding venue in Santa Barbara and it is such a great place to get married! We love destination weddings so much and shooting down in SoCal is a refreshing way to change things up!
We started in the morning with our lovely couple for getting ready shots. The overcast sky provided beautiful soft lighting and we had Janki and Samir get ready outside because it was so nice. The rooms are divided into buildings and there are lots of garden areas with beautiful palm trees and flowers. We did their first look right outside their room and then proceeded to do all their bridal party and family shots before the Baraat started.
The procession to the Mandap started far out in the parking lot and made its way to the main central courtyard where weddings are held. This circular open-air plaza is really cool and we even got some great drone shots of the venue set up before all the guests came.
By the time the ceremony started, the sun was shining bright so all the guests were given custom sunglasses with the bride and groom’s names and wedding date on them. That was a great touch and extremely useful in the California sun! The bride and groom looked amazing on their Mandap and we got so many great moments of them while they performed all the rituals of the traditional Hindu wedding.
After the ceremony, the couple left in a Ferrari for their Vidai ceremony and then returned for some more portraits before getting ready for the reception. The party went on all night and the food was amazing!
We finally took the couple out for a few more shots outside to capture some nighttime shots before calling it a night. We had so much fun and enjoyed staying at this beautiful property! We look forward to coming down to Santa Barbara more often for more beautiful Indian weddings and hope you enjoy Janki and Samir’s photographs below!
