Traditional Summer Wedding at Santa Barbara Zoo

I had the pleasure of photographing Karen and Stephen at their Santa Barbara Zoo wedding! They are from Dallas, Texas but Santa Barbara holds a special place in their hearts and wanted their friends and family to experience the central coast vibes.

bride and groom feeding giraffe at Santa Barbara zoo wedding

Bride + Groom Getting Ready at the Zoo

Karen and her ladies arrived early to put on their dresses and take group photos before the ceremony.

Stephen and his groomsmen dressed at his hotel but added their boutonnieres in the zoo palm garden.

Because it was important to the Mother of the Bride we recreated a photo that she took with her own mother on her wedding day. <3

Ceremony at the Palm Garden

90 guests came from all over California and Texas! They loved the beauty of the zoo and enjoyed the most perfect summer day that Santa Barbara is famous for! They didn’t know what was in store for them during cocktail hour!

Cocktails, Giraffes, Flamingoes, Train Rides, Oh My!

During cocktail hour the wedding guests enjoyed a plethora of fun at this Santa Barbara zoo wedding! Guests could either feed lettuce to the giraffes, mingle with flamingoes, or take a 15-minute train ride around the zoo.

Party the Night Away!

The rest of the night was a dance celebration ending with the Conga!

The Santa Barbara Zoo is ideal for portraits! We explored the grounds and enjoyed the golden light through the trees. The ideal time for portraits is Golden Hour. This is the hour before sunset where the sky is gold and the light is most flattering. It’s ideal to time the ceremony time so the portrait time is during this time frame.