About this vendor
I founded my boutique event planning and design studio 20 years ago based in Santa Barbara, CA. My passion for event planning developed while working in the luxury hotel industry as a catering manager for many years producing small and large scale events. This background afforded me the opportunity to my own business. It was a very natural transition in my career.
The creation and orchestration of multi-day destination weddings in Santa Barbara and beyond is my niche. I love working locally, but I can also be commissioned to travel to other locations upon my clients request. I have had the pleasure of curating events in Sonoma, Malibu, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, Hawaii and Pennsylvania. In addition to weddings I have planned and designed other milestones to include elopements, vow renewals, anniversarys, birthdays, baby showers, retirements parties, and VIP corporate events.
I can best be described as a chameleon who adapts to the various working styles of my clients. As a visual storyteller I seek inspiration from a myriad of sources to include my clients ideas, stories and imagination. I'm fortunate to collaborate with a diverse and talented network of creatives. Together with our insightful industry knowledge, wisdom and creativity we bring to fruition once in a lifetime celebrations.
The planning envoirnment I embody is calm and comfortable and one that exudes a genuine warm spirit. It's important to me that my clients savor the memories that are made during the planning of their special event. I aspire to tailor a personalized experience that exceeds their expectations and allows them to be truly present.
Building trusted relationships with my clients is one of my greatest rewards. I would love to learn more about your special event and how I can make lifelong memories with you.
Warmly,
Rebecca
Details
Business Attributes
- Woman-owned Business
Destination Weddings
- Destination Wedding Planning
Planning
- Destination Wedding Planning
Wedding Activities
- Wedding
Awards and Affiliations
2022 'Best of Weddings'
Best of Weddings
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
Reviews
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5
out of 5.033 reviews
I had the pleasure of working with Rebecca from Imagine Wedding Planning for my special day, and I couldn't be happier with the experience. From the initial planning stages to the ...
day of the wedding, Rebecca was incredibly attentive and supportive. She was always available whenever I needed to talk to her, and her presence throughout the entire process was invaluable.
Rebecca's attention to detail was outstanding. She took the time to listen to all of my wants and needs, ensuring that every aspect of my intimate wedding at Rosewood Miramar Beach was exactly as I had dreamed. I felt completely at ease knowing that Rebecca had everything under control, and she didn't miss a single thing.
Walking into my wedding for the first time before walking down the aisle was a moment I will never forget. I was in awe of how everything had come together so perfectly, and it was all thanks to Rebecca's hard work and dedication. She truly went above and beyond to make sure that my special day exceeded my expectations.
I can wholeheartedly recommend Rebecca and Imagine Wedding Planning to anyone in search of a wedding planner. Her professionalism, attentiveness, and ability to bring dreams to life are truly unmatched. Working with Rebecca was an absolute pleasure, and I will forever be grateful for her role in making my wedding day truly unforgettable.
Rebecca is amazing. Planning a wedding from across the country was stressful to say the least, but as soon as we hired Rebecca, we knew we were in good hands. She has years and yea...
rs of experience, great relationships with vendors, and endless advice. We were lucky enough to get married on a rainy day in Santa Barbara and Rebecca had a Plan B that exceeded all expectations. Our wedding day was beyond anything we could have imagined, and we could not have done it without Rebecca!
Loved working with Rebecca for our wedding weekend! She was professional and prompt and was well connected with other vendors in the area. She took a huge load off our shoulders an...
d we would work with her again in a heartbeat!
i worked with rebecca starting in october 2021 to plan my wedding at san ysidro ranch for february 2022. she exceeded my expectations as we were able to get everything coordinated ...
in 5 months. she was a blast to work with and kept me calm throughout the process. it was extremely helpful that she’s done so many weddings at san ysidro ranch and knew the ins and outs so well. i would recommend her any day. thank you for everything rebecca!
Rebecca and I worked together planning my intimate wedding at San Ysidro Ranch in December 2021. She was very responsive throughout the entire process, and truly helped my vision c...
ome to life. She understood our budget, needs, and wishes and gave us realistic feedback and recommendations. I'd recommend Rebecca to anyone planning a wedding at the Ranch. She is professional, kind, understanding, and empathetic. Our wedding was absolutely perfect, and we are super grateful for all of Rebecca's time and efforts.
My wife and I had the most beautiful, perfect, fairy tale wedding at San Ysidro Ranch we could have ever imagined imagined, thanks to Rebecca. She was kind, friendly thoughtful, pa...
tient, professional and had great creative input during the entire planning stages (ie, the flowers, music, catering, seating arrangements, furniture rentals, dinnerware, menus, photography, etc.). Her recommendations for photographer, artists and flowers were stellar. And on the day of the wedding...she was absolutely extraordinary! She handled each and every aspect of the set up, the ceremony, the cocktail reception, the dinner, the photos, and the cake-cutting with absolute confidence and calmness. EVERYTHING was PERFECT!
I cannot offer more praise about Rebecca and her team for a job well done! If you're in need of an experienced, talented, detail-oriented and sweet-natured wedding planner...Call Rebecca at Imagine Weddings. Satisfaction and a lifetime of wonderful memories guaranteed!
Rebecca is phenomenal and we were incredibly lucky to have had her help planning our wedding. She is diligent, creative, calm, organized, kind, genuine, and truly a gem of a person...
. From day one, she was always extremely patient with all of our questions. We ended up having to postpone our wedding due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in not only changed date(s) for events, but new locations as well. Rebecca helped us to organize each contract and provided insights along the way. The relationships she has built in the greater Santa Barbara community were invaluable. It seems that everywhere we went from San Ysidro to the Rosewood to the Californian to the transportation companies, she had a long standing relationship with someone there. The whole wedding weekend ran as smoothly as possible – we were so grateful and had full trust knowing that Rebecca had everything under control! We absolutely love Rebecca and miss our planning calls with her!
Rebecca planned the wedding of our dreams, all while dealing with the challenges related to the pandemic. She responds to every question promptly, she takes care of everything for ...
you and keeps you calm. She is incredibly professional, and has so many years of experience. Every vendor we hired told us how lucky we were that she was our planner and I couldn't agree more. She puts her whole heart into all of her weddings and deeply cares about the couples and their families. We had to postpone our wedding from 2020 to 2021, so we worked with Rebecca for over two years leading up to our day. I now call her my friend. I miss planning with her and wish we could do it again! I can't say enough good things about her and would recommend her to any couple planning a wedding!
COVID and the restrictions were the greatest challenge for my daughter's wedding . Having RebeccaGigandet/Imagine Weddings as our guide and at times shoulder to lean on was so impo...
rtant to making sure all the large and small details were looked- after seamlessly. She was resourceful, informed and no task was too great for her to take on with a smile. Thank you so much Rebecca for being a huge and important part of the wedding! I'd recommend you to everyone!
If I could rate more than 5 stars I would! Rebecca went above and beyond and helped coordinate and execute my dream micro wedding in less than 2 months. From our first phone conver...
sation, I knew she was the right person to handle my event and she was such a calming and guiding force. She was extremely professional, prepared and calm throughout every step of the planning process and far exceeded expectations to ensure that everything ran smoothly. Her vendor recommendations were all superb and I very much trust her opinions and expertise. She was more than happy to help us stick to our budget and was able to help us trim areas when needed. She is creative, ready and more than willing to come up with different ideas to get you to your dream end result. Due to Covid, we were unsure until the very last minute as to whether or not we'd be allowed to have a small cocktail hour and Rebecca helped us plan for both scenarios with grace and enthusiasm. Rebecca's breadth of work speaks for itself and she truly is a wealth of knowledge and ability, especially with anything and everything pertaining to SYR and Montecito in general. She is extremely down to earth, patient and always reachable, and she delivers event after event time and time again, just look at her Instagram! I would 1000 percent work with Rebecca again for a future event and cannot say enough positive things about my experience with her. Her planning and coordinating process is seamless and I cannot recommend her more highly!
We had a small and intimate summer 2020 wedding. Our initial hope was to have the service and reception at San Ysidro Ranch, utilizing their mid-week elopement package. SYR requi...
res all weddings to employ a Wedding Coordinator, and gave us a list of recommendations. We reached out to a few, and Rebecca’s proposal was certainly the best value. (We also looked at reviews of her work on yelp.)
Ultimately due to the pandemic, SYR was not able to accommodate us. We located a lovely home in Montecito and Rebecca revised her proposal to reflect the new location and greater scope. We learned an important lesson: whether one has 10 guests or 200 guests, the details do not change much. We cannot imagine having done this without Rebecca.
We are not from the area, so she coordinated everything from transportation for the guests to floral, caterer, musician, photographer, and rental needs. Everything was beautifully done, perfectly orchestrated and came off without a hitch, thanks to Rebecca. It was a fairy tale wedding and we cannot recommend Rebecca highly enough. We are grateful for the excellent job she did.
Imagine Weddings and Special Events is simply the best. My parents and I first connected with Rebecca this past October to plan my August 1 wedding. It was a rollercoaster of year ...
to say the least. Rebecca was our glue. Not only did she handle all vendor communication she also supported me every step of the way. 6 weeks out our venue canceled (in Santa Barbara) and we decided to move the wedding to the east coast to my parents house. In just 3 weeks, she spearheaded the planning of a whole new wedding with ease and grace. She even chose to stay on and flew to the east coast for a site is it and the wedding weekend. Rebecca’s opinion is one I trusted and respected almost instantly. She has a special way of building a relationships to immediately reduce stress and put you at ease.. She is all about detail and class - and to me that is what makes the product or end result so perfect!
There are truly not enough words to describe how wonderful she is and how top notch her services are. If you are looking for a high-end wedding and event planner that is down to earth - Rebecca is your person! She will make your event a lasting impression not only in your mind but all of those that attend!
Having met and planned a wedding with Rebecca was a DREAM COME TRUE. There is no comparison to Rebecca's professionalism and experience, balanced with empathy, with anyone else in ...
the wedding planning industry!
My husband and I were introduced to Rebecca by The Four Seasons Biltmore Santa Barbara after we had experienced a series of unfortunate events by the "best of" venue, planners and photographers in Seattle. We learned very quickly that the industry is full of untrustworthy people, and we gave up on the idea of a wedding. We are also extremely busy people with unforgiving work schedules who were planning a destination wedding. Rebecca quickly earned my trust because of her ability to listen, offering experience-backed suggestions, and responsiveness. Over the three months we worked together to plan our wedding, I was in awe (and so in love) with Rebecca simply being on our side throughout the planning process. Firstly, each of the vendors she had recommended were highly experienced, professional, and produced a quality product or service. If I found someone on Instagram and suggested it, she had experience to back why or why we should not consider them. Second, Rebecca advocated for us to honor our budget. She would present options and help negotiate for what we felt was reasonable. In turn, Rebecca would present ideas that I hadn't originally considered that were game changers. For example, she suggested that we invest a few hundred dollars in these gorgeous personalized name cards for the guests. I agreed, and each one of our guests thanked us for the super thoughtful welcome. Third, there was no detail ignored when working with Rebecca. Thanks to her ability to forecast events and her vast experience, the day of went simply flawlessly! We didn't have the classic "one thing" that went wrong. In fact, Rebecca would anticipate any gray areas well in advance of the wedding so we could address them. I hired a hair and makeup person who was not well-known, and this person ended up proving unreliable. Rebecca took the initiative to find a local glam squad that had experience with my hair type and skin tone. They ended up being a dream to work with.
Beyond planning the most beautiful wedding I could have ever dreamed of, Rebecca is the most wonderful person I have ever met. She is empathetic, kind, big-hearted, and highly respected in her community. I look up to her strength as a person and a professional, and am so honored to now call her my dear friend.
I’m not sure what words would be effective enough to praise Rebecca with Imagine Santa Barbara, and I can’t strongly enough describe how much my now husband and I endorse her partn...
ership. We were blessed to work with her in planning our amazing wedding at the Four Seasons Biltmore this October and so fortunate she was available to be our guide in creating the most magical night ever. I wish anyone reading this that same good fortune and know that the opportunity to work with Rebecca would be the greatest.
Rebecca is amazingly experienced, generous with her knowledge, a gifted problem-solver, thoughtfully organized, and so well connected with the very best professionals in the area. She is a master at interpreting requests and needs to match you with the right partners, who (like Rebecca) work on a foundation of integrity and of delivering excellence. Beyond that, she is ridiculously kindhearted, patient and sympathetic, as well as just being fun spirited and genuine in the way she cares about every aspect of the planning process. She joined in our excitement and calmed all of our nerves, making herself readily available along the way. You may not think you’ll encounter a potential linen crisis, but if you do, you’ll want Rebecca in your corner.
Thanks to Rebecca’s diligence and relationships, we didn’t have to worry about any point of execution the day of our wedding. Our family and friends were so well cared for and so enthused about the experience. Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, she worked to make sure our sweet Dog of Honor was cared for and loved as much as we were. We were free to truly enjoy all the beautiful moments a wedding brings and to create the most wonderful beginning to our marriage. If you’re hoping for a similar experience, we have every confidence in encouraging you to work with Rebecca. She’s simply the best.
Rebecca was an absolute joy to work with from beginning to end. She was responsive, communicative and professional.
She went above and beyond in bringing our wedding to life. Every...
detail was perfect! She didn't have to, but she was sweet enough to come over to where my wedding party was staying the night before to give us a pep talk and for a quick rehearsal. Her calm demeanor the day of the wedding helped everyone's nerves - she was truly the anchor to our ship that day. I honestly don't know what I would have done without her and I cannot recommend her enough.
Working with Rebecca from Imagine Wedding and Special Events was a truly wonderful experience from the very beginning of our planning discussions through to our final weekend weddi...
ng celebration. Each of the 4 events for our destination wedding celebration were exceedingly well planned, designed and executed by Rebecca. She also kept a close eye on our budget throughout the process. Because of her focus, attention to detail and overall eye for design, our wedding day was even better than we could have imagined. I feel indebted to Rebecca for her ability to listen to our ideas and then plan and design all facets of the 4 events allaying my concerns at trying to create a memorable, fun weekend for our family and friends from the East Coast! Rebecca worked seamlessly with the various vendors in order to have the final results be the best that they could be. Her planning and design skills were impeccable, and throughout the process, Rebecca was highly attentive and a joy to work with. Rebecca brings tremendous experience and with this, is able to provide thoughtful guidance and exceptional results. We could not have asked for a better wedding celebration!
I can’t say enough good things about Rebecca. She put on the most fabulous wedding I have ever been a part of. She handled every stressful situation with poise and grace. I can’...
t imagine how we would have gotten through all the planning and details and timing and emotions and stress without this amazing women by our side. She is rock you can depend on no matter what. I was mother of the groom and she gave me all the time and attention I asked for and needed. When I emailed or texted, she got right back to me. She is extremely detail oriented and can work with the most difficult and demanding of personalities. She has so many years of experience there is nothing she hasn’t already encountered. No matter what we threw at her she was ready and able to tackle the obstacle. She is compassionate and loving with a good sense of humor. She is well liked by the venders she works with and they have only great things to say about her. She became one of the family and we will forever hold her close in our hearts. Our wedding was a fairytale. She left nothing to chance and we felt confident that with Rebecca there nothing could go wrong, and nothing did. It was a flawless rehearsal dinner, welcome party wedding, reception and brunch. I will use her again when my daughter gets married. She is a gem.
Look no further, you have found the perfect wedding planner with Rebecca at Imagine Events!! Seriously. This is THE best decision you can make in the planning process for your big ...
day. I cannot stress this enough. She is the best in the business. Period.
With Rebecca's wealth of experience, she has a level of expertise that is second to none. She really can and does make the day PERFECT. She will ensure that you can spend the entire weekend in the moment, enjoying every second of it, without distraction. She will go above and beyond to make the entire experience, from start to finish, wonderful, just what you dreamed it would be.
The vendors that Rebecca works with are all wonderful, creative people, who will work with you and Rebecca to define and create your style. Rebecca leads the team of vendors extremely well, and ensures they collectively build are exactly what you are hoping for.
We were married at Kestrel Park in Santa Ynez. At this venue, you've got to bring everything onsite and shuttle guests on and off the property. This means coordinating with a massive number of vendors and dealing with all of the logistical complexities that come with that. To put it simply, this wedding demanded a great deal. Rebecca handled everything with such grace, patience, and thoughtfulness.
We have heard from many, many of our guests that it was the best wedding they had ever attended. It really was a dream, and we have Rebecca to thank for that.
Rebecca was ‘hands on’ from the very first day to after the reception! She took care of every little detail (even on stuff that I had forgotten)! It was such a pleasure to have her...
in my corner as she was calm, detail-oriented, professional and just overall wonderful! Thank you again Rebecca! :)
Rebecca of Imagine Weddings & Special Events was simply wonderful to work with when planning our wedding weekend (November 2018). She came highly recommended (with many years of pl...
anning events at the Santa Barbara Four Seasons Biltmore and San Ysidro Inn under her belt) and was a delightful and highly professional collaborator from day one.
We loved that Rebecca approached our wedding with fresh eyes. There were no tick-box lists or assumptions about what a wedding weekend "should" look like. (Though she did provide us with useful planning templates to help us get organised and understand the process!) She took the time to get to know us as a couple, understand the vibe we envisioned for our wedding weekend and translate that into excellent, creative ideas... Knowing the London traditions we loved, she found a top-notch bagpiper. Recognising the importance of my parents garden to the ceremony plan, she designed a procession that could weave through the trees. These were just two of her many ideas that made the weekend so special with many unique, highly personal touches. And if she saw something inspiring at another event, she would drop us an email or Instagram tag to see if we liked it.
Rebecca's attention to detail also ensured that all the practicalities were in order. No deadlines were missed and she kept close tabs on all vendor communications. We were planning our CA wedding long distance, so Rebecca's knowledge of local vendors was invaluable. Because of her long-standing relationships with the best vendors, we felt confident that our vendor arrangements were thorough, of good value and a good fit for our wedding needs.
On the wedding weekend -- Thursday rehearsal, Friday welcome night, Saturday wedding, Sunday brunch -- Rebecca and her team set our whole family at ease. They oversaw everything, from flower deliveries to photography guidance to family coordination. Small touches - such as saving our place cards or bringing flowers/dessert from the reception to our room and more - were much appreciated throughout the weekend. And when plans didn't go to plan due to unforeseen circumstances (i.e. shuttle too tall for driveway trees), she was the picture of calm and lead on an option B. To top it all off, she has a great sense of humour! It is clear that her partner companies enjoy working with her as much as we did.
We are so grateful to have had Rebecca by our side every step of the way, from planning to celebration time. Her creativity, calm and wedding wisdom were invaluable to us. The result was a weekend we will cherish for a lifetime. We cannot recommend Rebecca and her team enough.
Rebecca was truly amazing. Her communication, professionalism and organization far surpassed my “type A” wishes. We met her while touring a venue in Montecito (she had a wedding...
when we were there) and booked her and the venue. Unfortunately the venue was damaged by the mudslides and we needed to find a new venue and start over with 6 months to plan. Rebecca helped us scout venues and pulled together some great vendors. She is truly a pleasure to work with and made sure every detail was taken care of....even some of the same day hiccups😉
Dear Future Brides and Grooms,
If you want to make your dream wedding come true, and want to also enjoy the wedding preparation process, Rebecca is the only one you need!!
...
I am so excited that I can finally write my review here after I have just had our wonderful wedding a month ago.
I know you are probably so tired of researching and reading all those potential wedding planners' reviews for days and weeks. Because I was like that 1 year ago when I started to prepare for our wedding, not knowing what to start, but just wanting to make our wedding super perfect.
First of all, let me say congratulations to you :D! Not only for the fact that you are going to marry and having a wonderful wedding with your loved one, but also for the fact that you finally came to the right place to choose the best wedding planner in the world. You will make millions of decisions throughout the wedding preparation process, but choosing Rebecca as our wedding planner was the best and greatest choice that we made.
Our wedding planning process had lots of challenges that we had not expected to come. Our original wedding date and venue was at San Ysidro Ranch on April 28th, 2018. But because of the mudslide happened in San Ysidro Ranch in January, the lovely place was demolished and we needed to postpone our wedding till August and find our new wedding venue. It was such a heartbreaking moment for us since the venue was the one we both fell in love with at the first sight, and we had a special feeling toward SYR. Now that we had to research other venues and restart visiting each of them again, we were under a super stressful circumstance and could not help feeling a huge anxious. But Rebecca was always there for us, helping us out to find one and responding to our emails promptly with kindness and helpful advice. She even joined our venue visits many times to make sure our experiences were pleasant and enjoyable.
With her help, we finally chose Malibu Rocky Oaks as our new venue which has a breathtaking view but also has many strict rules for customers like us to follow. The venue has nothing else but its beautiful view itself only, so we needed to bring every single item like chairs, tables, dishes, catering, flowers, dance floor. . . But whenever we wanted to hire some vendors which are not listed in "MRO approved vender lists," we needed to ask a permission from them, which made our vendors shopping slow and challenging. But Rebecca was always patient and worked super hard to make our stress as less as possible.
We had some issues with our vendors as well, but Rebecca handled them so perfectly and became a rock for us whenever I got very emotional under the stressful circumstances. Without her, our wedding planning would have been falling apart and we could not have had such a wonderful lovely wedding that we had dreamed of.
If you choose Rebecca as your wedding planner, your dream wedding will come true no matter what happens during its preparation. Just meet her in person and you will see how much Rebecca takes your wedding to heart, actually cares how you want it to be and how much she is ready to make your vision in real. Rebecca will be there for you, always ready to make your wedding the most wonderful and lovely moment not only for you, but also for your families, friends and all of your precious guests you truly care for.
Our wedding planner and the wedding was a fantastic experience. We had our wedding on November 3, 2017, with Rebecca Gigandet as our wedding planner and the wedding was a fantastic...
experience. I own a corporate branding business and my wife runs her own interior designer business, as small business owners we really appreciated Rebecca’s professionalism in making sure that our big day went as smoothly as possible.
We had an ambitious schedule of pulling together a wedding with 120 guests at the Biltmore Four Seasons in Montecito within 6 1/2 months of when we first contacted Rebecca. She kept us on track and our stress level to a minimum throughout every phase. Her stellar performance continued through to the day of the event. On our wedding day, she was unseen in the background, yet everywhere, making sure all aspects of the event were perfect. I highly recommend Rebecca to anyone wanting only the best. Now we want to keep her in our lives, and hang out with her the next time we are in Santa Barbara.
For those who don’t want to read this whole review, the point is: Rebecca is the best decision we made in our wedding planning process & you should hire her today.
For everyone e...
lse, here is why:
When I first spoke to Rebecca over the phone I knew 90 seconds into our conversation I wanted to hire her. I had spoken to 10 other planners at that point who are all perky, lovely people but what struck me about Rebecca was her calm demeanor. She has a quiet confidence that comes w/ her 17 years of experience & I told Jeff at the time that “If everything goes wrong, she’s the one I want to handle it.”
Lo & behold, a lot went wrong. Our wedding was planned to be at the Biltmore Santa Barbara on 12/28/17 but on the 19th I received a call from our catering manager saying due to the toxicity of the smoke & ash from the St. Thomas fire they have to cancel our wedding. I was completely devastated & I had no idea what we were going to do. It was 9 days before the wedding & we were flying to LA for Christmas in less than 2 days.
As soon as I called Rebecca, she presented us w/ a Plan B: Bacara resort. It was 20/30 minutes north of the Biltmore & was unaffected by the fire- it is stunning. When presented with a Plan B as wonderful as Bacara, it’s hard to unravel. After 2 days of discussing details & negotiations, we signed the contract & sent it before we went to the airport. Rebecca had successfully transferred our wedding in less than 48 hours, w/ little inconvenience to our guests, who simply switched hotels to be closer to our new venue. I never worried for a moment about our vendors because I knew Rebecca would handle it.
The event itself was flawless. I know I’m biased, but it really was the best wedding ever. It was just beautiful. I wish I could include photos to corroborate my words. It was so much more than either one of us imagined: it was absolutely stunning, not a petal out of place, no missed cues & at the end we had our signature cocktails & a sample of our hor d’oeuvres waiting for us. Rebecca insisted we have a private moment together by one of the fireplaces before we entered our reception so we had a moment together before the madness of the party. While our guests enjoyed cocktail hour, Rebecca snuck us up to show us our decorated dining room and the dance floor. The constant refrain among our guests was, “I can’t believe this was Plan B!”
We were so grateful to be working w/ Rebecca before disaster struck, as the planning process was so seamless & enjoyable & her recommendations were gold standard. But what the fire & cancellation did illustrate was Rebecca’s unbelievable talent & resolve to execute a perfect wedding for us in the face of an unprecedented act of God & her strong relationships in the Santa Barbara community, where she is revered among event professionals/vendors: hairdressers, florists, DJs & catering managers at some of the finest hotels in the world. As we interviewed various vendors, everyone said, unprompted, “You have the best wedding planner. Rebecca is the best.”
The only thing that trumps Rebecca’s talent is her heart. She has a heart of gold & wants your wedding to be everything you dream of, I couldn’t imagine a better person to be my partner in the planning process. I hope to have many more life milestones so I have that many more excuses to hire Rebecca.
Hiring her was our best decision & if I were to give a new bride 1 piece of advice, it would be, “Hire Rebecca.”
We loved working with Rebecca for our 2-day wedding weekend in Santa Barbara, CA. She was professional, responsive, friendly and helpful. She was flexible when we suggested our own...
vendors for certain services, and she also provided high quality recommendations for additional vendors that we needed. The whole event was executed seamlessly, which allowed us to totally focus on our family & friends and just enjoy the day. Would highly recommend her! Thank you Rebecca!
I had the pleasure of working with Rebecca over the course of 4 months to plan our intimate wedding ceremony and reception at San Ysidro Ranch in early March 2017. Having Rebecca ...
as my wedding planner was the best decision I made. Rebecca is an extremely talented wedding planner and only 1 word truly describes her work; perfection! Due to Rebecca's work, dedication, passion, and network my husband and I had our dream wedding at SYR. Rebecca brought my vision of a Tuscany, Italy inspired wedding to life in Santa Barbara.
From our first conversation I knew she was a great fit for me because of her warm personality, her extensive experience with vendors in the Santa Barbara area, and her ability to listen to what I envisioned for our wedding. I was a New York bride, planning a destination wedding on the opposite coast of the United States and Rebecca handled everything for us, while we were 2,800 miles away. I can honestly say that due to Rebecca, planning a destination wedding was stress free and an easy task because she handled it all, literally. The only thing I knew when I started discussions with Rebecca was that I wanted my wedding in Santa Barbara, that was it. Rebecca is extremely knowledgeable on all SB venues since we went through many options to ensure the venue was perfect for our needs and we settled on San Ysidro Ranch. I was able to put 100% trust in Rebecca considering I did not live in the area and all decisions had to be made without me seeing anything in person. I was able to do this solely because of Rebecca taking the time to send me pictures, video's, and explaining the options due to her detailed knowledge of SB and the venues. Rebecca then started the detailed planning process and all I had to do was say or no. She did all of the extensive work for me and made it all so easy and stress free. Rebecca recommended the most talented and experienced vendors. She was able to expertly guide me towards the vendors who best fit my style and vision. Rebecca handled all of the communication and contracts with the vendors such as the invitations, flowers, photographers, string quartet, reception music, rental companies, SYR, welcome gift bag vendor, secured a restaurant for the welcome to SB dinner, and even helped secure hotel blocks since everyone was from out of town. Rebecca went above and beyond to ensure our wedding weekend was gorgeous, she understood and brought my vision to life, and it was a once in a lifetime experience.
Rebecca cares about the details and is highly dependable, patient, reliable and is always calm. She has a keen critical eye for style and elegance and assists with design decisions to ensure it will all come together beautifully. She is a pleasure to work with! I highly recommend Imagine to anyone considering getting married no matter what size wedding you are planning. I am happy to call Rebecca my friend after such an amazing experience. Our wedding was magical!
Thank you Rebecca!
Rebecca is truly wonderful! She is organized, thorough, calm, detail-oriented, and sincerely caring...every step of the way. I am so thankful for her expertise and wisdom throughou...
t the entire planning process. She always made me feel like her top priority, and was completely available all the time. (My husband and my parents also absolutely loved her!) Our wedding was this October, at El Montecito Presbyterian Church and Four Seasons Biltmore. All of our vendors shared with me their great respect for her, which I believe says so much about her--a real joy to work with. Rebecca is a dream planner. I would undoubtedly choose her again; she was such an important part in making our Wedding day run so smoothly & turn out perfectly for us!
We met with a number of wedding planner/coordinators before meeting Rebecca at Imagine. What initially set Rebecca apart from the rest is she was wanted to make our vision come tr...
ue. She really listened and asked all the right questions. It was clear from our first meeting that she treats each client, each wedding as a special and unique event.
Once we started working with Rebecca it furthered our comfort that we hired the right coordinator. She was consistently on top of every detail, her knowledge of vendors, locations, and Santa Barbara gave us an insiders advantage. As we met with caterers, location representatives, florists, photographers and even our transportation we found that across the board they all had respect and professional admiration for Rebecca. The goodwill she has created meant we were treated like celebrities at every step.
Leading up to our wedding and the day of Rebecca kept everyone calm and focused, including family. Intrinsically we knew there was a lot going on in the background but for my husband and I, along with family and friends, everything just magically happened like clockwork.
Thank you, Rebecca for making our September Santa Barbara wedding one for the story books. If you’re reading this review, hire Rebecca and know that your special day will be perfect!
I highly recommend Rebecca to plan any event!!! Our wedding was held in July 2017 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and San Ysidro Ranch.
Words cannot express the gratitude surrounding a...
ll the effort, professionalism, grace, speed to action, constant communication that Rebecca showed throughout the planning process. Rebecca is so highly connected in the industry whether in SB or LA and has so many connections that it made our decision making process that much easier.
Rebecca was tasked with 10 weeks to plan our wedding at Our Lady of Mount Carmel with a reception at San Ysidro Ranch coupled with a welcome dinner the night before held at the Lark. We went from about a guest count of 20, not planning on adding rentals...to a guest count of 50 with every single detailed planned to perfection. Rebecca took the lead on one of the most important items - the timeline and boy did she stick to it! Secondly, from our furniture rentals, to music, to dishware rentals, lighting rentals, working with the incredibly talented Camillia Floral Design and my favorite photographer Jessica Claire my dream wedding came to life in a matter of a few weeks and was captured by a spectacular photographer all thanks to Rebecca!!!!
Lastly, The day of my wedding Rebecca kept me on time, calm and helped to handle the typical family drama that may occur. Rebecca worked seamlessly with the church coordinator, Dori and the ceremony was perfect!!
You made my day SO special and I cannot thank you enough Rebecca. Thank you for taking on every new task I threw your way all the while remaining calm, cool and collected and keeping everything on track!
THANK YOU REBECCA!!!
Rebecca is an absolute gem! She is not only a brilliant wedding planner but she was truly a good friend during the whole process. She was always available when I needed her, and sh...
e was often two steps ahead of - almost like she could read my mind! She understood exactly what my husband and I wanted for our special day and we felt confident and well cared for during the course of the planning. I can't say enough good things about Rebecca. If you are looking for someone to help make wedding planning enjoyable, and even fun, Rebecca is your gal!
Rebecca was FANTASTIC! She kept us all at ease the week of the wedding, as she had everything under control throughout the process. Rebecca was always available and ready to talk t...
hrough any questions. I would HIGHLY recommend Rebecca to every bride in Santa Barbara - she knows the industry backwards and forwards!!
Simply put, Rebecca Gigandet at Imagine Weddings and Events in Santa Barbara is incredible. If you are wondering to what extent you might need a wedding planner or are even unsure ...
about hiring one - listen when I say you absolutely need Rebecca. I initially thought that I could plan my wedding for the most part on my own - in general my husband and I thought we knew what we wanted and I have experience executing large scale events for work. But I hired Rebecca after our first phone call, because I immediately realized the depth of her expertise and that she would be able to help us do what I most likely could never do on my own - keep the wedding planning process enjoyable. Rebecca not only did that but also created such a personal, special and memorable experience that it surpassed all of our expectations. She really did help us create the wedding day of our dreams - it was everything we wanted and more.
Rebecca prioritizes all of the right things - what the bride and groom truly want out of their day. She took the time to really get to know and understand us so that she could properly guide us in the right direction. She has the most amazing contacts and vendor relationships I've ever seen - and she made sure to lead us towards people that fit us and our personalities, so we would have a good experience working with everyone. She was completely on point with all of them. Her instincts were flawless, she kept us on track, was able to pull together many things at the last minute for us without complaint and her incomparable experience definitely helped us avoid potential issues.
Our wedding was not the easiest to coordinate - we wanted a customized experience and rented a private estate where everything had to be brought in. But even though there were a plethora of details to worry about Rebecca was always a total joy to work with. After our wedding, friends kept asking how we found a vendor or how we made this decision or that - the answer was always 'Rebecca.'
My husband and I respect Rebecca immensely for her professionalism and how much she genuinely cares about her clients, as well as her patience, integrity, compassion & understanding, impeccable level of taste and ability to stay completely calm in any kind of situation. We recommend her 1000 percent. We absolutely would not have had the amazing wedding (or fun journey planning it) that we did without her!!!
Rebecca at Imagine is amazing! She made sure our wedding day was perfect and took care of all the details. To this day I hear about how amazing our planner was.
Contact
315 Meigs Rd., Santa Barbara, CA | Santa Barbara/Travel Worldwide
Imagine Weddings & Special Events