Presidio Chapel at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara

To begin with I should mention that we got married during Old Spanish Days, which took this from being a great venue to the best ceremony venue ever. My husband and I are from New York and found it difficult to find a Catholic Church in Santa Barbra. To add to the difficulty, my husband is not Catholic himself. These limitations made it really hard to find a church for us to get married in, but since that’s where I’d always imagined my wedding, we didn’t give up. El Presidio ended up being the perfect venue for us. A rebuilt museum of the oldest Catholic church in Santa Barbara, El Presidio is no longer a traditional church so it allows non-denominational ceremonies of all kinds in a very Catholic setting. Rain, the coordinator at El Presidio, was very helpful in getting us all set up to walk down the aisle on one of the busiest weekends in Santa Barbra. There was a private parking lot for our wedding and great rooms for our wedding party to pass time before the ceremony. El Presidio is built in the traditional adobe style so even at the beginning of August there was no problem with us being overheated in the church during the ceremony. The venue itself required almost no additional decorations which was a great cost saver for us. We only added candles. Rain really knew all the tricks for elevating our ceremony to the next level, including ringing the traditional church bells as we exited the church for the first time as husband and wife. I highly recommend this venue for anyone looking for a traditional venue that is open to something a little funkier. Overall working with Rain and El Presidio was such a joy and allowed us to have the wedding ceremony I’ve always imagined.