The 10 Best Southern California Wedding Venues

13/04/2020

Southern California Wedding Venues

Most lists of Southern California wedding venues are going to give you the names of wedding venues that are paying a premium to be there. This isn’t on of those lists. This is from a wedding photographers perspective. Consider this my wish list of SoCal wedding venues I’d shoot at every day of the week with a full heart.

Southern California is blessed with an absolutely incredible range of wedding venues’ from industrial warehouses in downtown LA. Palatial mansions in Hollywood Hills. Gorgeous rustic barns and stunning Spanish style ranches. I think my favourite thing about Southern California though as a wedding photographer has got to be the light! As someone who hails from Australia where the light is perhaps the harshest anywhere in the world. The soft golden light in socal is an absolute dream to photograph. There aren’t special wedding photographers in SoCal creating that beautiful soft golden glow. It’s not a photoshop trick. There’s just really special light in SoCal.

Ok enough of me gushing about what a dream Southern California is for wedding photographers. Here is my list of the 10 best wedding venues in Southern California.

Hummingbird Nest Ranch

Hummingbird Nest Ranch, winner of best outdoor Venue in Santa Barbara, Ventura area in 2019 which is no easy feat. Nestled in the Santa Susana Mountains around half hour from L.A. This gorgeous ranch boast a huge array of spaces for outdoor ceremonies and multiple reception spaces. Filled with Spanish styled architecture and looking out over the mountains this place was the perfect setting for your Simi Valley Wedding.

The Ranch itself is quite large and has a beautiful Spanish style barn and horse arena, plenty of beautiful accomodation options in the main dwellings as well as the smaller Casa’s around the ranch. One of this venue’s best features is the sheer variety of options of how you can have your celebration. I have photographed at this venue multiple times and each wedding felt and looked completely different. There is enough area and facilities to have two or three weddings on site in one day. And you have space between them to never know there was anyone else using the space.

Socal Wedding Venues Number 2

Serendipity Garden Weddings

Voted number 1 Wedding Venue in all of Southern California, by Southern California Bride. Another gorgeous rustic yet elegant wedding venue with stunning views and literally everything you could possibly want in your wedding venue.

The Ace Hotel – Palm Springs

Ah this venue has been on my list for so long. It’s got this weird Californian nostalgia about it. There’s something so iconic about the ace hotel. From the world renowned rusty sign out front to the colour palette, everything about this place just screams cool.

The styling feels like you’ve just stepped out of a 60’s movie and just brushed shoulders with Elvis’ entourage in the lobby on your way to sit by the pool. If you’re looking for somewhere a little edgy and quirky I highly recommend the Ace hotel Palm Springs. And if you’re after another iconic space with the ace name to it their downtown LA location is insanely beautiful too. If you’re afraid of craft beer and mens facial hair you mightn’t feel the same pull towards this place that I do. Anyone else get a weird stranger things feel from this hotel?

The Alisal Country Guest Ranch & Resort

An absolute highlight of the Santa Barbara wedding venue scene. This property has got to be one of the most glorious pieces of land I’ve stumbled across. It’s such an incredibly romantic setting for a country wedding. Not in a forced rustic kind of way either. It’s like something out of a beautiful old novel (not a Mills & Boone!). Grand but not pretentious. It’s rich in history and flavour without seeming excessive. It’s elegant and beautiful and full of wonderful things to see and do with your loved ones on your big day.

Located in the Santa Barbara wine region the ranch is a whopping 10,000 acres! And you can rent out the entire ranch for you and all your guests providing a stupidly unforgettable weekend away celebration your love fest.

This gorgeous wedding film by Like A Letter showcases a lot of this stunning wedding venue.

My name’s Joshua and I am a wedding & elopement photographer from Sydney Australia. Specialising in raw & natural wedding photography. I’ve been lucky enough to build a name for myself around the world and photograph numerous weddings & elopements in the United States as well as across the UK, Italy, Switzerland, Czech Republic & New Zealand.