Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara - Santa Barbara (CA)

5 /5 Anna Vostrikova: Unitarian Society of Santa Barbara is a perfect location for a wedding ceremony and reception! We had a wonderful micro wedding at this location in October. Joanie, USSB event manager, helped us the whole way to organize the wedding of our dreams. I like this location cause they offer a verity of packages for the weddings of different size. The church is absolutely stunning!!! Joanie has an awesome vendor list that will save you tons of time doing research. The location is so convenient and close to all best photogenic locations in Santa Barbara. Make sure you include the organ in your ceremony. It’s sounds stunning!

5 /5 Nicole Jacoby: This was an incredible venue for a much more reasonable cost compared to other Santa Barbara options. We did reception only for $5000. The building itself is beautiful. The courtyard is spacious and well cared for. We also used their indoor auditorium space which had so much old school charm. Beautiful stained glass window, plenty of bathrooms, and so much space for dancing! There’s even a stage, although we didn’t use it. They also have lots of rental packages you can add on. We got all of our reception furniture (tables and chairs) for an additional $1200. We worked with Joanie from the Unitarian society who was so helpful! They are definitely firm on a few rules but overall it was all very reasonable and we had an incredible experience. Definitely recommend!

5 /5 JM Event Planning & Hospitality Production: Our team has had the pleasure of providing waitstaff services for several weddings here, and each time is an absolute delight. The space is stunning, and the onsite team is always helpful, professional, and a joy to work alongside. We’d love to support any future couples or clients hosting events here with our waitstaff and bartending services—this venue truly brings out the best in every celebration!

5 /5 Anthony Kuhn: We had our wedding reception at USSB last month and it was such a wonderful experience. Joanie was a pleasure to work with from the moment of booking through the reception, and the information sharing and planning is easy through their portal. The venue and their rentals are affordable, especially for being in the heart of Santa Barbara. And it is such a beautiful location and venue. It hardly needs more in the way of decorations. Everything went beyond our wildest dreams and were so thrilled we had our wedding at USSB!

5 /5 Nadia Fernandez: My husband and I had a “mini/micro-wedding” at USSB December 30th, 2023. After being together for almost 7 years and 2 years engaged, we decided to move forward and elope! We spontaneously made the decision about 3 weeks before the date we chose to do it on. After so much searching and favor from the Lord, we fell upon USSB and fell in love with the sanctuary space. It was absolutely beautiful and perfect for what we were looking for. We had a small, intimate ceremony with our immediate family and a couple friends followed by a dinner at a local restaurant. THE SPACE: The indoor chapel is stunning. We are so thankful to have our ceremony and forever photos in a beautiful space like this one.The arch detailing of the architecture and the large stained glass window made our ceremony photos look like a dream. It was just the perfect space for an intimate ceremony. Our family sat in the first two rows of seats. We decided not to mic up or use the sound equipment the church provides, but our guests could hear everything and it was nice to have everyone close to us. The sanctuary also has a beautiful grand piano so we hired a close friend who is a professional pianist to play before & during the ceremony. That was a beautiful touch. We were also provided a space for myself (the bride) to get ready in. With it all being short notice, we did not arrange for a rehearsal or a tour of the property before the day-off. I was not able to get an early hotel check in to get ready in SB before the wedding, so it was really useful to have somewhere to change and touch up hair & makeup before walking down the isle. The exterior of the church was absolutely beautiful for photos after the ceremony. THE PROCESS: Incredible! We worked with Joanie who is just wonderful. She worked very hard to flip the space for us since it was so close to the holidays, AND she did it on short notice! Joanie made our dream come true. She was kind, excited with us, and so generous with her time. Joanie always got back to me very quickly even though we were communicating in between the holidays. POST-WEDDING REGRETS: The only thing I wish I could have had the opportunity to do would be to have a large wedding at the USSB! The property is just stunning and truly makes the perfect wedding venue inside and out. I’ve said it a million times already, but the sanctuary was the perfect space for an intimate, romantic ceremony. I cannot have pictured having our “mini/micro-wedding” anywhere else. I don’t have all of my photos yet, but I will attach the ones I do have! So-Cal Photographer Instagram: @leenanesh