Swapping the Ceremony Arch for a Built Platform: A Santa Barbara Ceremony Worth Studying

At the Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, a couple's ceremony on the bluff skipped the usual arch of flowers. Planners Cassandra & Company Weddings built an elevated platform, set at a slant, at the front of the ceremony space. Pink-toned grasses ran along both sides of the aisle leading up to it. For anyone planning a ceremony, this means two decisions that are usually treated as one: what frames the couple, and what lines the walk to them. Here the frame is a piece of construction rather than an arrangement, and the color comes from the grasses at guests' feet. On an open bluff, a raised platform gives the ceremony a clear focal point without depending on a tall floral structure. Expect it to go through the planner and a builder rather than the florist, so it belongs on a different line of the budget. Ask about it at the walkthrough if your ceremony site is exposed and on the coast.

With reporting from Style Me Pretty.