Simplistic Tropical Wedding at the Santa Barbara Zoo

The VondysOlivetta FlowersTodd BroadlandAmanda BuckinghamTaryn ReedGlam with TarynRincon CateringVox DJsSanta Barbara Zoo

Oct 14

Written By Megan Hageman

From the Bride, Danya:

My husband and I met back in college in the Summer of 2009. He had just gotten back from a safari with his extended family in South Africa and I was new to UCLA. We met at his fraternity house. He was walking back from a shower in nothing but a towel and immediately stopped to meet me. 8 years later, he proposed to me on a hike with our Alaskan Malamute and we set out to find the outdoor venue our dreams.

We both love Santa Barbara where his great Aunt and Uncle lived and decided to search there first. It did not take us very long to find the perfect venue. His Aunt and Uncle were very involved with the zoo in Santa Barbara. His cousin even has a memorial there so we decided to take a look. We instantly fell in love with the beautiful landscape of the mountains and beach surrounding the zoo. We both love animals and it felt extremely fitting as we had met when Scott had just gotten home from safari with the same Aunt and Uncle.

Our wedding was simple and clean, but had a tropical vibe to it to match with the zoo theme. Unfortunately, his Uncle as well as our Alaskan Malamute, Zeus, passed away right before the wedding so we incorporated them into the day with signature drinks and an awesome sign in memory of them. Our day was very interactive so you were up talking to everyone rather than being stuck at the same table the whole time including the action stations we had with different kinds of food made right there in front of you with foods from different regions, and we gave our guests Sugarfina flamingo candies as their table seating. We had giraffe feedings and flamingos come out at cocktail hour. There was cornhole as well as a photo booth that guests could partake in.

We are a fun couple that loves entertaining and really loves to let loose so that is what our wedding weekend embodied including a fiesta welcome party the night before the wedding. My advice to brides is to decide what is most important to you and focus your efforts on that. Everything else will fall into place and will be forgotten in the end. To us, food and music were the most important because that is what ultimately leaves in your guest's memories and creates the most fun for all! We just celebrated our 2nd anniversary and thought it was great timing to revisit such a great day during such a hard time right now.