A Santa Barbara Wedding Welcome Party With Hot Pink Florals and a SoCal Feel

Ashley Beveridge and Anthony Porcelli first met as freshman at Florida State University in 2011 and frequently crossed paths as members of Greek life. "We had a crush on each other for years, although neither of us knew it," reveal the couple. "While we were friendly throughout our time at FSU, we didn’t start dating until after we graduated in 2015. We’ve been together ever since."

Anthony decided to surprise Ashley with a proposal in their home city of Miami in October 2020. He booked a suite at the W South Beach and had flowers, candles, champagne, and a photographer waiting there to capture the moment. "Anthony had the rest of the weekend planned with all kinds of sweet surprises—he flew Ashley’s best friend and sisters into town, he had a family dinner planned for right after he popped the question, and the next day, he had set up a yacht day to celebrate with our closest friends," explain the pair. "We definitely felt the love and it was a weekend neither of us will ever forget!"

The couple decided to bring their family and friends across the country to the charming beachside town of Santa Barbara for their nuptial celebration. The Ritz-Carlton Bacara served as the "hub" for their guests and was the location of the welcome party. "We fell in love with the gorgeous grounds of the property and felt the hotel really embodied the old Spanish feel of Santa Barbara," share Ashley and Anthony. "All of our guests traveled from out of town for our big day, making it a true destination wedding. Therefore, we felt it was important to situate our friends and family in one beautiful location that didn’t require them to venture out much once they arrived."

The planning team at Lynden Lane Co. pieced together all the details for the wedding weekend from the welcome event to the wedding day hosted at the Rosewood Miramar. "For our welcome party, the Lynden Lane Co. made our vision come to life," says the couple. "We wanted the event to feel natural to Santa Barbara and the beautiful Spanish-Mediterranean feeling that the area has. We worked together to come up with an overall feel for the evening and from there, they ran with it. They knew we were overwhelmed by wedding planning and wanted the welcome party to be something we could just enjoy and blindly trust them with—which we did."

Ahead, see all the details for the California-inspired celebration, planned by Lynden Lane Co and photographed by Valorie Darling.

The bride and groom decided to make a statement with their welcome party looks. Anthony donned a light blue linen suit and Common projects sneakers, while Ashley stunned in a white set. "Since my wedding dress was more on the formal and traditional side with lots of lace, cap sleeves, and a high neck, I was looking for a welcome party outfit that was fun, sexy, and slinky," explains the bride. She donned a two-piece design from Nookie with fun leg slits that showed off her chic Loeffler Randal platform heels.

Ashley had planned to wear her hair loose and wavy but her hair and makeup artist convinced her otherwise. "The day of the event when Nicole saw my outfit and got a better sense of what vibe I was going for, she pushed me to do something more original, fun, and edgy," says the bride. "We ended up doing a half-up half-down bun that had spikes coming out of the sides to really bring out the edginess. The hairstyle really made the outfit and I was so happy that she encouraged me to try something outside my comfort zone!"

Since everyone traveled from out of town, Ashley and Anthony wanted all guests to attend their pre-wedding events. They decided to not host a traditional rehearsal dinner and make the welcome party for all 190 of their guests the main celebration. "We wanted to make sure our welcome party set the tone for the wedding as we knew that a successful first event, would make our guests that much more excited for the big day," they share. "The location of the event was pretty much a blank slate—a beautiful, open lawn that overlooked the ocean—so we really had to start from scratch in the design process, which made it both fun and challenging at the same time."

The outdoor celebration was a vibrant affair with a casually elegant feel. "We wanted those quintessential laid-back California vibes turned nighttime cocktail hour to welcome our Floridan guests," note the couple. "Because our wedding was designed to be more traditional with a color scheme consisting of neutrals and different shades of blue, we wanted to do something different for the welcome event. We decided to incorporate bougainvillea not only because of its prevalence in Santa Barbara, but also because of the bold and bright colors it lends itself to. We also felt that bright pink would tie in a spring feel, seeing as our wedding was in the month of April."

"For the bar arrangements, we wanted to lean into that high contrast between black vessels and the hot pink of all the beautiful florals. There is always a challenge when striking a balance between wanting a big arrangement for impact but still wanting it to feel current and more on the organic side," share the planners. "Glam wasn’t the intention here and I think Keith Laverty and his team knocked it out of the park."

"Because we left most of the welcome party planning to The Lynden Lane Co, we didn’t know what to expect when it came to the details of the event,'" share the couple. "The Lynden Lane Co. had totally surprised us with gorgeous, massive lantern tents that covered beautiful couches and fire pits. They were the talk of the event and such a crowd favorite amongst our guests. It was really fun to have an element of shock and surprise factored into our wedding weekend and I would highly recommend that couples allow a little room for the unexpected in planning their wedding events!"

To lend an earthiness to the welcome event, planners Lynden Lane Co. incorporated green touches through with the linens.

As guests arrived, they received welcome boxes from the couple, which included fun details like customized golf balls with the wedding date and the couple's initials "A and A."

"One of our favorite memories from the evening was having some of our closest friends and family share speeches about us as a couple," reflects Ashley and Anthony. "It was really special and heartwarming to hear about their favorite memories with us in addition to their loving sentiments about our relationship."

The bride admits that she initially thought her white set might be too simple for the evening look. "Then we found a fun and flirty hot pink bolero from Silvia Tcherassi one week before the event to go with it and that’s when I knew I had to wear this outfit," she shares. "We felt the hot pink tied the bougainvillea in perfectly and brought in more of that boldness that we were going for. I started off the evening without the bolero, and as the party 'turned up,' I threw it on."

"Our favorite memory of the event was being able to dance the night away with our guests. We didn’t expect the evening to turn into such a fun party that ended with an encore and our guests not wanting the night to end," reflect the couple. "Our DJ did an incredible job playing songs that had everyone on the dance floor and the success of the evening really set the tone for our wedding day. We could hardly fall asleep because the energy from the night felt electric!"