The Perfect Picnic in Santa Barbara

We went South to Santa Barbara for a beautiful, July weekend to celebrate Doodle Mom’s birthday. This special occasion called for a unique experience - a trendy picnic and family photos.

We discovered Santa Barbara Picnic Co. via Instagram and thankfully they had availability on our last day in town. Once we had the date and time secured, the next step was to pick a location. With several package options, we opted for the couple’s picnic (+ pup) in the rose garden at Old Mission. The beach scenes looked so dreamy, but you know me and the beach. The humans would’ve been eating sand and struggling to keep me clean for photos.

Once we had the details finalized, Doodle Mom secured Veils and Tails Photography because you know she loves lots of photos and can’t stand to only have selfies from our adventures.

Our Picnic Setup

When the day came on our trip to enjoy our picnic, we hopped in the car and headed to the Mission. There’s street parking near the rose garden and a convenient lot across the street.

Our picnic was all setup when we arrived and situated next to the rose garden with the Mission as a colorful backdrop behind us. It was styled with an airy umbrella for shade, sparkling water and charcuterie, a blanket with cozy pillows and the most adorable sign that said, “a picnic for a princess.” (Pretty sure that was referring to me.) In our opinion, this is definitely the way to picnic.

Santa Barbara Picnic Co. took care of everything - transporting the accessories, providing the food and beverages, and setup and breakdown. It was truly a seamless experience.

The picnic package was for 2 hours, so Doodle Mom planned for an hour to snack, relax, and be in the moment and then an hour to take photos with the picnic setup before walking around the rest of the park.

Doodle Mom loved wrapping up her birthday weekend with this instagram-worthy picnic and photos from the day are some of her favorite to date.

11 photos that will make you want to have a Picnic in Santa Barbara

If you still need some convincing that you should plan a picnic in Santa Barbara, I’ve rounded up some of our fav photos from the session for some more inspo.