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By Angela Desveaux, Founder & Creative Director, WedLuxe
Engage! Summits, the global leader in conferences for luxury wedding and event professionals, returned to California for only the second time with Engage!25 Santa Barbara. The summit brought together a whopping 500 industry professionals at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara for three days of programming, connection, and destination-focused experiences. I attended on behalf of WedLuxe, (with a table in the media lounge!). As always, I was blown away with how cohesive the design direction was. Every environment—from the main sessions to the evening events—felt intentional, well-executed, and tied directly to Santa Barbara’s aesthetic without ever feeling overdone. Once again, the dynamic duo of Rebecca Grinnals and Kathryn Arce (co-founders of Engage! Summits) delivered a home run… and this one truly knocked it out of the park!
Attendees arrived from more than 35 states and 10 countries and were welcomed with a California-inspired gifting experience presented as a refined farmers’ market. We received so many amazing goodies including Patagonia jackets, UGGs, Parker Clay leather totes, lavender bath salts, Twenty-Four Blackbirds chocolate, Golden Arrow candles, olive oil soaps, hand-painted local postcards, a custom poppy water bottle, Love You Bunches wine, and cocktails from Via Carota.
Throughout the summit, the speaker sessions took place in a room designed with Talavera tile references, layered textures, and a palette of blue, gold, and terracotta. The speaker lineup balanced high-level thinking with practical guidance for running creative businesses. Industry leaders including Mindy Weiss, Lynn Eastwood, Marcy Blum, Bryan Rafanelli, Rishi Patel, Todd Fiscus, Cindy Novotny, Danielle Frankel, Jefferson Fisher, and others shared insights on design, planning, communication, and industry evolution. I enjoyed the Pinterest Predicts data shared by Nadine Zylstra, Head of Programming at Pinterest. On day three, smaller breakouts offered direct, candid conversations around leadership and growth.
On night one, a welcome celebration inspired by Santa Barbara’s Old Spanish Days festival included Mariachi musicians, Latin dancers, bougainvillea accents, cascarón eggs, terra cotta bars, and woven lounge areas on the Bacara grounds. We even had a welcome donkey complete with beverage baskets!
Both of our beautiful lunches carried their own themes as well, from a Cold Spring Tavern–inspired setup to a quick bluffside deli market on the final day featuring salads, bowls, and California produce.
Even the breaks were destination-led (and gorgeous!), including a citrus-focused moment with a white chocolate showpiece and a Channel-Islands-inspired spread of juices and produce-forward snacks.
The second-night gala took place at Rosewood Miramar Beach and leaned into the vintage glam history of Montecito. Guests arrived in “Old Montecito Elegance,” and the glass tent was transformed into a black-and-white supper club with chandeliers, vintage champagne carts, and a cabaret orchestra by Elan Artists.
After dinner, everyone transitioned into a chocolate lover’s dessert party inspired by Lucky’s Steakhouse, complete with warm lighting, rich textures, espresso martinis, dueling pianos, chocolate-focused installations, and portraits of Santa Barbara icons.
On day three, our group experiences offered a chance to explore the area in smaller formats. Options included sailing *which I was lucky enough to enjoy*, private garden tours, cocktails at San Ysidro Ranch, tea blending at the resort spa, or a rare private tour of Lotusland. Others joined wellness-based activities such as lymphatic recovery workshops, while some visited the Funk Zone for music and views. A number of attendees chose to spend time with the Alpha Resource Center through The Engage! Foundation, supporting local nonprofit work.
The final gala, back at The Ritz-Carlton Bacara, carried a “Midnight in Wine Country” theme. Guests entered through a vine-wrapped tunnel into a ballroom filled with olive trees, velvet details, custom tables, wine-toned glassware, floral plates, tabletop fog, and projected olive-branch lighting. The meal was structured around wine pairings, and once the final course was served, the room shifted into a lively dance floor to close out the week.
With more than twenty-five Engage! conferences under my belt (and blessed beyond compare for every single one of them!), I still walk away inspired and filled with joy. This community has been a constant in my professional life for over fifteen years, and I’m genuinely grateful to be part of it. If you’re an event professional deciding where to invest your networking dollars as we move further into 2026, I can say with confidence: book your spot at the next Engage! It’s one of the few places (and definitely the BEST!) where the world’s most dynamic event pros consistently show up, share openly, and elevate one another. Details on upcoming summits can be found at engagesummits.com.
For the complete list of credits, please visit the links throughout the post which will take you directly to the full galleries for Engage! Santa Barbara. The galleries are where you’ll find comprehensive resources and links to all of the spectacular event partners and over a dozen photographers who captured the magic.
Next Up: Engage! on The Ritz-Carlton Evrima Yacht
The next Engage! event, (one of their signature “Retreats,” which are much smaller, more intimate versions of the conference), will be one for the books, aka: EPIC! For the first time EVER, attendees will be SAILING aboard the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection’s Evrima for a three-night, round-trip sailing from San Juan, visiting St. Barths and Anguilla. I’m BEYOND grateful to be attending, feverishly planning my wardrobe (!!!!!) and can’t wait to report back! It’s an exciting opportunity to experience Engage! in a completely new (and NEXT-LEVEL glamorous!) setting, and I’ll be sharing highlights through WedLuxe as the journey unfolds.
