My husband and I have a wedding in mid-May in Santa Barbara, we wanted to take 2 days before and 2 after to see the area since he has never been there, originally I was thinking we could drive the coast to Carmel for 2 days, back to SB for the wedding, then visit somewhere else for 2 days. Any ideas?? Specific hotel/inn ideas would also help. We would be looking for upper middle range-to-nicer type of nice places to stay. Thanks.

I really like Santa Barbara. I prefer it over Carmel, although I think the drive through Big Sur to Carmel is the best drive in the world.
We stayed in El Encanto in Santa Barbara. It's not the chicest hotel in town, but I liked it. Very "old California." Has a nice restaurant too.
Check out the botanical gardens in Santa Barbara, ad try to twok in a hike up Rattlesnake Canyon.
Have fun.

To me, Santa Barbara is one of those places where you go with the flow. Just being there, you'll immediately get some ideas on things you want to do. It is a very relaxed place.

Last time we were there, we meandered into the wine country, tried several great wineries, and grabbed a nice dinner in one of the small towns a little bit inland. It was a great time, and very little planning was needed.

I second Hazelmn's idea of just idling along. The Santa Ynez Valley and its wineries make for a perfect day of doing so.
Cross San Marcos Pass and follow into Los Olivos. Visit Arthur Earl's for great Zins and Syrahs. Visit other wineries in the area such as Gainey near Santa Ynez (great whites). Either pack some lunch, buy a chilled bottle of white wine and rest for a leisurely lunch or try one of the many worthwhile restaurants in the area.
It's a wonderfully laid back way to waste a day!

Wow, that sounds like a trip that I might be interested. Any recommendations for wonderful places to stay in Santa Barbara?

Santa BArbara has alot of great things to do:
visit Santa Barbara Mission, Camile Day Spa, Pascucci Restaurant, Santa Barbara Farmers MArket on Saturday (Julia Child used to peruse here before she pased away) but people just don't seem to like the choices for Hotels.
Bacara is a resort with lowest price around $395.00. Montecito In at lowest 205.00 lowest. Best to check out B&Bs and tripadvisor for reviews.

We went on Expedia and got a nice enough room for about $135, but I would concur that the one thing that is a little lacking in Santa Barbara is standard accomodations.

One of the best places to stay up there is the old Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort. Very nice place to relax and play golf. http://www.alisal.com/

Also, rent the movie Sideways when you are up there and than do the Santa Ynez winery tour. One of the best drives in the State is the Foxen Canyon Road. Also, I think there are some biking tours of the valley.
When in SB check out Sterns Wharf and the harbor area.

This site has the sideways wine tour map that was made for the movie as a promo. It's PDF format.

http://www.chiff.com/a/sideways-wine-tour.htm

Since you'll be in SB in mid-May, the roses should be blooming at the garden in front of the Mission. It's very beautiful, go check it out if you have the time.

Thanks for all of the ideas! We are now thinking it may be more practical to fly into San Jose, and work our way down the coast from there, then fly out from LAX? This may be better than flying into LAX and going North since we have to be in Santa Barbara Fri, Sat. Sun. which is in the middle of the Thurs-Wed. timeframe we wanted to be in CA.