The Santa Barbara courthouse is stunning and iconic and is truly one of my favorite spots for an elopement or micro wedding ceremony in Southern California. I’m also a firm believer that just because you’re getting married at a courthouse doesn’t mean your wedding day has to be short and simple, so I want to walk you through how the courthouse ceremony options work, how to book them, and what a full day experience around a courthouse wedding in Santa Barbara can look like.
Choosing your ceremony type and space
There are really three ways to do a ceremony here, and the right one depends mostly on how many people you’re bringing and whether you want to bring your own officiant.
The simplest option is a civil ceremony performed by a deputy marriage commissioner through the County Clerk-Recorder’s office, which happens on weekdays during business hours and requires an appointment made in advance. You can book a 30 minute ceremony-only slot if you’ve already picked up your license, or a 60 minute slot that covers getting the license and the ceremony in one visit. The guest limit is small, generally around eight guests plus the two of you (photographer and kids count toward that number), and the ceremony happens either at the little Hall of Records archway door or in one of the free outdoor areas around the courthouse grounds, like the Wedding Tree, the stretch along Figueroa Street, or in front of the fountain. Those outdoor spots can’t be reserved, so it’s first come, first served, which is one reason why I like weekday mornings. Expect a ceremony reservation fee of about $23 plus a ceremony fee of around $104, on top of the license itself.
If you’d rather bring your own officiant like an ordained friend or family member, you can do a private ceremony in those same free areas with up to 15 guests, and this option is available on weekends as well as weekdays. It’s a good fit if you want something more personal than a county-performed ceremony but don’t need a big setup. You can also have a friend or family member perform the ceremony as a deputy marriage commissioner for a day, which is an extra fee through the Clerk’s office and requires no religious affiliation.
For more information you can head to the County of Santa Barbara web page here.
Once your guest list goes past 15 or so, or you want exclusive use of a space, you’ll have to reserve one of the two bigger spaces through the county Parks Division. The Mural Room is the only indoor option, a roughly 4,100 square foot room that was originally the Board of Supervisors’ assembly room and is covered floor to ceiling in hand-painted murals of Santa Barbara’s history. It holds up to 100 guests, can be booked seven days a week, and is reserved in a two hour block for about $700, which is made up of a $200 non-refundable application fee and a $500 facility fee. You don’t need to bring any decor because the room already has more going on than most florists could add and is really beautiful on its own.
For more information on the Mural Room head here.
The Exterior Gardens are the other option, and this is where the iconic courthouse photos usually come from. The reservation covers five spaces together, the Sunken Garden, the Palm Terrace, the Fiesta Stage, the Bird of Paradise area, and the Rotunda Lawn, and once you’ve reserved your date you can choose whichever of those spots you want for your ceremony. The Sunken Garden faces the main archway and is the classic backdrop, while the Palm Terrace sits a little higher and looks back over the gardens and the building. The gardens hold up to 250 guests and cost about $1,200 ($1,000 facility fee plus a $200 non-refundable application fee) for a three hour window, with two time slots typically offered from 11 am to 2 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm.
For more information on garden weddings the County of Santa Barbara has more details here.
How to Book Your Santa Barbara Courthouse Date
For a county-performed civil ceremony, you make your appointment through the County Clerk-Recorder’s office, and you’ll need to have your license in hand for a ceremony-only slot. If you want the clerk to officiate in a space you’ve reserved through Parks, whether that’s the Mural Room or the gardens, you’ll need to reserve that space first and bring proof of the reservation to your appointment, and the ceremony fee goes up to about $116 in that case.
For the Mural Room or the gardens, you fill out the venue agreement for that space, then email it along with your application fee and preferred dates to the county’s wedding venues address ([email protected]). The county keeps a Mural Room calendar online so you can check availability before you get your heart set on a date. Reservations can generally be made up to a year in advance and as late as about five days out, and popular dates fill up, so I’d reserve as soon as you know your date.
As for the marriage license, California has no residency requirement and no waiting period, and you’ll both need to go to the County Clerk-Recorder’s office in person with valid ID. Once you have it you’ve got 90 days to use it. You’ll choose between a public license, which needs one witness, and a confidential license, which doesn’t require a witness and isn’t searchable, and a lot of couples go confidential because it keeps things simple when it’s just the two of you and your photographer. If you book with me, I walk you through the whole process of choosing and reserving the right space, which tends to save people a lot of back and forth.
How to Plan Your Wedding Day in Santa Barbara
Like I mentioned above I’m a firm believer in going all out for your wedding day even if you have a smaller guest count. There are so many ways to celebrate in Santa Barbara so here are some ideas for how to structure your day.
You can start the day slowly with a cup of coffee and a walk on the beach, then breakfast or brunch on State Street or wherever in town sounds good to you. I’ll meet you at your hotel or Airbnb when you start getting ready, and we’ll blast some music and get some fun getting ready shots while you and your people do whatever you’d normally do, champagne or mimosas included if that’s your thing.
Once you’re ready you can do a first look at your hotel or Airbnb, or you can head straight to the courthouse and have your first look there, which some couples love because they get to see each other for the first time in such a stunning building. When we arrive we’ll take photos on the courthouse grounds with you and your guests before getting ready for the ceremony, and after the ceremony we’ll do couples portraits around the building, which is honestly my favorite part since there are so many beautiful places for photos. The spiral staircase, the rotunda lawn, and the clock tower are a few of my favorites, along with all the little nooks and crannies with tile detail or architectural elements that are just stunning. If we have time going up to the clock tower is free and gives you a view of the red tile roofs, the mountains, and the ocean.
A Micro Wedding Reception in Santa Barbara
From the courthouse we’ll head to your micro wedding reception, and one of my favorite options is renting out a private room or the patio at The Lark, an upscale New American and Californian restaurant, where you can have your first dance, toasts, speeches, dinner, and cake cutting with all your guests around one long table. I’d ask about their private dining options and minimums early since good dates tend to book up. If you’re still feeling the party vibes once dinner wraps up, Red Piano on State Street is a piano bar that makes a really fun little after party.
Other ways to spend your day
If you want some more ideas about how to celebrate in Santa Barbara there’s a lot that you can do. If you want to celebrate outside Alice Keck Park Memorial Garden is close to the courthouse, Butterfly Beach in Montecito is beautiful at sunset, and Leadbetter Beach has easy parking. The Funk Zone is another great option since it’s walkable and full of tasting rooms, and nobody will look twice at a couple in wedding clothes wandering around. I’d also bring a jacket, because the marine layer can roll in around 4pm and you don’t want to be shivering in a silk dress.
All of this is just a starting point for what your micro wedding in Santa Barbara could look like, and every couple I work with gets a fully custom timeline built around them, so anything here can be swapped, cut, or added to. If you’re thinking about eloping or having a micro wedding at the Santa Barbara courthouse and want help planning and photographing your day reach out to me here to learn more!
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