Santa Barbara Courthouse Weddings
Santa Barbara Courthouse
Wedding Photography
If you’re searching for a beautiful location to have your wedding, Santa Barbara offers one of the best city hall and courthouse wedding venues around LA. This stunning historic landmark in Santa Barbara captures the blend between the Spanish and Moorish architectural influences making it a dream to photograph. From the large exterior Sunken Garden and Palm Terrace to the elaborate hand-painted murals covering the interior walls of the Mural Room, the details make the Santa Barbara Courthouse a premier wedding location. The clay-tiled terracotta roof and white stucco walls frame the Spanish Colonial Revival style that rolls throughout the entire architectural design. The details can be seen in the decorative tiles, elaborately painted wooden beams, large arches, and wrought iron gates. When walking through the Santa Barbara Courthouse it feels like a castle in Spain and it’s easy to forget that it is a fully functional California Superior Courthouse. After the destruction of the original courthouse in 1926 following the earthquake, the three-year build to replace the courthouse in the Spanish-Revival style spared no expense. The total project cost of the build back then was $1,368,000, which is is over $21,000,000 in today’s value. When it comes to beautiful city halls and courthouses, the Santa Barbara Courthouse is a stylish and elegant wedding venue.
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Amazing Photography Locations Around The Courthouse
Santa Barbara Courthouse offers a lot of diversity at one location to host your elopement or small intimate micro wedding. I am intimately familiar with this space from both a photography location and lighting perspective. The courthouse and sunken gardens captures the American Riviera vibe that Santa Barbara is known for. From the Spanish architecture to the green plants around the exterior, this space says Santa Barbara visually. Once you experience beautiful exterior and inteior architecture in person, you will understand why it is such a popular destination wedding location for weddings needing a larger Santa Barbara venue to elopements that are intimate and personal. The micro wedding and elopement collection is 1 1/2 hours and is specifically tailored to the Santa Barbara Courthouse It’s a very popular wedding location and the photos show you why.
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Elopements & Micro Weddings
2 Common Ways To Have Your Intimate Wedding At The Santa Barbara Courthouse
There are a few different ways to have your wedding at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. I’ve outlined the two most common approaches to get married at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. I weigh the different wedding ceremony visions against the risks around ceremony site location availability to help you find an approach that’s right for you.
This is my disclaimer. I am not an official or final source for information around operating policy as it relates to getting married at the courthouse. I am simply reporting what I’ve aggregated from my experience having photographed many weddings at the Santa Barbara Courthouse and Sunken Gardens. Although I don’t anticipate this process will change, anything is possible. Especially given the ongoing construction project in its various phases. Double-check location policies and rules with the official sources as their policies may change.
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1) Civil Marriage Ceremony At County Clerk-Recorder’s Office (The Hall Of Records)
Getting married directly through the Santa Barbara County Clerk-Recorder’s office is a quick and simple process if your wedding is smaller in size, ranging from between just-the-two-of-you to around 10 or so people. Here’s is a link to their site with the complete process.
I’ve summarized the process below:
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1) The first step is to schedule a marriage ceremony appointment online.
Only weekday appointments are available. The Santa Barbara County Clerk-Recorder’s Office is open Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. So no weekend appointments.
You can book up to 90 days in advance. Meaning, if you want a specific wedding date that is more than 90 days away, you need to mark your calendar to schedule your appointment exactly 90 days before in order to get your desired time slot.
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The Hall of Record’s office (shown in the photo above) offers different time slots for your paperwork and ceremony. So which time slot is my favorite time for photos? I prefer the timing when the sun is lowest on the horizon. The 3:00p time slot is the latest the Hall of Records offers, so the 3:00p time slot is my first choice to get the best light in your photos. The second best time slot for photos is early morning, 9:00a. That’s when the light is also low on the horizon, but getting up this early for their wedding is sometimes more challenging for some than others. Whenever possible, I like to avoid harsh sunlight to give you the best wedding photos possible.
Scheduling Tip: Say you want the 3:00p time slot. How do you ensure you get it? Available appointment times are released hourly, exactly 90 days in advance. The website releases eat time slot at the end of the hour. Meaning, if you want a 3:00p appointment, that time slot will become available at 4:0op 90 days before your requested date. Be sure to mark your calendar day 90 days before your desired wedding date and be on their website to book one hour later than the hour you would like.
The website is their only way to schedule. When you schedule your marriage appointment, you need to use the website. They do not make reservations over the phone or check availability. If couples try to book multiple appointments, all appointments will be canceled.
Here is a copy of their Marriage Fees.
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FAQ:
My preferred wedding day is not available on the Santa Barbara County’s Website Marriage License Appointment Calendar. I am within 90 days of my wedding and there are no time slots available as other couples have booked the available appointment times. I really want this wedding date. What are my options?
ANSWER:
The Santa Barbara County Hall of Records offers an Express Wedding option. This is risky. WEDDING CEREMONY AVAILABILITY IS DEPENDENT ON STAFF AND NOT GUARANTEED. AN EXPRESS WEDDING MEANS YOU WALK UP TO THE COUNTER EARLY IN THE MORNING WHEN THEY OPEN AT 8:00A, AND DEPENDING ON WHAT OTHER TASKS THEIR AVAILABLE MARRIAGE COMMISSIONS HAVE ON THEIR PLATE THAT DAY, THEY MAY OR MAY NOT BE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE YOUR WEDDING CEREMONY REQUEST. If you arrive when they open at 8:00a they are more likely to be able to accommodate your request. You may have to wait a few hours while they work you into their availability, however it’s more likely if you come early in the day. If you show up at 3:00 towards the end of the day, they are less likely to be able to accommodate a walk-in request.
Please note that they also have a staggered lunch from 12:00-2:00p every day.
You will also want to check their website to make sure their office is open on your requested date. Even though it’s a weekday, they are occasionally closed on an odd day here and there.
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2) The second step is to apply for a marriage license.
Do this online BEFORE your marriage ceremony
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appointment/wedding date. If you arrive to your appointment and have not done your marriage license, they will take you over to the computers for you to complete this before you can meet with them. This pushes back your appointment and can delay your wedding.
When should I complete the marriage license online? It’s important to note that they do not keep your marriage license application on file for longer than 30 days. Be sure the mark your calendar to complete your marriage license WITHIN 30 DAYS of your marriage ceremony appointment. If you fill out your online marriage license online sooner than 30 days before your marriage ceremony appointment, they will not have a copy on file and will ask you to complete it in person when you arrive.
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Public marriage application. $110
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Confidential marriage application - no witness is required, no copies are available to the public. $111
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Express Weddings
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Clerk-Recorder is offering "express" wedding packages at our Santa Barbara (1100 Anacapa Street, Hall of Records, Santa Barbara) and Santa Maria offices (511 East Lakeside Parkway, Suite 115, Santa Maria) with no appointment necessary. This service is provided on a walk-in basis and depends on staff availability. The package includes the issuance of a marriage license, wedding ceremony performed by a clerk at the counter, and recording of the marriage license without delay. Certified copies of the marriage record would be available for immediate purchase. The guest count is limited to the couple and one witness only.
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VERY IMPORTANT - READ THIS
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BRING A PHOTO IDs WITH YOU.
In the many weddings I’ve photographed, I have seen a few couples have to reschedule or push back their wedding time because one or both of them did not bring a photo ID. Your witness, if you are bringing one, needs a photo ID with them. I’m also more than honored to be your witness if it’s just the two of you and you don’t have a witness and would like to save the $51 witness fee that they charge for providing a witness.
If either of you have ended a marriage within 90 days you will need to bring documentation of that.
YOU CAN NOT BE LATE TO YOUR APPOINTMENT.
Please arrive early. The Clerks office is on a tight schedule with often back-to-back wedding appointments. When you photograph a lot of weddings, you tend to see this happen. Depending on their schedule, some couples that arrive more than 15 minutes late have to wait until another time slot opened up later in the day.
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You have two options as to who does your ceremony.
The deputy marriage commissioner who completes your paperwork can also perform your marriage. This is the most common option.
(or)
If you have a friend that you want to do the ceremony, you can appoint a deputy commissioner for a day. They will need to complete the application for a deputy commissioner for a day on the Santa Barbara County Clerk website ahead of time.
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To help you get a better idea for the flow of your wedding day, I’ve created a sample timeline.
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The recorder’s office offers different time slots. 3:00p is the latest time slot they offer and my preferred time to shoot as the light is lowest in the horizon when compared with earlier times.
Here is a sample timeline of what a 3:00p civil marriage ceremony will look like:
TIMELINE
The Hall of Records is the smaller building on the corner of the Santa Barbara Courthouse (corner of E Anapamu & Anacapa). Technically it’s a detached building, although it looks like part of the courthouse. This is usually where we will meet to start photos.
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I recommend parking in the round rotunda parking lot (located at 1115 Anacapa St) and walking across Anacapa Street to the Hall of Records.
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3:00p The two of you and I meet outside the Hall of Records. Arrive early. You can not be late to your paperwork appointment. Build in time for parking and walking across the street. Santa Barbara has a lot of one-way streets. If you miss the parking structure driving because you’re not in the right late, just circle counterclockwise around the courthouse’s one-way streets and try again.
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15/20 min of paperwork with the Deputy Marriage Commissioner. Photographs of candids signing.
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3:20 The Deputy Marriage Commissioner that’s been assisting you with your paperwork then puts on their robe and meets us outside the back door in the Sunken Gardens for your Ceremony. In my experience, these elopement ceremonies are short, sweet and intimate.
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3:25 Ceremony concludes.
The deputy commissioner who officiated your wedding then goes inside to complete your paperwork to issue your final marriage license. Meanwhile, we will take any formal portraits outside until your commissioner returns.
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If any family members or furry family members have joined you for your wedding, this is our time to get family photos.
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3:40 Your commissioner returns from their office and gives you your final marriage license in an envelope.
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3:45 Following the family photos, we will excuse your family and friends while the three of us (the two of you and I) play around the Santa Barbara Courthouse taking some amazing photos together.
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We continue taking photos around the beautiful Santa Barbara Courthouse grounds typically starting by heading inside to take photos around Courthouse interior. The inside of the courthouse is available weekdays until approximately 4:40 when the security guards do rounds and remove people for a 5:00p close time.
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4:15 After we are done with the interior, we make our way outside and take photos around the exterior of the courthouse, in the Sunken Gardens.
4:30 Conclude Photography.
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Most micro weddings are typically 1.5 hr - 2 hours. You can always add on more time if you want more photos. If you want to add a second location like the beach, that’s usually 2 - 2 1/2 hr
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2) Hire A Coordinator And An Officiant And Have A Private Marriage Ceremony
Another way to have your wedding at the Santa Barbara Courthouse is to bring in a coordinator and an officiant to plan and perform your private ceremony. This gives you a wider range of ceremony locations than marrying through the Clerk’s office shown in the option above. The Clerk’s office is limited to performing your ceremony near their office door. While the location for a civil ceremony is very beautiful, some couples may have a certain location on the diverse courthouse grounds that hold a special place in their heart. If you have a few favorite locations picked out for your ceremony, or if you’re set on a particular location, you have to options depending on your guest count size.
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A) If you have 10 or so guests and are flexible between two or three ceremony locations for your wedding, you can choose from whatever ceremony locations are available around the courthouse’s exterior based on day-of availability. It is a public space, so please be aware that someone may be performing a ceremony in your favorite spot. I tend to find that micro wedding ceremonies are generally pretty short and sweet. If this is the case, it’s often possible to just wait 10 to 15 minutes for them to finish their ceremony and move to a different location for photos. If your top ceremony site location is reserved by another couple through the courthouse, then it is unavailable for us. The risk of not reserving the space is that space may not be available to you when you show up on your wedding day. The Santa Barbara Courthouse is a popular destination location for weddings. There are many incredible alternative options around the Santa Barbara Courthouse grounds for wedding ceremony locations if your first or second top choices are reserved when you show up.
B) If you have more than 10 guests, or if you want the peace of mind to lock in and reserve your location so you can have chairs and have flowers, or if you want to have your wedding in either of the courthouse’s interior locations such as the Mural Room or Clocktower, you will need to reserve your ceremony location ahead of time. This ensures that the space you want for your wedding is reserved for you on your wedding day. The Anacapa Arch in the center of the Santa Barbara Sunken Gardens is a popular location for larger wedding guest counts. The Fiesta Stage has a similarly staired elevated platform with an equally stunning backdrop and makes for an incredible photographic location for a wedding ceremony. If you find your guest count is around 30 or so, the Rotunda Lawn or Palm Terrace photograph very well.
By bringing in an outside coordinator you can schedule your wedding closer to golden hour, allowing us to tie in a second sunset location like the beach. The lighting is better closer to sunset; fingers crossed we get an awesome sunset on your wedding day. This also puts us closer on your timeline to dinner time if you have planned reservations at a nearby restaurant to celebrate. The downside with scheduling your wedding closer to sunset is the interior of the courthouse closes at 4:40 meaning you most likely won’t be able to get photos inside the courthouse if that was important to you.
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Wedding Photography Tips From A Photographer Who Knows The Property
The Santa Barbara Courthouse is a popular tour destination. Please be mindful that we share this public space with tourists visiting from all over the world. If people are in the background we can either wait or try to come back to our favorite spots when the tours have moved on.
E. Figueroa Street is where the tourist buses park to load and unload visitors. If you’re considering a wedding on this side of the courthouse, be mindful that brake noise, bus passengers talking, and other noise associated with the buses loading and unloading may be a part of your ceremony experience. This side of the building also houses the air conditioning unit. It is not quiet. The air conditioner may make it hard to hear your wedding officiant since they are not mic’d.
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There is a metal detector at the entrance to the inside of the courthouse as it is a working courthouse. Make sure your keyrings do not have small pocket knives attached to them.
If you plan on carrying a phone, keys, wallet, or your wedding papers with you around the courthouse after we get married, it is helpful to bring a bag that can stand on it’s own. This lets us set our stuff down outside of the photo frame as we make our way around different photo locations both inside and outside the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Loose items not in a bag are somewhat challenging to set down and pick up over and over as we move throughout the space and create photos together.
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The Santa Barbara Courthouse pulls up in Google Maps as “Superior Court Of California County Of Santa Barbara”.
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The address is
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1100 Anacapa St, Santa Barbara, CA 93101.
I’ve made a map below from Google Maps of the Santa Barbara Courthouse and Sunken Garden Wedding Locations. The Sunken Gardens, Fiesta State and Palm Terrace are most popular. Shown on the County website but not shown here are the two less popular locations, the Rotunda Lawn which is directly to the right of the Fiesta Stage in the shadows and the Giant Birds of Paradise which is directly to the left of the Fiesta Stage. I’ve posted the direction of the one way streets that swirl around the Santa Barbara Courthouse. If you miss Public Parking Lot 7, the Round Parking Structure, you can loop around the courthouse and try again. Be sure to be in the right lane when driving down Anacapa Street to turn into the parking structure. From there you and your guests will walk across the street to the front entrance main archway of the courthouse.
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Tips For An Amazing Wedding
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The best Tip I can give you if you’re planning a private wedding ceremony is to please hire an Elopement coordinator
Take your wedding day off. I mean it. If there’s one day you deserve to invest in yourself to not work and enjoy the day, it’s your wedding day. If you want simple and stylish, the services of an elopement coordinator are unmatched. The whole idea of an elopement is to keep things easy and stress-free in the first place. If you have a vision and style, my best recommendation would be to not work on your wedding day. Give yourself the gift of taking your wedding day off and don’t work, please. Selfishly, your and my photos will turn out better when you are relaxed and don’t have to work on your wedding day. Hire an elopement coordinator so they can do all the work for you. A coordinator lets you show up and enjoy the simplicity that a micro wedding or elopement offers, while not compromising on all the style you love. I’ve worked with some incredible officiants in Santa Barbara photographing hundreds of weddings and I would be happy to make a recommendation that fits your personality and vision.
Please remember that Santa Barbara’s Courthouse and Sunken Gardens is a Shared public space
One thing to be aware of is that without reserving parts of the grounds, the space stays open to the public. It’s not uncommon for tourists to be walking the grounds taking photos of the beautiful architecture. People are allowed to walk around and we need to share the space. I’ve found most tourists cohabitate the space well with couples in their wedding attire allowing us to both get the photos we want.
When NOT to have your wedding (if possible) -
Fiesta Week, an annual City Wide, 5-day Festival on the Wednesday before the first Friday in August
Santa Barbara's huge annual festival is called Old Spanish Days - Fiesta Week. The Fiesta Stage at the Spanish-style Santa Barbara Courthouse is ground zero for Fiesta Week. Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days Fiesta is an annual, city-wide, 5 day festival that begins on the Wednesday before the first Friday in August. Set-up at the Santa Barbara Courthouse in preparation for Fiesta begins before then. This week is not an ideal week to get married at the Santa Barbara Courthouse.
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Courthouse Restoration Construction UpdateAs Of June 2023
Major update on the Santa Barbara Courthouse restoration project:
“The Community Services Department Parks Division has received notice regarding a multi-phase roof repair project that is to be conducted on the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Phase II (highlighted in Purple on the ‘map below’) of the roof restoration project has been scheduled for the first week of August 2023 and is scheduled to be completed at the end of November or the beginning of December 2023. This roof project will place scaffolding on the Fiesta Stage and going to the second floor patio in front of the second floor door up to the roof. The wood arch door going up from the Saltillo tile steps will have netting and scaffolding in front. Above this arch wood door on the second floor will have the scaffolding…In the conclusion of the restoration walkthrough, we recommend that you place your ceremony in the Palm Terrace or Sunken Gardens where the scaffolding will not be noticeable in pictures or video. Construction will be conducted Monday through Saturday from 7a to 4p. Much of this work of this project is restoration work which is conducted in silence with no power tools. Since we have over a hundred weddings effected they are going to be as quiet as possible and focus on the main noise for dates where there are no weddings”.
My thoughts on the above statement:
I’m imagining the days they aren’t planning to have weddings may refer to weekends, when the Hall of Records is closed. If that is the case, then you can expect the construction noise to be louder on the weekends during the scheduled Phase II restoration time than weekdays. The Palm Terrace overlooks the Fiesta Stage. I’m not sure why they would recommend that as a possible ceremony site. It would seem that the background to the couple would be the scaffolding if set up traditionally how the Palm Terrace is angled when chairs are set up. I much prefer the Sunken Gardens between the two locations.
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History Of The Santa Barbara Courthouse
Santa Barbara’s Courthouse offers many wedding locations and a beautiful exterior for stunning wedding photos. There are advantages to each and a range depending on your vision for your wedding. To fully appreciate the beauty of the Santa Barbara Courthouse, it helps to have a little history. When you’re done here, head over to the Santa Barbara County’s website for more information on their wedding availability and the Santa Barbara County Courthouse wiki for this stunning location’s history.
Grounds Map
