How to Get Married at the Santa Barbara Courthouse- the Not Confusing Easy Guide

As a Santa Barbara wedding photographer, I relish the opportunity to capture the essence of love in this unparalleled venue, ensuring that each photograph tells a story that will be cherished for a lifetime. I offer affordable Santa Barbara Courthouse wedding photography packages for Santa Barbara weekday elopements and also give discounts for full size weddings on the weekdays. My space for these is limited as one of the most best Santa Barbara wedding photographers so reach out as soon as possible so we can start planning your wedding photos right away.

To help you out if your planning a Courthouse wedding or elopement and need to know how to reserve your ceremony and what to bring, here is a straightforward guide on how to make your SB courthouse ceremony easy peasy. Hopefully this is better than going to the website for the Courthouse and trying to make sense of all that!

When you go check out the spanish style Courthouse park in one of the parking garages across the street and just walk over. There is ample parking and you don’t want to try to find parking on the street in Downtown Santa Barbara.

1. Determine whether you will want a private or civil wedding ceremony.

You have two options for getting married at the Santa Barbara Courthouse, a private or civil ceremony.

A civil ceremony means that you can only have a few people and you basically get married by the officiant person who works at the Courthouse. it’s perfect for couples who want to elope just them or just have a few people and keep things real small. It’s free to have this with your marriage license, but there are only certain areas that you can have your ceremony. TBH they are nice though and you can go anywhere you want for photos after your ten minute ceremony is done.

The private ceremony if for couples who want a weekend, or to invite more people and have a bigger wedding, or want to have their own officiant, or maybe they want access to the Sunken Gardens or Mural Room for their Ceremony. It’s a little more costly but you have a lot more options.

Civil ceremony // For a civil ceremony, the typical option is a 60-minute appointment, during which you get your marriage license and have the ceremony performed immediately thereafter. Alternately, if you’ve already applied your marriage license less than 90 days before your desired ceremony date, you can make a 30-minute appointment for just the ceremony to be performed. The ceremony is performed by a Deputy Marriage Commissioner (provided by the County Clerk-Recorder’s Office). The non-refundable appointment reservation fee is $23.

For the civil ceremony, you are now permitted to have up to eight (8) people, including your photographer; see the county website for additional guidance on what is (and is not) permitted for civil ceremonies. Ugh too many numbers I am already confused hahah.

Private ceremony with fewer than 15 guests // A private ceremony gives you a little more flexibility in terms of who will officiate the ceremony (you can choose your own officiant instead of having a Deputy Marriage Commissioner). You’ll need to obtain your marriage license ahead of time, but you can invite up to 15 guests, AND you’re able to pick a weekend date (weekends are not available for civil ceremonies). If you have fewer than 15 guests, you’ll have the option to pick between six different locations around the Santa Barbara Courthouse to hold your ceremony at no additional cost. Though, it’s important to note that some of these locations are non-reservable.

The officiants provided by the courthouse do wedding ceremonies allllll day longggg and they are actually really good at it, and I always love working with them. So if you don’t want to have your own officiant you can typically trust that they will make your ceremony as nice and loving as possible and treat their jobs with a lot of respect.

A private ceremony with more then 15 Guests// For private ceremonies, you may hire an officiant to perform your ceremony! These ceremonies also occur on a regular basis. As they will take place in the Exterior Gardens, you will reserve your spot for a three-hour period, either 11 AM to 2 PM or 3 PM to 6 PM.

For these ceremonies, you’ll also need to obtain your marriage license at least 90 days prior to your ceremony date. Luckily, you can get this license from anywhere in the state of California.

The private ceremony route if what you’ll need to do to have a bigger wedding at the Courthouse- so don’t let yourself get confused. Just get your marriage license ahead of time and make a reservation and you are all set.

Weekday tiny wedding with 8 people or less: Civil Ceremony (officiant provided)

8 people or more, or on a weekend: Private Ceremony (need to hire an officiant)

For more information on reservation fees, policies, and a map of ceremony locations, visit the County of Santa Barbara website.

2. Gather Your important documents:

This is information for a civil ceremony, or if you’re applying for your marriage license ahead of your private ceremony. Here’s what you need to bring with you:

A valid state-issued form of ID (driver’s license or passport)
Form of payment to cover the cost of the license and ceremony (and any additional location options you choose). Here is the basic fee info:
– Ceremony appointment reservation: $23 (you’ll pay this in advance when you make the appointment)
– Marriage license: $100
– Confidential license: $111
– Ceremony fee: $104

Witness (this person also needs to bring their ID; no witness needed if you’re doing a confidential license)

Rings (if you plan on exchanging them during the ceremony)

Vows (optional!) The Deputy Marriage Commissioner is not required to let you read your own vows during the ceremony, but it doesn’t hurt to ask (some will allow it)! You can always read them to each other privately afterwards if it’s not permitted during the ceremony itself. In my experience they usually allow this, but you can’t count on it.

3. Decide where you want to have your ceremony.

Here is a map of the outdoor spaces you can get married at the Courthouse:

The higher up lawn areas is where you will have to go if your are doing a free civil ceremony, and it’s basically all the same with a view of the lower gardens. If you are having a private ceremony you can do the Sunken Gardens for an outdoor wedding ceremony which is down in the lower courtyard by the big stairs in front of the cool door. You can set out chairs for people, have a dude playing guitar, have all the regular wedding stuff except you can’t have any amplified sound. You can’t throw rice either so maybe rose petals would be a nice alternative?

if you want to do an inside ceremony, which is a good idea if it might rain that time of year, I love the Mural Room. Its super pretty and feels so rich, almost like being in a church or a museum. The light is gorgeous, it’s very serene, and you don’t have to worry about where people will sit. I think its a gorgeous place to get married or at least go for some photos.

Once you have decided what kind of ceremony you would like, and where you would like to have your ceremony, you will want to make a reservation. You can reserve your wedding date as far as 12 months in advance and as little as 5 days in advance.

Cost for the different areas are as follows:

15 Guests or Less: Free on the top of the lawn

Mural Room: $700 max 100 guests

Courthouse Garden: $1200 The Garden is made up of 5 spaces; the Sunken Garden, Palm Terrace, Fiesta Stage, Bird of Paradise, and Rotunda Lawn. These spaces are all reserved as one. The maximum capacity is 250.

Finally you are ready to get married- now you just need a few more things like a wedding dress or outfit to get married in, flowers if you are anything like me and love them, perhaps an officiant, someone to play music for your ceremony, and plans for what to do afterwards for your wedding reception if you are having one. And of course don’t forget you will need a Photographer and/or videographer to capture your best day ever!

I have some really affordable wedding photography packages for weekday weddings and last minute weekend elopements at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. My light and airy style is the perfect fit for the beautiful gardens and ground of the Courthouse and I am a real sucker for fun and whimsical garden weddings. I also love taking couple’s down to the beach for sunset photos later in the day, and I love meeting up with brides and grooms in the morning for some getting ready photos too.

I love creative free spirited couples and am down to do anything you want to do for your wedding day pictures. Reach out asap because these are quite limited per month and I would love to see if I am available. Hope this guide makes it a little easier for you to plan your SB Courthouse wedding and hope to be a part of it!