Planning a Santa Barbara Elopement or Microwedding? Start Here.
Photo by Taylor Stuck Photography
There’s a reason Santa Barbara is such an appealing place to get married when you don’t want a 150-person wedding. You can exchange vows overlooking the ocean, celebrate over dinner at a tucked-away restaurant, or spend the day exploring somewhere beautiful with just the people who matter most.
But there’s a big difference between small and simple.
An elopement and a microwedding can both give you a more intimate wedding day, but they’re not quite the same thing. The biggest distinction comes down to how many people you’re inviting — and what you want the day to feel like.
So, What’s the Difference?
An elopement is typically the more intimate of the two, often involving just the couple or a very small group of guests. The day tends to be centered almost entirely around the two of you, with a flexible timeline and plenty of room for adventure. Think exchanging vows on a coastal overlook, wandering through a scenic spot for photos, or building an entire day around the places you love.
A microwedding, on the other hand, is essentially a traditional wedding on a much smaller scale. You might invite 10, 20, 30 or even 40 of your closest people and still have the ceremony, dinner, toasts, cake and other classic wedding-day moments. There’s more of an emphasis on hosting and celebrating with your guests, which also means a little more planning and coordination.
Neither option is necessarily better than the other. It really comes down to whether you picture your wedding day as an experience for the two of you or a small celebration shared with your favorite people.
And if you’re leaning toward either one in Santa Barbara, there are a few things you’ll want to know before you start booking.
Photo by Kyle London
Download Our Santa Barbara Elopement & Microwedding Guide
Because planning a tiny wedding doesn't mean you should have to figure everything out yourself.
We created our Santa Barbara Elopement & Microwedding Guide to give couples the local insight that can be surprisingly difficult to find online — beyond the usual recommendations to “just go to the courthouse” or “have a beach ceremony.”
Inside, you’ll find:
Where you can actually elope in Santa Barbara.
We’re going beyond the obvious spots with real location ideas and the practical pros and cons of each, so you can get a better sense of what will actually work for your day.
The five mistakes that can derail an otherwise perfect elopement.
Some details are easy to overlook until you're already in Santa Barbara — from marriage license timing to transportation and all the little logistics that suddenly become very important on your wedding day.
Where to host a microwedding reception for 40 guests or fewer.
Small guest lists can make finding a venue surprisingly tricky. We’ve rounded up options that are actually suited to intimate celebrations, rather than simply being oversized wedding venues with fewer chairs.
The local timing, permit and lighting details you need to know.
Because Santa Barbara has its own quirks when it comes to wedding-day timing. We’re talking golden hour, seasonal considerations, permits, festival dates and, yes, what “June Gloom” really means for your ceremony.
This is the kind of information that can save you from realizing after you've booked everything that your dream location has a permit restriction, your ceremony time isn't ideal for photos, or your intimate reception venue isn't quite as intimate as you imagined.
Ready to start planning your smaller Santa Barbara wedding?
Photo by ByCherry Photography