Santa Barbara County seems to be thriving in the business of love.

The increased popularity of marriage ceremonies at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse comes as a result of an improved reservation service and express weddings by the Clerk-Recorder’s Office. It boosted marriage services as a way to make up for falling demand for real estate services.

The Clerk-Recorder’s Office says revenue from marriage services has spiked 88% in recent years.

Melinda Greene, the chief deputy clerk-recorder, said staff performed 30 weddings on Friday. County staff have performed 1,255 wedding ceremonies so far this year and recorded 3,519 ceremonies in 2024.

The focus on marriages has paid off as demand for the services has increased 18% each year since 2019. In 2024, the office performed 3,511 wedding ceremonies compared with 1,549 in 2019, Greene said.

The Santa Barbara County Courthouse has long been a destination for couples looking to tie the knot, and multiple wedding parties can be seen posing for photos in the building’s Sunken Garden on any given day.

One of the couples at the courthouse on Friday were Alvaro Olivo and Breana Barak, who met while working at UC Santa Barbara. Olivo is originally from Riverside, and Barak is from Iowa.

When choosing the courthouse for their wedding, the pair said they wanted something intimate and convenient.

“We wanted to just have a small, simple, intimate wedding with our families,” Barak said. “It was something that the courthouse staff would just take care of everything for us in terms of doing the ceremony, and it’s such a beautiful venue.”

In addition to being a local attraction, the courthouse brings in visitors who want to take advantage of the architecture, culture and weather.

Rachelle Halasa-Ruiz and Oscar Ruiz live in Sacramento but travel to Santa Barbara every year. Even though the couple are planning a wedding in Napa later this year, they decided they wanted to do a courthouse wedding first.

“We were going to get married in Auburn, but we decided, ‘Why not Santa Barbara?’ It’s a beautiful area and have good memories here,” Halasa-Ruiz said.

The courthouse even has attracted celebrities such as Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, and former Vice President Kamala Harris and Doug Emhoff.

Boost in Marriage Services

In 2024, 73% of the people married at the courthouse were visiting from outside of Santa Barbara County. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, that number was 46%.

Some couples bring family, friends and officiants and do their own ceremonies, while others rely on county staff to marry them.

Greene said the Clerk-Recorder’s Office staff started performing ceremonies in 2005, after the office’s remodel. Previously, staff were only able to provide the licenses.

Greene said the office began offering more marriage services during the COVID-19 pandemic when other counties were closed. Staff moved some operations outside with tents and tables for couples looking to get married.

In 2022, the office saw revenue begin to sag as interest rates rose and fewer people were transferring properties. Staff decided to double down on marriage services to make up for the lost revenue from lagging real estate services.

The county was able to automate its marriage services because of a new recording system that increased the number of people the staff can help.

Pre-COVID-19, the office recorded a yearly average of $212,000 from marriage licenses. The office recorded $381,000 from marriage services during the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Greene explained that there was a public need for wedding ceremonies, especially for military personnel who were shipping out or people with urgent timelines.

“It’s a very popular service that really showcases our courthouse, our community, and these pictures go all over the world,” Greene told the Board of Supervisors last week during a budget update.

Some of the ways the office has increased services are by doing them at the counter for express weddings, as well as through bookings. Greene said that since pivoting to providing more weddings, the phone has been ringing off the hook, and she has had to help run the switchboard.

“It’s just so fun, and when that couple comes in, all dressed up, beaming, everybody is happy,” Greene said. “If you’re waiting in line for a fictitious business name, or you’re getting a birth certificate and you see this pure joy, it’s just a wonderful thing to be around.”

More wedding-related information is available at Noozhawk’s Wedding Bliss special section.