Palm Terrace Ceremony, Then a Trolley to The Lark

The Santa Barbara Courthouse Palm Terrace Ceremony

The Palm Terrace is the open lawn courtyard at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse, and the building's Spanish Revival arch and red-tile roofline rise up behind it while the tall courthouse palms stand over the whole thing. Danielle and Cody's guests sat in dark folding chairs on the grass, nobody standing at the front, while a guitarist from GTZ Entertainment played. Off past the lawn the red trolley was already waiting to carry everyone to the next stop.

The processional brought in the officiant, then the families, then a young flower girl who scattered petals ahead of Danielle. She came last, her father and her son Kael walking beside her, and the three of them made their way down the petal-lined aisle to where Cody stood in a black tuxedo with a white rose at his lapel. Danielle carried a compact white bouquet from Dirt Botanicals, a long veil down her back. The vows ran short, inside the half hour, and then they came back up the aisle married, hands up, into a shower of tossed petals.

“Her father on one side, her son Kael on the other, and Danielle walked the aisle between the two of them.”

Family Photos on the Courthouse Grounds

Family portraits happened on the courthouse grounds before the trolley loaded up, Viera Photographics moving the large blended family through the Spanish Revival courtyard, the sunken gardens, and the arched entrances — enough ground to work through grouping after grouping without everyone standing in the same spot. Then the couple slipped down to the beach below for a few of just themselves, the light going warm off the water behind them.

After that the red trolley pulled out from the courthouse for the short ride to The Lark in the Funk Zone, guests aboard while Danielle and Cody finished their portraits. The Pullman Room was being set while everyone rode over — bud vases, hurricane candleholders, a name card at every seat — and cocktail hour ran on the Santa Barbara Collective patio next door until the room was ready.

Dinner at The Lark, the Pullman Room

The Lark's Pullman Room is all reclaimed carved-wood door panels and exposed brick, string lights strung overhead and a folk-art painting on one wall, warm and lived-in the way an old Funk Zone building is. Two long wood tables ran the length of the room, black Chiavari chairs down both sides, set with white lisianthus and roses in bud vases and red wine poured around, and the whole forty-four sat along them together — the children mixed right in, sodas beside the wine glasses. Kirby Ruiz announced Danielle and Cody in, and they went straight into their first dance, Danielle spinning out under Cody's arm against the brick.

Dinner was family-style over four courses, the kids working through pasta and grilled cheese while the adults had the full menu with specialty cocktails alongside. Then five people stood to give toasts — the mothers, a brother, a sister, and a close friend — and Danielle's mother spoke from the head of the table in a deep burgundy dress while Cody grinned back at her over folded hands. The speeches ran about fifteen minutes, the kind that land when a whole blended family is finally in one room. The cake came out from Frances Baking Co, a white two-tier with soft ridged buttercream and white blooms, layered inside with fresh strawberries, and when they cut it Danielle turned and pressed a smear onto Kael's cheek while he laughed and ducked away. The night ran to the venue's end time, all forty-four of them — six children included — still there for the last of it.