A Classic Santa Barbara Courthouse Micro Wedding in the Sunken Gardens

Getting Ready Before the SB Courthouse Ceremony

Jennifer sat with the hair and makeup team at the hotel while the room filled slowly, the bridal bouquet and Dominick's boutonniere arriving from the florist, the dress waiting on its hanger.

There was no first look planned. Jennifer stepped into the dress with her people around her, and the couple made the short drive to the courthouse when it was time.

A Spanish-Courthouse Elopement in the Sunken Gardens

Chairs were set in a corner of the Sunken Gardens, a harpist tucked under an umbrella against the sun. The officiant stood at the front. Dominick walked in first, and Jennifer followed down the aisle to Elvis Presley's "I Can't Help Falling in Love with You", stopping halfway, where Dominick came to meet her, so the two of them could finish the walk to the altar side by side. Laurie Rasmussen's harp carried across the open garden as Jennifer made that walk, the notes of the old song finding the archways and the tile overhead.

The ceremony was short and warm, a Spanish-courthouse elopement exactly as they'd planned it, family close in the garden chairs, the Sunken Gardens laid out around them with the 1929 courthouse's arched colonnades and clay-tile roofline framing every direction. When it ended, they walked back out together to The Stylistics' "Betcha by Golly, Wow."