Santee Courthouse Wedding Photos | Carolyn + Victor
As a San Diego courthouse wedding photographer, I was excited at the opportunity to shoot at the Santee Courthouse Wedding Photos | Carolyn + Victor. My client and I were both on the same page regarding adding a little adventure to their courthouse wedding and shooting their portraits offsite. I had always wanted to shoot over by Mission Trails and I thought here is my chance! When I scheduled the walk thru with my client, I had also noticed another nearby park and had added it to the options list. We decided to first meet at the actual courthouse and let me tell you, we were both definitely pleasantly surprised!
The Santee courthouse was recently remodeled and had finished right before Covid -19 hit last year in 2020. So it was a major bummer that they weren’t able to use it. Now they are open and fully operating! Many people are having a difficult time booking their ceremonies at the San Diego courthouse location. I am definitely going to suggest booking at the Santee option. Even more so, if the couple is open to forest valley rock backdrops. There is the option of an outdoor ceremony too. At the moment only 2 witnesses/guests are allowed. Everyone else must watch from their vehicles. Masks are required during the ceremony except for the kissing moment.
The Santee courthouse definitely gives off minimal industrial desert vibes! You feel like entering Palm Springs. So if your clients are limited on time, you can definitely have a great time finding all the different nooks around the area. You have some awesome walls to work with! Metal industrial, yellow and succulent corners. If you maneuver your angles right, you can get some of the mountain backdrops too! You can also use the parking lot! There is plenty of space, so you don’t have to worry about there being too many cars.
I am becoming more and more of a fan of courthouse weddings! It’s like having a local adventure elopement. Many times, adventure elopements make you feel like you have to travel somewhere. With these courthouse weddings, you can dedicate 45min at the ceremony and then take up to a 15 minute drive to a nearby fabulous location. Your clients can always add time to their portrait session should they want to add multiple locations as well.
When people book you for courthouse weddings, always make sure to let them know their options. That they can stay at the courthouse and do the entire session there. Or ask them what kind of backdrop they would like for their civil wedding. Who knows, you might have totally changed what they thought was going to be a “boring” civil wedding. By letting your clients know ALL of their options, then they can fell good about making an informed decision and trusting you with their special day!
Another suggestion you can offer your courthouse wedding clients is timeline. Civil ceremonies are offered during business hours and sometimes it’s not at the ideal time. You can either offer to shoot at assigned ceremony time and continue on to their formal portraits. If their ceremony time is at a non ideal time, then you can offer to either shoot ceremony at assigned time and then offer to reconvene at magic hour time. Or shoot a mock ceremony and magic hour portraits all consecutively.
