Hi Everyone!
There are some really beautiful places to get married close to us here in Ventura and Oxnard, but one thing we will never get tired of is these lovely beach elopements at Hollywood Beach or any of the other Ventura Beaches. There are truly stunning options for you to have your wedding or elopement and the permitting process is honestly really quite simple and super affordable! So, if you’re trying to do your wedding with a bit more of a budget-friendly mentality – this might be perfect for you!
If you’re wondering how to get a permit or how to get married in Ventura or Oxnard on the beach – it’s actually quite easy! Feel free to either contact us directly or reference the links below for the details and contact info for the folks at the city. We would be more than happy to walk you through the process though after photographing several of these sweet celebrations at our local beaches here. Let us just start off by saying – if your guest list is less than 20 people, we have great news for you! You will not need a permit! If your guest list is larger than 20, you will most likely need to retrieve a permit from the city. For Ventura, you will need to get a “Special Event Permit”, which believe it or not is under $200 if your guest list is below 100 people. Some beaches, like Ventura Harbor do require a site fee as well ranging from $250 – $600, so be sure to know what the specific requirements are for each particular beach as well. We are kind of assuming Oxnard falls under the county of Ventura’s umbrella as far as these permits go as well. So to sum it all up – if you are having a wedding with 20 or less people, you do not need to obtain a permit to get married on the beach, being that the beach is a public place and not a State Park with their own set of rules. If you are having a wedding of more than 20 guests + loved ones, you will most likely need to get a Special Event permit for your gathering. See the links below for applications in Ventura County!
Ventura Special Events Permit — https://www.cityofventura.ca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/11957/Special-Event-Permit-Application-PDF?bidId=
Ventura Harbor Site Application — https://venturaharbor.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Updated-Wedding-Application-03.05.24.pdf
This wedding elopement in particular was such a special one! This family is so much fun and we actually had the pleasure of photographing another wedding within the family. This time we were blessed to photograph the wedding of the father of the groom of the last one! It was such a treat to see them all again, catch up, and capture some more really sweet photos of everyone having such a fun time with each other.
The flow for the day was extremely relaxed and go with the flow, which is basically our favorite way to be! The couple rented an airbnb right on Hollywood Beach, near Silver Strand in Oxnard. Both are equally beautiful stretches of beach to get married on as well! They are extremely clean beaches with plenty of sand to run around on. Also, there are hardly any people at the beach on any given day making it truly feel like you have your own private slice of the coast all to yourself here. Mind you, no one has ever come up to check if we have a permit for every wedding we’ve done on the beaches here – if that means anything to you..
This was a really perfectly balanced day with a simple ceremony bringing the two together in marriage and some fun family photos to follow, along with some very sweet romantics of the Bride and Groom. This kind of elopement is scalable in any way you would like though of course! There is definitely an opportunity to add on a “getting ready” portion of the day, or even the dinner reception to follow that would probably create more of a story-of-the-day kind of feel. But really, this is a great option if you’re trying to keep things simple while still capturing some really special photos of your wedding ceremony itself, as well as some lovely memories of all of your loved ones coming together to celebrate you. This elopement only booked 2 hours, but you could get away with just booking a 1 hour elopement or even including other sections of the day up to 4 hours or so! We’re more than happy to customize your booking to suit your day perfectly.
We were so thrilled to deliver this sweet gallery to our couple! They were truly so sweet and present with each other on the day and it was so palpable through the images. There was so many fun candid moments in between and emotional captures throughout! We hope you can feel the love in these ones!
