Santa Barbara Historical Museum Reviews

We picked out the Historical Museum in 2019 for our 2020 wedding and were so excited to be able to use this beautiful space for our dream wedding. Obviously we were unable to have our wedding in 2020, but we were finally able to celebrate in the space in 2022. It was absolutely stunning! Just the most beautiful place to have our wedding. Our guests were just as blown away as we were--the market lights were a huge hit!

Working with Heather was super easy--she was very responsive, and was willing to reschedule our date for us two separate times. We could not have picked a better location.

Beautiful venue, our guests all couldn’t stop talking about how pretty it was. We loved the grounds and that we could have both our ceremony and reception in one convenient location. Parking is also very convenient. Couple issues—right now there is no permanent event coordinator. The girl that is running is seems spread pretty thin and I felt like there was very minimal communication and support leading up to my wedding day. Also, they sent an email saying they had to install these plastic balls in the main fountain but that the fountain would be running on the day of the event. In my opinion, the balls are ugly and take away from the charm of the venue. And on the day of our event the fountain was not running until I asked my wedding planner to tell the on site coordinator to turn it on (this was at 8pm our event started at 4pm). After the wedding, I received a bill that a vendor stayed late so when I asked my coordinator about it she said that the on site person was very strict on making sure our caterers cleaned meticulously to the point she felt they were cleaning up things unrelated to our event. I’m hoping the issues I encountered will be resolved when there is a more permanent event manager because I did love our venue. Also note that you have to bring in EVERYTHING when you book the museum—and for lighting you can only you BVD. They are great but add an immediate 2-3k to your cost for just lights.

*photos by Kaylee Chelsea Photography

My wife and I had our wedding reception here in July. It is the perfect venue for any event and the people are incredibly helpful and accommodating. There are sections to the courtyard that we used which made the event feel even bigger than it was. The sun went down and lights went on. Everything looked awesome. Would recommend to everyone.

Such a beautiful venue! The Santa Barbara Historical Museum was everything I could have imagined on our special day.

This is most hidden gorgeous venue in Santa Barbara! If you are looking for a true Santa Barbara style-esque wedding you cannot go wrong with the beautiful adobe style courtyards. My now husband and now live in the Bay Area but lived in Santa Barbara prior and wanted to find a venue in Santa Barbara that truly showcased the style and beauty that is SB and to share our love for this town to our guests! We wanted a central location and everything to be outside. We had our ceremony in the lower courtyard, held cocktail hour in the middle courtyard and then moved up to the upper courtyard for the ceremony. We only had about 120 people and the space can accommodate much more. You could easily do everything in the lower courtyard to save money as well. The grounds are just stunning and it fit our summertime, Southern California theme perfectly. The staff and Lyndsay (Rental Coordinator) were extremely friendly and easy to work with.
-Some things to note-it's not cheap, but the price is not outrageous and very much in line with other venues in the area (most likely much more affordable than a nice hotel as well and much better!) The plus side is that it's historical, unique and beautiful and you are not stuck in a cookie cutter banquet room. You can choose to be outside under beautiful lighting and there are also inside options as well.
-You have to bring everything in, such as rentals, etc. They have a list of recommended vendors are are flexible and allow you to be creative. We brought in our favorite Mexican food, Los Agaves and even had a churros served in the courtyard as a late night snack.
-No parking, although it's centrally located. We told guests to find parking, walk from their hotels or take an Uber or Lyft.
Beautiful spot and highly recommend!!!

We had a great experience at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. We held our ceremony in the lower courtyard and our reception in the upper courtyard with around 150 guests. Erica and Katherine were both great to work with and very flexible- we had an Indian wedding with a horse and all, and the staff at the museum were very accommodating. I liked how we could choose almost all of our own vendors.

The only drawbacks are the museum has a strict cut off at 10pm because of a city noise ordinance. Also you'll need to rent absolutely everything if you want to have your reception here. It's a beautiful space so you don't need to embellish it much, but I was a bit taken back by how expensives rentals were for everything we had to bring in.

Overall it was definitely worth it though and I'm really glad we chose to have our wedding here. It really does offer the best of Santa Barbara with the architecture, open courtyards, and views of the mountains.

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum was the perfect venue for our wedding ceremony and reception. Erica and Katherine were both extremely helpful in planning our event. We held our ceremony in the lower courtyard and had the reception in the upper courtyard and it was truly the perfect space for 125 guests. We were so happy with our decision to celebrate our big day at this venue!

We held our wedding reception at the SB Historical Museum this past Saturday, January 31, 2015 in Santa Barbara, CA. It turned out better than we could even imagine. We had a smaller guest list, about 40 people, and utilized the small outdoor adobe area. The space was perfect, very rustic and charming. Erick Reynolds the venue's event planner was extremely helpful and knowledgeable and helped to make the event stress free. Our guests loved it, and we can't wait until we get all of the pictures back.

When my fiance and I first saw this venue, we fell in love immediatly. We were looking for a place that really represented Santa Barbara since most of our guests were from out of town. The Historical Museum is beautiful, rustic, and has a Spanish charm. Erica was organized and easy to work with. The venue is large but you can make it as intimate as you want. Love this venue and so happy we chose the Historical Museum!

The venue is beyond beautiful and we had the best wedding coordinator in the World. Her name is Sophie Spier. The captions in photography are just breath taking and a treasured event not forgotten by the Bride/Groom or any of their guest. Ashleigh Taylor pictures from the Santa Barbara Historical Museum made for the perfect backdrop. http://ashleightaylorblog.com/wedding-photography/santa-barbara-historical-museum-wedding-photographer-cassie-ron/

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum is the perfect wedding venue for a ceremony and reception. The venue is beautiful in the heart of downtown Santa Barbara and everyone who works there is very helpful.

GORGEOUS VENUE!!! I'm so lucky to have found this venue. My friends and family loved celebrating my wedding here. Gorgeous views, beautiful outdoor setting, and stellar service...what more can a girl ask for?!?!

Awesome venue and location! It fit our budget and vision perfectly. Everything was perfect, clean and ready to go on the wedding day. It is such a beautiful venue, everything about it just screams old time Santa Barbara.

My husband and I recently got married, just this past October at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum and it truly was the best day of our lives. When we began looking for a venue in Santa Barbara, we knew that we wanted to find a venue where we could not only have our ceremony but also have our reception as well. We wanted to find a place that was Spanish, rustic, romantic and fun. The moment we walked through the gate at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, goosebumps ran down my arms, because we immediately knew at first glance that this was the place.

We met with Nora, the Director of Visitor Services, who gave us an incredible tour of the grounds. We began down on the lower terrace and as we walked through the grounds we took notice of the splashing fountain, the gorgeous exotic landscape, the grape arbor pergola with hanging vines and the cascading California pepper trees surrounding the terrace. It was so beautiful and so romantic. Nora helped us envision our ceremony and helped us come up with the idea to get married under the pergola (using it as the aisle I would walk down). She took us through the mid courtyard, where we envisioned our cocktail reception and up to the upper terrace, which completely took my breath away. There in the middle of Santa Barbara, lies the gem of a property. Again, a splashing fountain in the middle of the upper terrace, the historic and rustic museum as a backdrop, and the views of the gorgeous hills of Santa Barbara in the background.

Nora gave us such great ideas as we toured the property and helped us envision where we could set up our tables, our buffet line, our dance floor, and just as our tour came to a close we had become so excited about our wedding and had a incredible sense of just how beautiful it would be!

The next best surprise was the cost of the venue! We saw a lot of venues in Santa Barbara and did a lot of research and the value of what you get for renting the Santa Barbara Historical Museum is really great. There are no other venues that even come close to the beauty and the value that you get with this venue.

Working with Nora throughout the months prior to our wedding were so fun and so effortless. Nora is incredible sweet, professional and extremely knowledgeable, especially when it came to referring vendors. We utilized many of the vendors that Nora listed on her preferred vendor list. Our experience with our vendors was also so great- they were all very professional, a joy to work with and truly deserve so much credit for making our wedding day so perfect.

On the day of my wedding, as I walked down the grape arbor aisle, linked arm in arm with my father, looking into the eyes of my husband to be, seeing the beauty of the hanging flowers and candles running down the length of the pergola and seeing the faces of all my family and friends, I was overwhelmed with joy and the perfection of the day.

If you are looking for a venue to get married at in Santa Barbara, I would highly recommend taking a look at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. My husband and I had the best day of our lives there, and I hope that you do as well!

Many thanks to Nora and the Santa Barbara Historical Museum!

Much love,

Megan and David Strong
October 22, 2011

Great Venue! We loved the architecture and proximity to downtown SB!

Absolutely fabulous venue! My husband and I held our ceremony and reception here and can't say enough good things about the staff and venue. We worked closely with Lyndsay for months leading up to our wedding date and she was incredibly gracious, patient, and professional with our many questions/requests.
Our wedding was absolutely magical. This venue is such a gem of the downtown area and made us feel like we were on vacation from real life. Our guests loved the venue as well and the space we had for our 100+ guest list was more than enough. Hands down best place we could've booked for our wedding!

We loved having our wedding at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum, it was one of our top picks and definitely was everything we were hoping for and more. In preparation for our wedding, everyone we worked with was always very responsive, nice, and personable. We had a few special requests closer to our wedding date which Lyndsay, their event manager, helped accommodate and made sure our day went without a hitch. She was awesome! We have no complaints - my husband and I along with our guests LOVED this spot as it's such a beautiful, historical venue in a great location. I just wish we could've had a longer event...10:00 pm came too quickly! :)

This historical museum is an amazing wedding venue! Its naturally beautiful, centrally located in Santa Barbara and provided a smooth and easy flow from our ceremony to cocktail reception to dinner and dancing.
We received so many compliments from
Guests about the venue! We looked at many venues but as soon as we saw the historical museum, we knew it was the one. We had to end the wedding at 10:00 pm but it's so close to downtown that we walked to a club with our friends and kept the celebration going!

Santa Barbara Historical Museum is an amazing venue and was more beautiful on the night of our wedding than I ever could have imagined. It's a magical place! We had a great experience there. As a result of the historic nature of the site there are a lot of rules surrounding the use of the space, but I found the staff to be very reasonable and responsive regarding our requests. It also helps that they have a lot of weddings and really know what they're doing. I would recommend SBHM to any bride getting married in Santa Barbara.

We absolutely loved this venue. The SBHM staff were very helpful, responsive, and customer-service oriented throughout our entire wedding planning process. We made many trips to the venue prior to the wedding - someone at the Museum was always willing and able to help answer our many questions. The staff have lots of experience which we gleaned from when thinking through various aspects of our logistics.

The venue is absolutely beautiful, and quintessentially Santa Barbara. Everything was picture perfect (fountains running, flowers in bloom, property lights turned on, etc.) and in great working order. Our guests are still talking about how much they loved the venue and our wedding.

My only critique is that there are some limitations when it comes to preferred vendors. The Museum was able to work with us on our DJ and caterer, but do note that the company that arranges the lights is the only company contracted to do so (to their credit, they do a great job - our lighting looked fantastic - but just something to be aware of).

In short - I would hands down recommend the SBHM as a venue for a wedding. The venue is picturesque, the staff are responsive and helpful, and it makes for a very memorable experience for all.

We couldn't end up having our wedding here since it wasn't available for our date, but it's beautiful and they're so friendly and helpful here. We checked it out on a day they were setting up a wedding and it was so rustic and

Amazing amazing amazing. With options of all three courtyards, your possibilities are endless and you can truly make this space your own. Could not have asked for a more beautiful site. Only down fall is the price, but you get what you pay for, and the hours are limited, as well as very strict on vendors. It is a historical building so it's to be expected. Truly fits in the theme of Santa Barbara. Wouldn't have had it any other way.