Santa Barbara Classic Weddings

Patrice was just perfect. We would absolutely recommend her services! Professional, knowledgable, and kind - 10/10!

We are so happy we chose Patrice as our officiant. She is so sweet and nice, and has a wealth of knowledge! Patrice made the process super easy for us and made us feel like we had known her for years. Our ceremony was exactly how we envisioned it - romantic, lighthearted and joyful. And not only did Patrice allow us to curate our ceremony to what we wanted, but we also have a booklet of our ceremony that we plan to re-read on our wedding anniversary forevermore. Thank you, Patrice, for helping make our day so special!

We had such a wonderful experience working with Patrice. From start to finish she was a calming presence, spent the time to get to know us as a couple and was an integral part of such an incredible day. We couldn’t be any happier with our decision to have her as our officiant.

Patrice was an absolutely amazing officiant! We found her online and quickly set up a consultation. From the first phone call, Patrice was thoughtful, empathetic, and kind. We had several chats with her leading up to our wedding, where she really made an effort to get to know us. On our actual wedding day, she was able to put together a ceremony that felt personal and poignant, because she had taken the time to really learn about us. She also provided a lot of guidance on poems, blessings, and readings that would be a nice touch at our ceremony. The ceremony itself was absolutely lovely and heartfelt, and we are so thrilled we found Patrice!

Patrice is fantastic! I am so grateful we found her. From the moment we spoke via phone, I could tell that she was warm, sincere and an experienced and dependable professional, exactly what we needed for our special day! She made our ceremony feel natural yet polished and her readings were truly perfect for us. Everything flowed so beautifully and we could not be happier with how it all turned out, thanks to Patrice!

Patrice was fantastic to work with! She is very professional and responds quickly to email/phone calls. Patrice was very helpful in sharing different options/ideas for poems, blessings and vow selections. She wrote a ceremony script that was personalized to us and delivered it beautifully. We asked her to keep the ceremony heartfelt but also fun, and she did just that. Patrice has a calming energy, which was very reassuring during the day of our wedding. So many of our guests commented on what a great job she did officiating. Overall, we had an absolutely wonderful experience working with Patrice.

Patrice was everything that we were hoping for. Being new to California & unfamiliar with the Santa Barbara area, we were worried about finding an officiant that would be falsely personal or detached. Patrice was perfect! She spent the time to get to know us, our relationship, & our guests. She is unbelievably kind, but also provides a good balance of guidance as to how the ceremony can be structured, taking thoughtful consideration of what you're envisioning. She is entirely professional and fun - our guests all loved her. 100% recommend.

Patrice is amazing!! She truly was a guiding light for us in the whole process and the ceremony was more than we could hope for. She made everyone feel so welcomed and we felt so special during the ceremony, it was just beautiful and so personalized. She had incredible suggestions and helpful tips for things I never even thought of. Having her expertise was crucial and just her positive and calming attitude was such a reprieve during the day. We could not have asked for more, we are so thankful we found her!

Patrice was the final touch to make our wedding ceremony perfect. We had a couple calls with her to get to know her in the weeks leading up to the ceremony and she really listened and cares about our love story. I couldn't imagine anyone else officiating our wedding in Santa Barbara. Her words were so kind and there wasn't a dry eye in the crowd. Thank you Patrice!

Patrice is everything you can hope for and more! She personalized our ceremony and helped not only us but our guests feel more relax. She made our ceremony memorable and provided guidance in crafting our vows and love notes to each other. Thank you Patrice for making our day super special!

We wanted to take a moment to thank Patrice with SB Classic Weddings from the bottom of our hearts for making our ceremony so special. We knew we wanted to get married in Santa Barbara but after talking to Patrice for the first time we felt so comforted and knew we were in the best hands to make our day as special as it could possibly be. When working with Patrice, something you'll be able to detect right away is how genuine she is. We made it a point to really focus and listen to every word Patrice said during the ceremony and it was so beautifully written and was delivered with so much love too. All of our family, as it was a small family only wedding, was just so engaged with the entire ceremony. We spoke over the phone with Patrice and exchanged emails many times before our big day, and she always made it seem like she had all the time in the world for us. She was always so encouraging too, and that gave us confidence too as we've never been married before! She really helped make our day more amazing and memorable than we ever could have imagined. I don't think we knew before going into it how important the officiant is to the whole day, and we know we made the right choice!

We are so grateful for Patrice's thoughtful words and support at our wedding ceremony. Her guidance and calmness made our wedding exactly what we were hoping for. Over several preliminary phone calls, Patrice guided us through the logistical details of the license process (made additionally complicated due to the pandemic) and collaborated with us on the details of a thoughtful ceremony. Patrice crafted a personal, meaningful ceremony for us which made our wedding day incredibly special. We are so glad we found her!

Patrice officiated our small wedding at the Santa Barbara Courthouse and made the ceremony so special. She is very warm and caring and delivered our selected readings and poems in such a meaningful way. From our initial phone conversation, she focused on personalizing our ceremony and making it the most special moment for us. She was very responsive throughout our communication, has an easy booking process, and offered a lot of resources to us to customize our ceremony. Her expertise and experience made our day stress-free and our few guests all raved about her. I highly recommend her services!

Loved working with Patrice Handley! She was so patient while I navigated (and changed several times) and coordinated a Covid wedding. She made my parents very happy!

Patrice did such an amazing job! She did an incredible job communicating and helping us out with any questions we had throughout the whole process. Not only did help us have the most laid back, stress free wedding we were wishing for but her personality is what really sold us. You can really tell that she’s passionate about what she does! She did an amazing job capturing our love story. All of the guests loved her beautiful speech and nice touches that she added to the wedding. All around she was amazing and I would definitely recommend her to anyone! You will not regret it!

From the moment I spoke to Patrice I knew she would be the perfect one to officiate our wedding. She made me feel comfortable, told me what to expect, talked me through each step, help me write our ceremony, and sincerely put her heart and love into our special day. Her pricing is great compared to others in the area. She’s super easy to work with, professional yet personable. She listened to what I wanted, guided me through this entire process. No stress! We can’t be happier with our experience. She’s the best! No need to look further...this is coming from someone who is super picky and values quality! Love Patrice!

Patrice's knowledgeable expertise and easy mannerism immediately made us feel 1000% better about the ceremony. She helped us craft our love notes to each other, readings, vows, and told our story so beautifully I cannot express how grateful we are to have her as our officiant. I wish I could giver her more stars! 5 is definitely not enough.

Patrice is a truly wonderful officiant. Not only is she is incredibly warm and lovely to work with, but she also makes the ceremony planning process very easy. I love her calm, attentive, and thoughtful style. The ceremony she created for us was so beautiful and heartfelt, and it perfectly captured the spirit of mine and my husband’s relationship. I can’t thank Patrice enough for writing and officiating our amazing ceremony - it was absolutely perfect. I recommend Patrice a thousand times over.

Patrice was SO wonderful to work with. We felt very blessed to have her as our officiant! She was professional, warm and authentic. She went above and beyond to make our special day run smoothy and to create a customized ceremony for us. We highly recommend Patrice!

Thank you so much for doing such a lovely job with our ceremony. It was more special than I could have ever imagined! You are very good at what you do and so thoughtful. I really appreciate your calm presence and your attention to detail. I am over the moon in love with my sweet man. 😊 XO Michelle

Patrice is the most special human being. We were so fortunate and blessed to have her officiate our wedding. It seemed that she was able to perceive exactly what is unique and meaningful in our relationship and our history together, and she wrote a ceremony that could not have been more perfect for us. I cried when I first read it. The ceremony itself was pure light-hearted joy for me, in part because of Patrice's amazing presence and love that she infused into it. I could not ask for a better way to start my marriage journey.

Patrice made our wedding absolutely amazing. From the first consultation, my future bride and I were put completely at ease by her knowledge, patience, and ability to pull together the story that would be told on our special day. When it came time for the wedding Patrice delivered surpassing all expectations. She eliminated any anxious feelings my wife and I were having allowing us to actually experience and enjoy the moment. Planning and executing a wedding can be hard, but working with Patrice is not. She is the real deal.

When we decided to elope to Santa Barbara for our vows, one of the hardest parts was to trust someone we met online to be our officiant. My husband (!!) and I are both religious but also very spiritual and it was hard to find the right balance. I talked to a few people and decided that perhaps we'd just do the courthouse thing and then take some photos in our formal clothes. Something just didn't feel right about though, so I googled a few terms about what I wanted in my officiant ('Santa Barbara' and 'boho' to name two) and Santa Barbara Classic Weddings popped up with a blog post about how to make a wedding feel natural and bohemian. It was 8:30 at night when I called Patrice and we talked for at least 30 minutes. Our meeting was definitely clandestine. From the first word we probably uttered to each other, our souls seemed to realize that they were of the same cloth. It took no time to realize that she would perfectly suit us as an officiant. Throughout the next few months we decided on vows and the rest of the ceremony material. She was very easy to chat with and was even flexible to change the date and time of the vows. The week before, she called and talked more, wanting details of how we met and fell in love. The ceremony was breath-taking. She spoke tenderly and even teared up when my husband and I did. She included a special note I emailed to her from our dog, Lady. Not many things in life are perfect, but our wedding vows were. I cannot even formulate the right words to describe how much I recommend Patrice let alone thank her for officiating the vows that bonded my wonderful best friend and I as husband and wife.

I cannot praise Patrice enough. She is HIGHLY recommendable!! She took the time to go through everything in detail, from wedding vows to the ceremony tips and insights. She answered any questions I had no matter what time of day. She is so kind, knowledgeable, & professional. We had a small wedding, with no rehearsal yet with her guidance, it was beautiful and so easy going in every way. She got to know us and she created such a personal ceremony that made it true to us and our relationship. Patrice is the PERFECT choice for your wedding day!

I could not have been more relieved and thankful to have Patrice marry us. She is the ultimate professional, and relieved our anxiety entirely upon our first meeting. She makes figuring out the ceremony and help with deciding on vows a simple process - which I can only imagine would be a supreme headache if we were working with anyone else. So many guests said it was the best wedding ceremony they had ever sat through. We laughed, we cried and it was all so perfect and so personal - just for us. The only thing I regret is not writing this review sooner. I wish I could give her ten stars. Thank you so much Trice!!

We coordinated with a couple officiants when trying to find someone for our wedding and when we talked with Patrice we knew right away we wanted her as our officiant! We appreciated her taking the time to genuinely get to know us from the beginning. She did a great job of incorporating important things to us into the ceremony and made it a very special day for us! During the entire process she was genuinely curious about who we were and our story together. She always had a gentle and compassionate tone when speaking to us, which we absolutely loved during our wedding ceremony. We cannot thank Patrice enough for all she did on our special day!

Patrice was absolutely fantastic and a pleasure to work with. She made us feel so comfortable and really took a personal interest in us as a couple and making our special day perfect. I would recommend her to anyone looking for an officiant!

Patrice was absolutely fabulous to work with from initial planning to our wedding day - having her as our officiant was such a great decision! A month after our wedding, we still receive compliments on how great of a job she did and how beautiful her words were. She put both me and my husband at ease throughout the planning process, made sure to understand both of our personalities and unique story, helped guide us through choosing poems/readings for the wedding, and even provided feedback on personal vows. Thank you again Patrice - you made our day so special.

Could not have asked for a more outgoing and personable wedding officiant! Patrice is awesome and went above and beyond to make sure our wedding ceremony was amazing! We had several phone calls and one rehearsal before the big day and I felt 100% comfortable with relying on her to guide us. 100% satisfied!!

My wife and I put together what we thought was going to be a small and quick wedding at the Santa Barbara Courthouse. Patrice helped to make it into something so much bigger and much more special than we anticipated. She walked us through the entire process - from the license application through then ending of the ceremony. Patrice has an ability to make the bride and groom feel so at ease in a situation that is anything but. She led our ceremony so beautifully. She spent time and effort to tailor the ceremony and the words she spoke to fit us. She's amazing! Thank you Patrice!

Patrice was absolutely wonderful. From day one, she kept constant communication with my wife and I. She also sent us reminders, but also relieved our stress when we realized that we were short on time. During the ceremony, there was a lot of commotion and last minute details that Patrice went over with us. Although time was running short, she had the patience and guided us through everything. As a result, our wedding was perfect and just the way we wanted.

Patrice, We thank you so much for the wonderful, meaningful and beautiful ceremony you did for us! We were just blown away by how thoughtful your words were. It was very heartfelt, funny and very "us". You definitely have a gift and a sixth sense for this work. We can't thank you enough!

We found Patrice on the knot. My husband and I were having a wedding outside of our county and went looking into Santa Barbara to get married in their beautiful courthouse. Patrice provided officiant services for that area, and she was exactly what we were looking for! We were having a small wedding of 16 people, something very intimate. We wanted someone that would be able to provide the warmth and capture the intimacy that my husband and I were looking for. Patrice was so sweet from the very beginning of our phone meetings! We were very comfortable with her! We didn't actually get to meet her in person till the day of, but she was just as pleasant in person as she was over the phone. She was also very awesome in handling our crying fur-baby, Marley. It didn't seem to phase her at all! She stayed focus to our ceremony. I would recommend her to anyone!

My now husband and I were married on the beach in Santa Barbara. We had interviewed a few officiants before finding Patrice, but I tell you, from the first conversation on the phone, I knew she was the right one. I feel so fortunate to have had Patrice officiate our marriage. It was more than that though. She casually interviewed us on the phone and you could tell she had a true knack for this type of thing. She asked questions that made my heart melt when my fiancé told her his response. She asked about our love story. She was able to take what she learned about us and turn in into such a great ceremonial intro. Then, she helped us choose ceremonial readings that represented us. She really is just a lovely person! Can’t speak high enough of our officiant!

Patrice Handley of Santa Barbara Classic Weddings is a wonderful person and the perfect choice if you are looking for a wedding officiant in Santa Barbara! She responded within hours to our first email and we knew from the start she was the person we wanted to work with. We only had a few weeks to plan our wedding and Patrice guided us through every step. She talked with us over the phone to really got to know both of us and helped us when we wanted to write our own vows! She always responded the same day, was always available for phone calls and really made us feel like we were almost family. So friendly, warm and kind! Every time I felt a bit stressed about my vows or anything else, she would reassure me and promise that everything would work out! We got married at the Santa Barbara Courthouse which is an amazing location, to begin with. Patrice did an amazing job during our ceremony and really took the time to tell our story, share our blessings, include our family members (who flew out from overseas) and let us say our vows. I was so nervous that I put the ring on my husband's wrong finger and she made a funny joke about it which made it all funny. :-) After the ceremony, Patrice gave us a book of our ceremony - even though that wasn't part of our package. She really made our most special day even more special. Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, Patrice! Mirjam & James

Patrice is a delightful person and a wonderful choice for a wedding officiant. She was the first vendor we booked for our wedding because after a short phone conversation, we knew she was the one! We met with her in person while we were visiting Santa Barbara and we left feeling more confident than ever that she was perfect. She took the time to get to know us as a couple and what really makes us tick. As out of towners, she did everything she could to help us plan for our wedding and ensure everything went smoothly. She contacted us when promised, was available via phone or email when needed and provided a very extensive compilation of ceremony content for us to choose from when creating our ceremony. She then created a beautiful draft version encompassing our chosen readings and personal details we discussed in our first meeting - all of it as if she had known us for years. She spoke with us by phone a few weeks before the wedding and on the wedding day to ensure everything was going as planned. She is a reassuring presence and treats all of her clients as individuals and friends. We truly felt like she was a family member and were thrilled to have her perform our wedding. We will treasure the memories of our wedding ceremony and Patrice is a major reason why. I am struggling to come up with a way to effectively describe how incredibly wonderful Patrice is... just book her and you will see what a fantastic decision it is!

I can't say enough great things about Patrice - Our ceremony was absolutely perfect. It was well thought out and personal, even though we only found her three weeks before our wedding. She made the entire ceremony so personal, and helped us every step of the way (the actual day included because I was so nervous). Patrice is incredibly warm and open, and made us feel so welcomed and included. So many personal touches to our ceremony. We will remember her for years to come.

Patrice Handley was recommended by our wedding photographer so we decided to give her a call. Right away I knew she would be our officiant. Patrice is very genuine and full of heart. We had a meeting together and she asked us meaningful questions to get to know us as a couple. She was very easy to talk to and made us feel very comfortable. We told her about our love for one another and a few of our stories. Based on our conversation, she helped us customize our vows and made it very personal. During the ceremony, I was very touched by her words. She definitely as a gift!! Thank you Patrice for helping make our special day so very special!

Santa Barbara Classic Weddings was recommended to us by our photographer Cherry Thomas (also amazing). We met with Patrice over the phone and had a wonderful conversation where she offered great ideas and provided many options for how our ceremony could work. After doing some of our own homework we selected a few poems and prayers and our vows. We made a few edits to some of the suggestions presented and discussed our selections with Patrice. She walked us through the entire ceremony end to end and was very patient with us, answering all of our questions. She is very reassuring! From there she put together the most amazing and beautiful ceremony we could ever imagine. After the ceremony, Patrice presented us with a folder with our Marriage certificate and a booklet of our ceremony! Many of our guests commented on what an amazing job Patrice did, capturing our spirit, putting it into beautiful words, and making our ceremony so personal and special. We can’t thank Patrice enough for making our wedding so special for our guests and us, and a day we will reflect on, as the best ever start to the rest of our lives together. If you are looking for a real professional to officiate your ceremony, you found it in Patrice.

Patrice Handley of Santa Barbara Classic Weddings was the perfect choice for our wedding officiant. She took the time before the wedding to really get to know us, our story and everything to make our day special. The format of our service was so meaningful and really spoke to who we are and what is important to us. It was like she was related to us and really gave the ceremony such a personal and sentimental touch that made it so right. All of our family and friends who attended mentioned how exceptional Patrice was and how much our ceremony format and words felt so perfect for who we are. Patrice has tremendous attention to detail. She is very heartfelt and thoughtful and truly cares about us and our day. She made the biggest day of our lives a dream come true and we really can't thank her enough. We wish we could do it all over again, it was that incredible!! THANK YOU, Patrice!

Through our wedding planning, Patrice was more than an officiant- she became a friend. At our first meeting, she was warm and welcoming, and made a true effort to get to know me and my husband. This was especially reflected when she helped us shape the perfect vows and ceremony pieces for the day. She made herself available by email or phone, and I recall my husband calling her the morning of the wedding because he had some last-minute questions about repeating his vows. I talked to Patrice that morning too, and she reassured us that everything would be wonderful and beautiful, and it was. We are very appreciative, and would highly recommend her to anyone.

We are still basking in the glow of an absolutely perfect day. We wanted to express our sincere thanks for such an incredibly beautiful ceremony. It was so personal and honest and our parents and many of our guests said it was the most moving ceremony they had ever attended. My mother was just blown away by how well your/our words fit us as a couple. We will never forget it - but we are still grateful that you wrote it down for us!! You made our wedding day so very special. Thank you.

When I decided I wanted to get married at the Santa Barbara courthouse I had no idea where to begin. I am not from SB so I was very lucky to have found Patrice. The moment I talked to her on the phone I knew that I would want her to officiate my ceremony. She walked me through the entire process in such a way that I began to have a clear vision for my ceremony! Patrice is a very helpful and professional minister. She was able to give my husband and I referrals for photography and music as well. I have to say that Patrice also made the process of writing our vows a fun experience. She actually provided us with many choices we could include but also allowed us to include some of our own quotes and ideas to make our ceremony more personal. She had ways of putting everything together to make our ceremony uniquely ours! On the day of our ceremony I was a nervous wreck. Patrice’s presence was very calming. She had a way of running the ceremony but making my husband and I the focus. My family really enjoyed the wedding and had so many positive things to say about Patrice as well.

From the moment that my wife and I first sat with Patrice, we were impressed by her genuine interest in getting to know us as a couple. Patrice skillfully interwove details of our relationship into the ceremony. There was nothing ‘cookie-cutter’ about our experience working with her. She added a feeling of intimacy to our ceremony far beyond what we were expecting of an officiant. I am particularly grateful to Patrice because she encouraged me to write a short poem for my soon-to-be wife, which she then read at the ceremony. I also wrote the wedding vows for both my wife and I, personalizing them and throwing in an allusion to Dante. Looking back at my wedding day, I am glad that some of my own words were included in the ceremony. I have Patrice to thank for this. Also, Patrice made another important contribution to our wedding day by suggesting the recently reborn El Encanto as a quaint venue for our wedding. El Encanto turned out to be the right place. As soon as my wife and I were up on the American Riviera, looking out over the stretched Pacific, we knew that the wedding had to be there. The keepsake booklet that Patrice created for my wife and I is also adorable, and has become one of my dearest possessions. My wife and I were married in the summer of 2013, so this grateful review has been a little long in the making. Even almost three years on, though, the memory of Patrice as a helpful and thoughtful officiant stands out in my mind. Thank you, Patrice, for helping to craft our ceremony into a beautiful memory! My wife and I would both heartily recommend Patrice Handley as a wedding officiant for those couples searching for a sweet presence to oversee their special day. I am sure that she will impress many more couples in the future, as she draws on the unique facets of a couple to limn the beauty of the bond that is being consecrated by marriage.

Where do I begin. Patrice was amazing! From the first call to get basic information and a quote, she was so sweet and professional. She made me feel so comfortable that I knew I didn't need to look any further. She was a consummate professional, easily accessible and an overall sweetheart. We felt during our consultation that she really wanted to capture our love and personalize the ceremony as much as possible. The day of the wedding she calmed my nerves and keep my Bridezilla levels at an all time low. I was experiencing all of the typical wedding day jitters that any bride would have. She even escorted me to the restroom to help with my dress and all the while reassuring me that what I was going through was normal. My family was running late so naturally I was freaking out and Patrice was right there for me. I was so thankful to have her by my side at that moment. The ceremony itself was beautiful. It was everything we could have ever wanted. Without her talent, professionalism and kind heartedness it just wouldn't have been the same. We are truly grateful to have had Patrice. I cannot say enough about her. She goes above and beyond and exceeded any expectations we had for the day. If you are looking for a quintessential people person, genuine and caring and a "get the job done" officiant. Patrice is for you. Again, thank you so much Patrice. You were the best! Love, The Ericksons