The Best Month to Get Married in Southern California
One of the most common questions a newly engaged couple asks is "What's the best month to get married in Southern California?"
The honest answer is it depends on what you're optimizing for. Light? Weather reliability? Cost? Venue availability? Whether your guests will sweat through their suits? Each month here has a personality, and the "best" one is the one that fits yours.
October
Kami Arant Photo
The Most Popular Month: October
If you want one month to circle on the calendar without overthinking it, choose October. It's not a coincidence that October is the most-booked wedding month at almost every venue in SoCal — it's the month where everything quietly cooperates.
Days are warm but no longer hot. Nights are cool enough to wear a jacket but not cold enough to need a heater. The marine layer that can haunt May and June is gone. The light turns honeyed in the late afternoon. The trees in the canyons (oak, sycamore, liquid amber) start to turn, and you can plan an outdoor ceremony with very high confidence that the weather will show up for you.
If you can have your wedding in October, have it in October.
October
may iosotaluno photography
ALL THE OTHER MONTHS (IN ORDER OF POPULARITY)
Labor Day, September
Sara Knobel Photo
September
Early September gives end-of-summer vibes, challenging your guests to savor every last bit of joy from their summer social schedule. Labor Day offers a chance for traveling guests to make a long weekend of the occasion, and gives you the chance to host a big summer blowout your friends and family will remember for years to come.
Late September gives you most of October's gifts a few weeks early: long golden-hour light, dry air, that languid end-of-summer feeling. The trade-off is heat. A 90°+ afternoon is still very much on the table through mid-September, and inland venues (Calabasas, Thousand oaks, Ojai, Santa Clarita, Temecula) can run hotter than the forecast. If you go this route, plan ceremonies for 5 p.m., and consider adding a refreshing lemonade & iced tea station for your guests on arrival.
September
Lennox Photography
November
Greg B. Photgraphy
November
November is October's quieter sibling. The crowds have thinned, and the foliage is at its peak in canyon and mountain venues. The risks are mostly wind (Santa Anas can kick up unexpectedly) and the first chance of meaningful rain. Build a small Plan B for the ceremony and you'll be fine. Avoid Thanksgiving week unless your guest list is mostly local - travel costs spike and so does flakiness.
November
May
May is the second-most-popular wedding month in SoCal for a reason - flowers everywhere, longer days, that first stretch of reliable warmth. The catch is "May Gray." The marine layer can sit over the coast until early afternoon, which can flatten your morning getting-ready light and push your beach ceremony plans sideways. Inland venues (10+ miles from the coast) usually escape it. If you want a May wedding, lean inland or have a coastal Plan B for fog.
May
LoVe & Wolves photography
MAY
Miki & Sonja Photography
April
Sun & Sparrow Photography
April
April is absolutely gorgeous - wildflowers, verdant super-bloom hillsides, mild temperatures. There can also be occasional showers, so If you fall in love with April, consider that rain may move your ceremony indoors.
At The Lodge at Malibou Lake an indoor ceremony is a simple pivot, as our ballroom will easily accommodate your guests seated theater-style, with the wedding couple framed either by our picture windows or by the fireplace.
April
Lerina Winter Photo
June
Laurel Klein Photo
June
June is an absolutely beautiful month for weddings — flowers are at peak, days are long and the golden afternoon light is perfect for portraits. Though the Lodge at Malibou Lake is coastal-adjacent, the Malibu “June Gloom’ marine layer typically clears by midday, and afternoon temperatures rarely get as hot as in the later summer months.
June
Laurel Klein Photo
June
Lauren Cate Photography
July
Ashley Burns Photography
July and August
This is peak summer. Temperatures can hit 95°+ for ceremonies, and guests are in vacation (or staycation) mode. Summer weddings are great when you have a lot of out-of-town guests, as travel may be easier for families with school-aged kids, and Los Angeles is a world-class destination for friends and family from near and far.
Outdoor dining on our expansive Great Lawn is best in the high summer months. As sunset gives way to milder temperatures, al fresco dining is complemented by the (still warm) evening air. String lights across the width of the lawn means dinner feels cozy as darkness falls, and no additional rental lighting (read: $$$) is necessary.
Stefani Welsh Photography
December
December weddings have a real charm — twinkle lights look incredible, indoors feel especially cozy, and you can lean into a moody, candlelit aesthetic. Watch out for: rain risk increases, sunset is at 4:45 p.m. (your timeline shifts earlier), and the holidays could mean family logistics get complicated. A December wedding may work best if most of your guests are local.
December
Jan Wende Photographer
January, February, and March
This is SoCal's rainy season. We get most of our annual rainfall in these three months, and while individual days can be stunning, the unpredictability is hard to plan around — especially for outdoor ceremonies. The upside: venues are dramatically more available, venue fees are lower, and vendors are easier to book on short notice. If your dream venue is booked solid through next October, January or February is the move.
January
Jenny Smith & Co.
February
The Indi Collective
MarCh
Sharon Ko Photo
Quick Takes by Priority
If you don't want to read all of the above, here's the cheat sheet:
Best overall: October, May
Best for Outdoor Dining: late June, July, August, September, October
Best for budget and venue availability: January, February, early March
Best for a moody, candlelit feel: late November, December
Best for warm light: late September, October
Best for fall foliage: late October, November
Riskiest weather: January to March (rain), mid-July to mid-September (heat)
A Few Things That Matter More Than the Month
