I just happened to find out that Rich Tobin had a Yelp page and decided that I just had to leave a review. Rich married my husband and I VERY LAST MINUTE at Bacara on the beach back in 2004. We were so lucky to find him and were thrilled that he was able to perform a nondenominational ceremony which is exactly what we wanted. We loved and appreciated Rich so much because he was so easy to work with. Super patient and able to answer all our questions. Plus, he was able to grab us a marriage license in such a short amount of time. Not that he can still perform that magical miracle nowadays but back then he made it happen. We had an actual wedding scheduled with family and guests a few months after Rich married us but my husband being the impatient person he is decided we just HAD to get eloped and get married there and then by ourselves on that beach. It was really the best decision ever. I really highly recommend for this for all couples. Get married on your own somewhere and have the wedding party later because that special moment will your own forever. And you will remember it well instead of having that stress of dealing with keeping others happy at your party. Anyway, back to Rich. He has wonderful energy and light making him the best officiant to have marry you. I can't recommend him enough. And for the record, my husband and I are still married and in love as we were way back in 2004 and we now have 3 children with one of them going off to college in a month. True love exists! Let Rich make it happen for you! Wherever you are, Rich. Thank you. We will never forget you. read more

We were so fortunate to find Rich Tobin to conduct our Santa Barbara wedding. We left our first meeting with Rich knowing with certainty he would be the perfect person to officiate our wedding. Rich provides an air of calm on your tumultuous wedding day. He is a composed professional and is beneficial to any wedding. His service received many compliments from our wedding guests and the vows we created together were fantastic. Definitely recommend! read more

Weddings in Santa Barbara - http://austindara.com/ - Officiants Near Me - Santa Barbara, California

I am still getting compliments on what a beautiful ceremony Rich wrote for my husband and me. He did such an amazing job making it personal and just the right level of religious/spiritual. He was so understanding and helpful. For anyone getting married in/near Santa Barbara, I would HIGHLY recommend Rich!!! read more

Rich recently officiated our wedding and we highly recommend him. We were able to meet with him to discuss what we're looking for in a ceremony and collaborate to make sure everything was perfect. He provided guidance with our vows and spoke in a clear and kind voice. We were thankful we found him to perform our ceremony. read more

From the moment we met Rich, we knew he was the right person for the job. Rich made the entire process of paperwork, and ceremony content very easy. Rich will pretty much do anything you want him to. In our case, we didn't really know what we wanted so he presented a couple different ceremonies and we picked the one we liked adding and subtracting a line or two here and there. Rich Tobin is a great guy, we would definitely recommend him to officiate a wedding. read more

Rich Tobin was awesome! Our wedding ceremony he performed for us was priceless, and he has left a lasting impression for us and our guests. Rich was very informative far beyond our expectations. Furthermore, his genuine personality was of great comfort, and his experience was evident in all that he had done for us. We reached out to several officiants and are certainly fortunate we went with Rich. read more

Rich married us in June 2010 on the top of a hill in Santa Barbara. Our wedding involved a hike up to a gazebo in El Toro Canyon with only 17 guests. He was absolutely perfect. We got together for coffee a couple of weeks before the wedding and told him our ideas for a ceremony and he got back to us right away with a full ceremony script, but in the meantime we had written our own ceremony and asked him if he was willing to read our script. He had absolutely no ego about it, in fact he had quiet a sense of humor! He had a quiet, spiritual presence and fulfilled the role that we wanted in an officiant. We had a spiritual but not religious ceremony and he fit right in. Also, our wedding went later than planned and he was gracious about that. He's a lovely person and I recommend him very highly. read more

What a great experience!! My husband and I had a private wedding yesterday and we had the fortunate opportunity to have Rich marry us. He was fantastic! He was super responsive prior the ceremony (a last minute elopement booked only the week before). We got married at the Santa Barbara courthouse. He took time to show us the grounds, took pictures of us in the different rooms and give us a choice of a spot to get married. He made us feel super comfortable and performed a beautiful ceremony! He even took a few post-ceremony photos of us. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day and we are so glad it all came together because of Rich. UPDATE: To add - we also had Rich marry us at our vow renewal/ wedding a year later. He's awesome! I've since recommended him to friends who want to get married in Santa Barbara. read more

We are so blessed to have found Rich Tobin. From the initial email, Rich continually updated us of the progress. He presented suggestions that were very helpful and well though of. During the ceremony, Rich made both the guests and the couple feel very relaxed and the ceremony itself was great. I will always recommend Rich to those who wishes to have even the simplest wedding to the grandest. thank you rich for helping us make our wedding day memorable! read more

Rich is absolutely amazing. We were lucky enough to find him on yelp after making some phone calls and obtaining quotes. Rich made me feel so comfortable and he was so accommodating so it was a no brainer selecting him to join us on our big day. We communicated often leading up to the event. I never felt abandoned, as rich responded within a couple hours (via email, I'm sure if we called it would have been sooner but I had no need). A couple weeks before the ceremony he sent us our customizable ceremony. His file is easy and he's very open and willing to make it 100% custom to your event. The day of the wedding he took us aside and walked us through the ceremony, gave us some much appreciated pointers and suggestions based on his many years of experience, asked a few questions and we were ready to go. I can't stress enough how comfortable I felt from our first phone call, to our many emails to the big day. He was experienced enough to direct us to the photographer (discreetly of course) during big moments like the ring placement, and even our photographer loved him and thanked him for being so knowledgeable. He knows the area well (he's out of Santa Barbara but we wed in Goleta), and he even got us our confidential license so we didn't even have to register for that and make an additional trip. This review can't do him justice, Richard is an absolute gem. read more

Rich Tobin was fabulous! My husband and I got married at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens in September, 2010. We needed to find a last minute officiant, and Rich was great. He was very helpful and quickly helped us come up with our personalized ceremony. Our ceremony was beautiful and unique, we couldn't be happier. We highly recommend Rich! read more

We could not have asked for a more wonderful officiant for our wedding than Rich Tobin. He simply radiates kindness and peace, and he made our ceremony so beautiful and so true to who my husband and I are as a couple. It can be a bit awkward to find an officiant for your wedding when you 1) have not ever met this person before, and 2) are trying to find the right balance of spirituality for your vows, but Rich immediately put us at ease. He was always willing to work with us (and to be honest, he did most of the work) to craft the *exact* ceremony that we wanted -- even taking edits from us the day before our wedding! -- and he was so helpful in directing us in the beginning when we didn't really know where to begin. Even if we didn't receive tons of compliments on our ceremony (which we most certainly did), I would still be so grateful to Rich for giving us an absolutely perfect ceremony. Recommended in the highest. read more

Rich Tobin is one of the best out there! He guides you through the whole process painlessly and creates such a beautiful ceremony. We weren't sure exactly what we wanted our ceremony to contain so he gave us some examples and we were able to customize what we wanted. He is so easy to talk to and makes everyone comfortable. We received many compliments about from our guests on the service. I would recommend Rich to everyone!! read more

So glad we chose Rich to marry us! I live in New York City which presented its own challenges planning a wedding in Santa Barbara, CA. I was only able to travel to CA once before the wedding so most of our interactions were by email. He was always very helpful and quick to respond to my questions and thoughts. My husband is Catholic but my dream was to be married outside- which Catholic priests do not do- and my mother (who is a wedding photographer in SB) recommended Rich to me. After asking about my fiance and myself and what we were looking for, he drafted a ceremony for us that he then helped us to mold into something even better than we had imagined. We were so happy on the day and ALL of our guests remarked how our ceremony was the most personal and loving one they had ever witnessed. His demeanor was kind and calm and it really felt like he was lending a sense of importance in his presentation. Later when I saw pictures of my ceremony I noticed that he moved aside a bit when we kissed so now I have an amazing picture of that moment with just my husband and I and our beautiful first kiss! I would never have thought of that- but I love it! When we returned from our honeymoon he had sent us a keepsake copy of our ceremony on nice paper- a very nice touch and I'm so happy to have it! Thank you again, Rich!!! read more

I am so glad we chose Rich to officiate our wedding. He was fantastic! Over just a few emails, he created a beautiful and personal ceremony for us. People came up to us afterwords and commented on how well he knew us and how personal he was able to make our ceremony. We also met with him the day before the wedding and he gave us such helpful tips and reminders for the ceremony and how we can make sure we get really good pictures. This made our ceremony go so smoothly and yes, our pictures look amazing! I highly recommend Rich! read more

We called Rich 3 weeks before we wanted to get married and he was so nice on the phone, we agreed that he would officiate our wedding. He sent me a beautiful ceremony to overview and change to my liking, and encouraged me that we could make as many changes as it took to get perfect, but one set of changes was all it took. On the day of the wedding he offered wonderful advice as how to get the most out of the ceremony (and get good photo ops) and brought up things I haven't even thought of. Overall he was very nice, very helpful, and very professional. I would absolutely recommend him to a dear friend. read more

My husband and I were fortunate to find Rich through the Santa Barbara courthouse vendor list. Our plan was to get married at the courthouse and have a short and sweet ceremony. However, through several emails and a meeting with Rich he completely turned what we had in mind into something that was truly amazing and memorable! I loved how he was very in tuned with us and our needs and built the ceremony around us. In the short time we met him he made us completely comfortable and it felt like we had known him for years! My husband and I were down playing the ceremony because we plan to have a bigger wedding after we buy a house next year, but in speaking with Rich and through his guidance he helped us realize what an important and exciting moment this was in our lives and I am FOREVER grateful for that. He is a wonderful man and you can tell he truly cares for his clients and this important union! He was very professional and extremely nice, he also kept on top of everything which was a huge help when your planning a wedding no matter how big or small. I can go on and on but he was simply amazing! Best choice ever!! Love him and would recommend him!!! read more

Rich Tobin did a great job as the officiant for our ceremony. We received lots of compliments on him! He writes a personalized ceremony for you and then lets you revise it until it is exactly how you want it. He was also extremely nice which made it a good experience working with him. read more

Rich is fantastic and if I could give him more than 5 stars I would. He helped make the ceremony the best part of our wedding day. He was available and offered so many options that the process of molding a ceremony that was personal and perfect for us came effortlessly. I would highly recommend asking Rich to perform your ceremony. read more

Well where do i start. It seems like so long ago when i first contacted Rich. I began my wedding planning and i knew i wanted to get an officiant but how do i go about this especially since we were not planning to have a church wedding but we still wanted something very meaningful. Well then of course you have all these people to choose from. I actually found Rich through an online discussion forum (in which he had great reviews there as well) and i went on his website. So i looked at the information and decided to contact him. The first time i talked to him, i just got this feeling and i knew he was the one for our wedding. So i had him send me a contract and we were on our way, And no we had never met Rich until our rehearsal, but he was everything and more than we could have asked for. He is very easy to work with, gentle disposition, thorough, and shows a genuine interest in the well being of the bride and groom. His proclivity for kindness is superceded only by his professionalism. Our wedding was amazing and part of that was due to the beautiful ceremony that we had with the help of Rich Tobin. We would highly recommend him and believe that if you just put in the time to contact him, then you would understand what we are talking about. Also he was featured in The Knot magazine last fall for one of the weddings. Hope this info helps. read more