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A groom carrying his bride along the surf line on a wide sand beach, both laughing as the waves break white behind them
A couple standing close together in the dunes, her hand on his face, tall sea oats crossing the frame under a pale sky

Winter Wedding Dates · Corpus Christi & Austin I am in Texas
every winter.

Check Your Date See the winter window
December through MarchCorpus Christi · Port Aransas · AustinTravel included
Why there is a Texas page at all

My family lives on the Gulf coast.
So every winter, my calendar does too.

This is not a service area I bought a phone number in. It is a trip I was already taking. While I am down, I take a limited number of wedding dates between December and March, and because I am not flying in for you specifically, travel is already in the package. Corpus Christi is the anchor. Port Aransas, Mustang Island, Rockport, Austin and the Hill Country all work when the route makes sense, which is most of the time.

Winter 2026–27

Dates go up in September.

When they do, this is where they land: the Corpus Christi window, the Austin and Hill Country window, and how many wedding dates are still open in each.

You do not have to wait for the announcement. If the date is already in your head, send it. I will tell you straight away whether it falls inside the window, and if it does not, whether it can be made to work anyway.

Send Me Your Date See Pricing
Why winter

Everyone books this coast in spring, and pays more to share the sand.

Hurricane season is over by December. The rain has stopped. The heat, which is the real argument against a Gulf coast wedding, has gone. And the beaches are close to empty, which is not a small thing when your ceremony is legally required to happen in front of whoever else turns up.

The trade is honest: evenings get cool, and you cannot count on anybody swimming. That is the whole downside. The longer argument for February is here.

A groom carrying his bride along the surf line, both laughing at the camera as waves break behind them
A couple standing close together in the dunes, tall sea oats crossing the frame and a weathered boardwalk rail behind them
Before you pick a date

The parts of a Texas wedding nobody warns you about.

Six permit authorities inside forty miles, a 72-hour wait between the licence and the ceremony, and a free chapel outside Austin with a catch. I wrote all of it down so you do not have to ring six offices to find out.

Wind-shaped white sand dunes running down to the Gulf on Padre Island, low green scrub holding the sand and a wide pale sky above How to elope in Corpus Christi, Texas Six beaches, a botanical garden and a set of free bayfront gazebos, plus the season nobody down here argues for and shou... Read the guide Onion Creek pouring in a wide sheet over the limestone ledge at McKinney Falls, white water breaking into the pool below with green woods behind How to elope in Austin, Texas There is a free wedding chapel on a cliff edge outside Austin that hosts over a thousand ceremonies a year, and most gui... Read the guide Clear turquoise Gulf water running up a wide flat beach under a pale blue sky, small waves breaking along the shoreline Beach wedding permits on the Texas Coastal Bend Six different authorities inside forty miles, and every one of them charges differently. Corpus is $100 and does not res... Read the guide A couple dancing close under a lit marquee in the evening, long guest tables and warm hanging lights behind them How to get married in Texas Texas makes you wait 72 hours between the licence and the ceremony, which wrecks more travelling couples than anything e... Read the guide A couple walking away hand in hand down a wide empty beach, her long train dragging in the wet sand and tyre tracks running along the shoreline ahead of them Getting married in Port Aransas and on Mustang Island Port Aransas charges $50 for a beach permit covering up to 300 people. Corpus, twenty minutes away, charges $100 and res... Read the guide Low coastal grassland running out toward a flat bay horizon under a soft grey sky, dense green marsh grass filling the foreground Getting married in Rockport and Fulton, Texas A beach ceremony with fewer than ten people costs nothing here beyond the parking fee. That makes Rockport the cheapest... Read the guide Clear turquoise Gulf water running up a wide flat beach under a pale blue sky, small waves breaking along an empty shoreline Why winter is the best time to get married on the Texas Gulf coast Hurricane season is over, the rain has stopped, the heat has gone and the beaches are empty. Everyone still books spring... Read the guide
Where the winter dates go

One trip covers the Coastal Bend, and Austin is a drive, not a second invoice.

Corpus Christi

The anchor, because it is where my family is. City beaches, the free bayfront gazebos, the botanical gardens when the weather turns. The Corpus Christi page.

Port Aransas

Twenty minutes from Corpus and half the permit price for up to three hundred people. Usually the first place I point people who want sand. The guide.

Rockport & Fulton

Under ten people on the beach costs nothing beyond parking, which makes it the cheapest legitimate beach ceremony on this coast. Pavilions for when it rains. The guide.

Mustang Island

Barrier island dunes and a state park further up, for couples who want the coast to feel unpeopled rather than convenient.

Austin

Greenbelt, river, live oaks, and a free open-air chapel on a cliff edge in Wimberley that hosts over a thousand ceremonies a year. The guide.

The Hill Country

Ranch and vineyard venues between San Antonio and Austin, which work on the same trip when the date lines up with a coast weekend.

Practical answers

The four things people ask first.

When do the Texas winter dates open?

Every September, for the following December through March. The windows and the number of open wedding dates post on this page.

Is travel included for a Texas wedding?

Yes, inside the announced winter windows. That is the whole point of running it as a season instead of a service area: I am already on the Gulf coast, so there is no travel-fee math on top of the package.

Is there a waiting period to get married in Texas?

Yes. Texas generally requires 72 hours between the county clerk issuing the licence and the ceremony. It is waived for active-duty military, for couples remarrying each other, for couples who complete an approved premarital course, and by judicial waiver.

Do we need a permit for a beach ceremony?

Almost certainly, and which one depends on whose sand you are standing on. Six different authorities cover about forty miles of this coast and they all charge differently. Corpus is $100 and does not reserve the beach; Port Aransas is $50 for up to 300; Rockport is free under ten people.

The long versions: every beach permit jurisdiction on this coast and how the 72-hour wait actually works.

Honest fine print

I am not a year-round Texas studio, and I am not going to pretend to be one.

No Texas address I do not live at, no second business profile, no page built to look local. What I am is a working wedding photographer, at it since 2018, who is reliably on the Gulf coast every winter and books a small number of Texas weddings each season.

If your date falls outside the window, send it anyway. Sometimes the trip can move. Sometimes it genuinely cannot, and I will tell you that instead of holding your date hostage while I decide.

Next step

Send me the date.

The date, the city, the venue if you have one, and roughly how many people. I will write back with everything, usually within the hour. If you want numbers first, the pricing page has them.

Check Your Date Corpus Christi