Where to Eat After You Elope in LA
The dinner is the part of an LA elopement people plan last and regret first. The mistake is always the same: a ceremony on one side of the city and a reservation on the other, and an hour of driving in between. The fix is simple. Eat near where you got married. Here's how to think about it by area.
Not sure what area you’ll be in? Here’s how we help you choose your Los Angeles ceremony location.
If you got married in Venice or on the Westside
Stay by the water and the canals. Abbot Kinney and the surrounding streets are dense with good, low-key restaurants, the kind of place you can walk to from a canal ceremony and sit down without a production. Casual, close, exactly the Venice register.
A few well-known options: Gjelina and The Butcher's Daughter on Abbot Kinney, or Great White for something lighter.
This is near where Dacia + Terrence married in Santa Monica →
See the Venice ceremony guide →
If you got married in Hollywood or the hills
Los Feliz and the streets below Griffith Park are right there, walkable, full of options from easy to dressed-up. You get the cinematic ceremony up top and dinner a short drive down, no crossing the city.
A few well-known options: Little Dom's in Los Feliz, Yamashiro for the view, or a table along Vermont Ave. Or switch it up and get drinks on Hollywood Blvd.
Pairs well with a Griffith or Hollywood ceremony →
See Chris + Caroline’s ceremony at Griffith →
If you got married on the Malibu coast
This is the one to plan carefully, because the coast is long and options thin out. Pick your dinner spot first, then your ceremony beach near it, not the other way around. There are excellent oceanfront restaurants along PCH, and keeping dinner within a few minutes of your ceremony beach is what keeps a Malibu day from turning into a driving day.
A few well-known options: Nobu Malibu or Malibu Farm on the pier, both right on the water.
See the Malibu coast ceremony guide →
If you got married on the East Side
You're spoiled here. Silver Lake, Echo Park, the Arts District, and DTLA have some of the best food in the city at every level, and it's geographically tight, so ceremony and dinner can be minutes apart. The area does most of the work.
A few well-known options: Bavel or Bestia in the Arts District, or spots around Silver Lake and Echo Park.
The one rule
Whatever you pick, keep it close to your ceremony. An LA elopement lives or dies on not driving. A great dinner twenty minutes away beats a famous one across town every time.
Book your dinner reservation early
Small-group dinners at the better spots go fast, especially on weekends. Most restaurants take reservations about a month out, and private rooms or set menus book further ahead than that. Once your ceremony area is set, lock the reservation, it's the piece couples most often leave too late.
Common questions
Can we get a private room for a small group? Often yes, many LA restaurants have a private or semi-private room that fits a small wedding party. Ask when you book.
How far ahead should we reserve? About a month for a table, more for a private room or set menu.
Can our photographer stay for dinner? Yes, that's an add-on we can build into the timeline.
How Cakewalk handles this
We don't book your dinner (here’s why), but once you're booked with us, we send a curated list of restaurants matched to your actual ceremony location, places that fit a small group and a wedding day, with private rooms or set menus where it makes sense. You reserve directly, we point you to the right ones. If you want your photographer to stay through dinner, that's an add-on we can build into the timeline. More on what a full day includes here.