St. Martha Catholic Church
A large modern parish in Murrieta’s wine country, with a semi-circular sanctuary, palm-lined courtyards, and a ceremony-only setup that pairs easily with a nearby reception venue.
A fast-growing Southwest Riverside County parish
St. Martha was founded in 1991–92, holding its first Mass at a rented town hall before a series of modular worship units carried the parish through its early growth. By the early 2000s the congregation had surpassed 3,250 registered families, and the current 1,500-seat sanctuary — designed by Lord Architecture Inc. around unobstructed sightlines to the altar — broke ground in 2002.
The semi-circular, contemporary design is a departure from an older mission-style church, with palm trees and open-air courtyard seating areas couples and guests can use to step outside between the ceremony and photos. It’s a ceremony-only venue — there’s no on-site reception hall or catering, so couples pair it with a separate reception space nearby.
Photographing a ceremony-only parish wedding
We’ve shot weddings here that pair the ceremony with venues twenty minutes or so away in the Murrieta/Temecula corridor — including multi-day South Asian wedding weekends where St. Martha hosts the Catholic ceremony leg alongside a sangeet or reception elsewhere. Since there’s no bridal suite for an all-day buildout, couples generally arrive dressed and ready, which shifts our coverage here toward the processional, ceremony, and family portraits in the courtyard.
Good to know before you book
- Ceremony-only — no on-site reception hall or catering
- At least one partner should be Catholic, per parish requirements
- Couples complete the diocesan marriage-prep process, including a one-day retreat
- No dedicated bridal suite for a full day-of buildout
Where we like to shoot
- The sanctuary’s semi-circular, contemporary interior
- The palm-lined outdoor courtyard areas
- Portraits near the building’s prominent cross
- The processional down the center aisle
What couples and guests notice about St. Martha Catholic Church
Reviewers consistently describe a warm, welcoming, multigenerational parish that’s served the area for over two decades.
The breezy, open-air courtyard spaces are called out as pleasant even in the Southwest Riverside heat.
As a working parish rather than an event venue, there’s no reception space or catering on site — plan a separate venue nearby.
Planning your day at St. Martha Catholic Church
Build your St. Martha timeline
Move the slider to the amount of coverage you are considering, then pick the size of the day. The timeline below rebuilds itself as you change either one.
A full day: ceremony at St. Martha, reception after
- 1:10 PMArrival at St. Martha, the interior and the details
- 1:40 PMGuest arrivals
- 2:00 PMCeremony
- 3:00 PMFamily and group photographs at the altar
- 3:40 PMPortraits in the palm-lined courtyard and by the cross
- 4:25 PMTravel to the reception
- 4:50 PMCocktail hour, guests and candids
- 5:50 PMReception: entrance, dinner, toasts
Ceremony is set at 2:00pm as a starting point, which is where most Catholic ceremonies in Orange County land. Tell us your parish time and we rebuild the day around it.
Planning a wedding at St. Martha Catholic Church?
Reach out to check your dateChristian & church wedding photography — how Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox services differ, and the parish rules that change the pictures.