An Intimate Family Affair At San Francisco City Hall
If you're recently engaged, just starting your wedding planning, or getting married soon, SF City Hall is a location you should take a look at. With an experienced wedding photographer to give you tips on what month to take outdoor photography in order to avoid the San Francisco fog and what time of day will get you the prettiest pictures indoors without a lot of other people walking around the building to disrupt or delay your couples session, you're sure to have a day that will go smoothly and deliver pictures that you'll cherish forever.
This wedding is a perfect example of how versatile San Francisco City Hall can be. It's really a chameleon and super easy to adapt to the wedding vision that you and your fiancé have in mind. Some people come in for a civil ceremony presided over by the City Hall volunteer staff otherwise known as "Deputized Marriage Commissioners," and some couples choose to have our team wedding officiant come in as Ayo and Diego did. We perform simple pop-up weddings and wedding officiant Tracy worked with them to perform their customized marriage ceremony on the second-floor balconette.
Couples can also elect to book a whole floor for one hour during the week OR book the whole atrium and grand staircase for two hours on a Saturday. As I said, you have options and can create a completely customized wedding experience for yourselves and your guests.
Ayo and Diego wanted beautiful wedding photography and their closest family around them. They were searching for a San Francisco City Hall wedding photography company that really had deep experience with this building, and could guide them through their big day. Ayo wanted us to find her a bay area hair and makeup artist that was experienced with women of color and we have a team of four artists that we regularly work with that are experienced working with all the beautiful brides of every nationality and skin tone. We have a system in place so we know exactly what your expectations are on your big day and can make your own natural beauty shine through.
Ayo and Diego met at a networking event in Philadelphia. She was with some friends at the event and he had recently moved to the area and was meeting an old friend. As it turned out, her friends were talking to the guy that Diego had come to meet! After talking for a while, Ayo decided that she really liked him, and they seemed to have a lot in common. He asked for her phone number, but at first, she declined, and then...she changed her mind and gave it to him.
She waited all week excitedly thinking about him calling her, but she never heard from him. Disappointed but pragmatic, she says that she thought to herself, "you win some you lose some!" As fate would have it, her friend invited her to another networking event, and decided to go. Once she arrived and met her friends it was her turn to buy drinks, and she headed to the bar to place their order. As she turned to see who was next to her, it was Diego! He seemed so happy to see Ayo, but she mentioned that he hadn't called and asked him why. She says he made a lame excuse that left her totally unimpressed, but he then asked her if she'd like to step outside so they could talk where it was quieter and Ayo agreed.
They went outside and ended up having a really great conversation! They talked for over an hour and found that they had so much in common, from their taste in music and movies to know the same people that they'd both grown up with within the area. Her friends came outside to make sure that she was ok, and he asked her out for drinks, a few days later. From then on she says she was hooked:) They didn't see themselves getting married, and spent many happy years together, but when Diego took a job across the country he said that he wanted to start thinking about their future and wanted to solidify their relationship. Ayo was very pleasantly surprised and they started planning their intimate wedding.
Flash forward to October 14, 2022, and it's Ayo and Diego's wedding day. They arrive at City Hall and meet their photographer who's already picked up their bridal bouquet and boutonniere at our preferred flower shop up the street and has handed them off to the bride. Ayo takes a sweet moment to pin the boutonniere on her groom and the couple's session begins at 2 pm. They had a day that ended up being fairly quiet and they really got some nice pictures on the grand staircase. Their immediate family arrived an hour later and Tracy arrived to perform the wedding ceremony at 3 pm. As you can see, it was small and joyous!
The newlyweds and their families headed over to Chambers Eat & Drink located at 601 Eddy Street for a very nice celebration with a much larger group of loved ones. The super fun Halloween and fall-themed décor was provided by Bee Amazing Events and they offer style and décor, outside of what our company focuses on. Our core offerings are Wedding Photography, Wedding Videography, Bridal Hair and Makeup, Wedding officiants, and Bridal Bouquets and Boutonnieres. We think of it as a ready-to-go wedding party pack!
Now it's your turn to daydream and think about what your perfect wedding day could look like! Would you start with hair and makeup at your hotel first? Maybe you'd want to add some wedding videography to record the tender moments of a first look? (most grooms tear up and we are here for it with extra tissue!) What about taking a tour of San Francisco after your wedding and toasting each other from the top of Battery Spencer overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge? These are just a few of the paths you can go down when you choose our company to create your perfect San Francisco City Hall wedding day. We look forward to planning with you!
