San Francisco City Hall Wedding

San Francisco City Hall Wedding | Aurora & James

San Francisco’s City Hall is just a BEAUTIFUL place. The architecture and the overall ambiance is really something to see. I have had the opportunity to photograph a handful of weddings at SF City Hall. So I was excited to work with Aurora and James on their wedding! Here are some of the images from their wedding and three tips on what to expect with a San Francisco City Hall Wedding.

Make Sure To Show Up Early

Perhaps the most important piece of advice that I can give for San Francisco City Hall Weddings is to make sure to arrive early. You’ll need to set an appointment up before hand – but on the day of the wedding you will also be required to check in and fill out a little paperwork. They have dozens of weddings each day and do not wait for you if you are running behind. Planning on arriving 45-60 minutes early is the best plan of action. This will give you enough time so that you do not feel rushed through the process. Just getting to San Francisco and finding parking can be a hassle and you do not want to be stressed with this on your wedding day.

Take All of Your Posed Pictures Before The Ceremony

Especially if you have a large group, taking posed pictures before the ceremony is recommended. By getting these done beforehand, we can focus on the pictures of you and your partner after the ceremony. If you are able to coordinate not seeing each other until you arrive at the location, a cool wedding trend is having a first look. There are a ton of great places where this can be set up and the images of this moment are always cute 🙂

Plan On A Quick Ceremony

There are a couple of different ceremony options that you can choose from – but the standard ceremony is REALLY quick. From start-to-finish, it will last under 5 minutes. They schedule them back-to-back in groups of 5 or more. So if your ceremony is scheduled for 9 AM, there will be other groups with the same. The Officiant goes through each group quickly and efficiently and it is over before you know it. If you have a longer ceremony in mind, you will want to do some research on the other ceremony options. I believe that these types of ceremonies will cost more money – but it may be more in line with what you have in mind.

Do Not Make Plans Too Soon After The Ceremony

Definitely schedule lunch or some other activities after the ceremony to celebrate. Just do not schedule anything too soon after the ceremony. Give yourself at least one hour to photograph any of the posed portraits that were not taken before the ceremony. During this time, we can also take all of the couples portraits. If your ceremony ends at 10 AM, for example, plan on having the next scheduled event around noon or later. This gives you plenty of time to get all of the portraits that you want and to travel to the next destination.

Hopefully these were some useful tips for a San Francisco City Hall Wedding. If you are planning a wedding, I would love the opportunity to meet with you and discuss exactly how I approach wedding photography. The best way to reach me is through the contact form on my website. Thanks!