Posts tagged goldengatebridge
Monica & Scott

Monica and Scott got married in San Jose City Hall. It was just the 2 of them formalizing their 7 year old relationship. But they wanted to take photos at San Francisco City Hall.

We started shooting a bit later at the City Hall so there wasn’t so many people. After that we continued to the area near Crissy Fields. Since they came just for the photoshoot it gave me more freedom to experiment and try something new. It’s not that I always shoot the same. I don’t. But remember there are no guests, there’s no ceremony… and that allows for more time to simply spend time with the couple, to get to know them and to play around with some new ideas. At the same time I knew they wanted to get the stairwell shots. At the end of the day the City Hall wasn’t crowded so we were able to get these nice wide shots of them walking down the stairwell.

At the end we got some classic, experimental and personal photos of 3 of them… oh yeah Olly joined us and was our only guests in those photos. She behaved very well

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Lana & Tom Sutro Baths Wedding

I love when couples called me because I was recommended to them by their friends. To me that’s the biggest compliment one can get. So when Lana contacted me about a wedding they were planning in November I was excited. After talking with Lana and Tom over the phone i felt that this is my kind of couple. And it’s hard to explain exactly what that is but generally there’s a connection. And to me having that connection is extremely important. It allows for complete trust in each other. It also allows the couple to be a lot more relaxed with me. And from the start there was no tension. We didn’t need 5-10 minutes to get to know each other and overcome meeting new people sort of deal. As i said we just connected and as a result we were able to get some really cool images.

Lana and Tom contemplated a few locations for their ceremony till they settled down on the Sutro Baths in San Francisco and we agreed that “the golden hour” and sunset would be the best time for what we wanted. The ceremony was very intimate. Just them, an officiant and myself. They day was just perfect. The sky especially was gorgeous and my eyes were drawn to it. As a result i wanted to make sure we have the beautiful sky in the background on a lot of the shots.

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Elopement - what to do when San Francisco City Hall is closed for wedding

San Francisco City Hall has closed its doors on March 17 and hasn’t reopened since. Unfortunately there’s no sign of it reopening to host numerous weddings. On average 30-40 weddings were officiated in San Francisco City Hall. I was told around 90 weddings were held on popular dates like Valentines day or 7-7-2017, If we do the math a large number of weddings got cancelled this year.

In case you didn’t know all San Francisco City Hall officiants are volunteers. Even when City Hall reopens for wedding I imagine the number of these weddings per day will be a lot smaller.

So what do you do?! The beauty of the SF City Hall is that it provided an intimate, budget wedding in a one of a kind location. Add a photographer who knows the City Hall in and out, and you get memories and photos preserved for the rest of your life. But let’s not divert. This is in no way about me :)

It’s about couples that would like to get married, planned on getting married in San Francisco City Hall but got their wedding canceled or unable to book in the near time future. What do you do!?

While i love San Francisco City Hall, there are options.

  1. While San Francisco County offers “deputy commissioner for the day” program where you can marry specific couple, it needs to be obtained in the City Hall which is currently closed. So unfortunately this is not an option at this time

  2. You can hire a officiant. Formal officiant cost varies, but typically is around $300-$500

  3. Anyone can be an officiant. The process is relatively simple and you can have your friend or family member officiate your wedding. It has to be someone you trust to take care of the paperwork and not lose it while celebrating your wedding. As a matter of fact i often recommend this option because it ends up being more personal. I have officiated several weddings for close friend. While it’s nerve wrecking (oh that pressure) it makes your wedding even more special in my opinion.

Here are few resources to consider to become an ordained minister:

  • https://www.ulc.org/

  • https://theamm.org/

There are several other institutions that provide these services but it’s basically the same concept. Make sure all your paperwork submitted in timely fashion after the wedding is officiated.

Now that you have an officiant, you need a place. That is the easy part if your wedding party is small. Remember San Francisco City Hall enforced rules of having 6 guests only at the Rotunda. If you were looking for Rotunda wedding, you probably had handful of guests. You can get married on the beach - San Francisco, beaches like Bakers beach, Half Moon Bay, Stinson Beach are all great places to tie the knot.

There are plenty of other locations to consider including doing it in your own back. The point that if you’d like to get married nothing should stop! No viruses or lockdowns. Of course you have be safe and smart when planning your wedding Make sue you stick with current restrictions and regulations.

And of course we would love to photograph your wedding. A few photos from non City Hall locations that we shot recently

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Alyssa & Kevin

I’m always excited when i get booked for half a day. And it’s not because i’m greedy and here to make money. I enjoying spending time with people and getting to know them. It really is - ask my wife. She’s more of an introvert who has to deal with me always wanting to talk to people, ask questions and have random conversations.

So when i had an opportunity to spend 4 hours with an amazing couple like Alyssa and Kevin I’m beyond thrilled. First off we started off walking on the beach - the weather could not have been better. Then we headed to the City Hall and had time to do both serious and fun photos. It takes a little time for people to open up and be themselves in front of the camera. And I want to get the real, true them out.

Turns out Alyssa loves dancing - so of course i wanted to incorporate that. She has a lot of natural grace and i wanted to capture that as well… along with the silliness of course.

At the end i couldn’t have been happier with the collection of photos we got. There were lots of candid honest moments during the ceremony, very cool group photos and of course plenty of Alyssa and Kevin photos to chose from.

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