I wanted to update this post from last year because I have some new photos to add to it. I still love this first one (see above) because it is so classic! One of our favorite City Hall Weddings from that year! We photographed the wedding of Steve and John with only 1 guest…… Their 5 month old little girl. We met the 3 of them in the hallway directly outside of the County Clerk’s office to assist them with their Ceremony check-in. After a brief meeting with their officiant to sign the license (I was the witness, the baby couldn’t sign her name, LOL), we all headed up to the Rotunda to celebrate their marriage. That’s the way it works for any San Francisco City Hall civil ceremony. It usually only takes about 15 minutes after meeting with the officiant to be married. There are exceptions to this, but for the most part you can count on 15 minutes maximum.
One of the fun things about the ceremony was that the Deputy Marriage commissioner volunteered to hold the baby while John and Steve exchanged wedding rings! It was actually quite funny because none of us realized until the actual moment that we would have to do something with the baby during the ring exchange. This great idea helped create this classic photo that they will remember for the rest of their lives. I just love how the baby is looking right at the ring exchange of her new dads! You would normally expect a baby to be looking all around, but she was intent on those rings and her father’s hands. I recently photographed a wedding at San Francisco city hall with this same officiant and was reminded of this ceremony. I happened to have the photo on my cell phone so I showed it to her! She absolutely loved it and asked for a copy to be sent to her. For those of you are not aware, the San Francisco city hall officiants are not paid. They are purely volunteers and only do this for the love it. This type of thing is exactly why they do it! This City Hall Marriage Commissioner now also has a great memory to cherish for years to come.
Dad with daughter just before the San Francisco city hall ceremony
Once the ceremony was completed and the marriage sealed with a kiss, we took the happy LGBTQ wedding couple around the building to capture some amazing photos. We incorporated their daughter into some of the early photos, but it wasn’t long until she had fallen asleep in her baby stroller. We took advantage of this lucky break to capture some really nice poses of the couple, taking them on a photo tour to many of our favorite picture spots. Fortunately, I photographed this wedding with an assistant (as I almost always do) and so this allowed us to do more things with the couple and separate them a little from their baby while my assistant (or I) kept an eye on her. San Francisco City Hall is a safe place, but you still don’t want to leave a baby unattended. The couple received lots of great and positive attention from other couples and tourists throughout the building.
We ended our shoot at the city hall sign out in front of the building. Perfect timing as the baby woke up and joined the couple for a posed shot in front of San Francisco City Hall. Yes, sometimes babies DO cooperate! This Same-sex marriage was one of our favorite city hall weddings of the year because of the addition of the baby and officiant handling things so well. I think it just cements their commitment to each other and it made the ceremony very special. It wasn’t just the 2 of them being joined together, but all three! Great that we were able to capture that bond, because so often with babies, they are either crying or sleeping and very tough to photograph.
This baby was an angel for the entire photoshoot and obviously, the ceremony. These types of moments are also what make me love being a SF city hall wedding photographer. I always talk about the memories we help provide to our newly married couples, but we also usually enjoy things so much that it give us great times to remember as well!
Same-Sex Grooms posing with the Rotunda in the background
the San Francisco City Hall sign with baby celebrating too!
With Christmas upon us, I wanted to also include a few photos of couples getting married during the holiday season.
