False Alarm at San Francisco City Hall

We have been photographing weddings at San Francisco City Hall for many years and have experienced all kinds of interesting and challenging scenarios. There are so many stories I could tell about our experiences but this particular one stands out. It was certainly a challenging day but it ended up working out great. This is the story of the day, March 11, 2019.

County Clerk Line at City Hall

It all started with an unusually long line at the County Clerk’s office for our soon to be married couple . What was normally about a 3 minute line was actually closer to 20 minutes. How did this happen? We are pretty sure it was mostly due to some bad timing coupled with the fact that the other doorway that handles Birth Certificates happened to be closed that morning. Anyway, we got in line to check-in and we waited. It was not that big of a deal at this point because everyone was in the same boat. No weddings were going to happen until brides and grooms were able get through that line. We casually talked about nothing special mostly, with a little bit of discussion about the upcoming shoot and how we were going to handle things. I also asked the couple if they had lunch plans so I could determine the amount of time I would have for wedding photography after the ceremony. Unfortunately, the couple DID have reservations and the place they wanted to go to was only able to hold their reserved time until around 2:30 to begin their party. This was only the start of our worries during this City Hall wedding.

Timing Unfortunate – SF Civil Ceremony

After waiting for all of that time the couple finally made it to the front of the line and were just about ready to be summoned in to meet with their marriage commissioner and then it happened….. The Fire Alarm sounded and we received the order to evacuate City Hall. The engaged couple were already about 20 minutes late and this delay would prove to be so much more. We spent a good 1 hour outside waiting to get cleared to return to the building once the Fire Department arrived and departed having determined that it was a faulty Smoke alarm that was at the route of the problem. At the time, we thought it was a fire drill which we had been through before. Of course a certain city hall safety protocol had to be met before visitors were allowed back into the building. This included allowing the employees in first! It really delayed things even more but was understandable given the circumstances and needs of the building. We often know about fire alarms because we are provided with inside information by some of our contacts in the building. Of course, this particular alarm was unplanned so none of us were ready for it. Once the building reopened we made sure to get our couple in first. We knew their schedule was going to be tight and we wanted to get their wedding and SF City Hall photo shoot completed in time.

Happy SF City Hall Ending!

After all of this waiting and worrying, the ending was happy. The couple not only had their San Francisco city hall wedding ceremony, but they made it to their lunch on time (barely). The venue decided to stay open a little later just for them! Toni and I felt like we did a nice job keeping the couple calm and the family informed. We tried to turn a potentially stressful situation into a positive marriage experience. The newlyweds will probably look back on this day and smile! Sometimes a little adversity on your wedding day gives you more to remember, especially if everything comes out ok. I am sure that the newlyweds were not thinking about this at the time, but ultimately it all worked out. San Francisco City Hall is our favorite place for people photography. It offers amazing architecture, beautiful backgrounds, and great natural light. We like it so much that we are now also offering Quinceanera photography at SF City Hall. Feel free to check out this link to learn more about this new service of ours.