After many years of only photography large weddings, I have now discovered the huge benefits of covering San Francisco City Hall Elopements. When photographing large weddings in the San Francisco Bay Area there were a number of challenges we faced. On most Saturdays during the summer, I could be found at any of the more popular wedding venues covering 8 to 10 hour weddings. This type of wedding photography required its own set of skills to be successful, including the ability to shoot great wedding pictures fast. In many cases, a large scale wedding photographer only has about 20 minutes to capture beautiful wedding pictures because of the tight schedules most brides and grooms need to have when it comes to weekend weddings. If things run late, which they often do, it makes it even more challenging. Often times, the wedding photography is the part that gets cut short.
Discovering San Francisco City Hall Elopements
Then about 14 years ago I discovered San Francisco city hall weddings. Little did I know that eloping to this great venue was extremely popular. In fact, I learned that people from all over the country and even the world come to SF City Hall for their elopement. When compared to large weekend weddings, City Hall elopements require a completely different type of technique and photography skill. I developed most of these skills over a short time and now have become a full-time City Hall elopement photographer. I thought it might be interesting to share some of the unique skills and attributes necessary to be a successful San Francisco city hall elopement photographer.
- Patience – I put this one first because having a great amount of patience is really one of the skills that is definitely unique to San Francisco city hall. While it is true that any wedding photographer needs a great deal of patience, weddings here present challenges that only a public building will present. Because of the frequent crowding at the more popular photography locations, you need to have the patience to wait for the amount of people present to subside, even if your coverage time is running short. This is something that cannot be rushed.
Often times other San Francisco city hall wedding photographers will also be in the way of your shots. Unlike weekend weddings, the guests are usually intimately involved in the photography portion of the day and they will often get in the way or try to cut in front of you to get there own pictures. With big weddings, the wedding photographer can usually “steal” the couple away to get formal shots at a less crowded location. I try to do this at San Francisco city hall as well, but it doesn’t always work. If the eloping couple would prefer to have the guests around during pictures, then it is our job to allow that. We may not love it, but it is the correct thing to do for your newlyweds. - Versatility – Before arriving at San Francisco city hall, my assistant and I always say that we never know what will be waiting for us. Special events, protests, inaugurations, funerals and the arrival of giant tour buses are all part of the challenges presented to a wedding photographer covering San Francisco city hall elopements. One time we arrived for a wedding and found out that the entire building was going to close in a few minutes due to problems with the plumbing.
Sometimes even Fire drills occur and everyone has to vacate the building for up to an hour. These things happen without warning and it is our job as a city hall wedding photographer to still deliver exceptional wedding pictures to our clients. You definitely need to know how to “roll with the punches” at San Francisco city hall when capturing Elopements - Experience with All Types of Brides and Grooms – elopement weddings are becoming increasingly popular these days. The cost and time involved in organizing a large wedding can be prohibitive for many brides and grooms. Especially with the high Bay Area pricing. Couples that choose an elopement are probably going to want more interactive and candid types of photos. They have opted to not have a formal wedding so chances are they don’t want stiff and rigidly posed wedding pictures. San Francisco City Hall elopement fits in well with this type of couple. After their civil ceremony is completed, the eloping couple has plenty of time to spend with their City Hall wedding photographer wandering around the building capturing informal and fun pictures. We service a very diverse clientele and learn new things almost every shoot we do.
Difference Between Elopements and Traditional Weddings
There is some confusion about how elopements differ from traditional weddings. I thought it would be helpful to briefly go over some of the main differences. Just because a couple decides to have a civil ceremony at San Francisco City Hall does not mean they are eloping. In fact, many of our city hall weddings are well planned out events with a large number of guests in attendance. Elopements are usually planned with a lot less notice and with either no guests or maybe one or two at the most. I love being couples are trying to save money by not having to spend on the usual traditional wedding activities. Purchasing a wedding cake, hiring a caterer and paying for a wedding venue are all the many things that eloping couples do not want to do.
In many cases, eloping couples want to spend money on the cost so associated with traveling the elopement destination. They feel that their money is better spent on nice hotels in a fun trip. We have also found that couples who elope often spend more of their Budget on wedding photography as well. The obvious reason for this is that since they’re usually alone they will want their loved ones to see pictures of the experience. As a city hall elopement photographer we love the opportunity to help our brides and grooms with this. Here is a list of the key factors that differentiate Elopements from Traditonal weddings.