Sandra and Charlene were one of our favorite couples of 2015. We enjoy all of our city hall wedding couples, but some stand out. This LGBTQ wedding was particularly great from a photographic standpoint because we had 2 wedding dresses to work with! Both gowns were elegant, but unique in their own way. Our brides really set out to have a fantastic wedding day and they did! We spent much of the actual shoot joking around and being silly and I think it shows in the photos (in a good way!) Any type of silliness usually reflects in the final wedding photos and will help the couple remember their big day with fond memories.
If you would like to see a more recent LGBTQ city hall wedding photography session, check this Blog post from April of 2023. Many of our engaged San Francisco couples come to us before the wedding and let us know that they would really like candid photos for their city hall wedding. We are happy to accommodate them, but the truth is, unless you are fun loving and active, it is not always easy to get shots that capture great moments. This was not the case with Sandra and Charlene! They created amazing candid moments throughout the wedding and our San Francisco city hall tour. It was our job to stay ready to record the special moments and laughter. We were more than happy to document their fun! They didn't take each other too seriously and spent most of the time teasing each other and of course, showing lots of affection.
It's funny because I frequently tell my clients who request candid pictures at city hall, that we will try our best, but there aren't that many moments to capture since there are no events. This couple was definitely the exception to that rule and taught me a few things! To see our special page for LGBTQ SF City Hall weddings click the link. This page provides additional information and also a compilation of Gallery of many same-sex weddings.
We have photographed more Same-sex weddings at city hall than practically anyone! We were one of the first San Francisco city hall wedding photographers to start documenting LGBTQ+ weddings once the law changed back in 2013 that allowed legal gay marriage. We have enjoyed all of the people we have met and the stories they have told us. We feel very lucky that we have been chosen to photograph so many weddings and help make memories for these great couples. Gay weddings are a specialty of ours and we have photographed close to 250 Same-sex weddings over a 10 year period. Let us photograph yours! We understand the special relationship you have and do our best to document it for your long lasting memories.
We are sensitive to any needs you may have for the wedding photography shoot and will adjust our coverage to accommodate them. We also feel very lucky that we happened to be one of the leading SF city hall wedding photographers during this major law change. It is like being part of history. We feature a large variety of Same-Sex weddings on this website so feel free to search and explore. We are happy to discuss your SF city hall wedding plans and help you make any plans for your marriage. We know some of the best Florists and Musicians available for Reserved weddings on the Mayor's Balcony and Fourth Floor and would be happy to share our experience with you at no cost!
I know you have heard this before, but I strongly encourage newlyweds to purchase one of our beautiful wedding albums. The fact is, most San Francisco City Hall wedding couples just settle for the digital files and nothing else. No prints and no albums, nothing but digital files stored on your computer and "hiding away". Wedding magazine statistics have shown that most of these couples end up doing nothing with their wedding photos and they end up on some forgotten hard drive or USB flash drive. Once this occurs, it is doubtful that they will ever be seen again. I truly believe that each newlywed couple has good intentions to do more with their photos, but then they get busy and married life gets in the way.
I think your wedding is one of the most important milestones in your life, if not THE most important. Thinking back to a time before digital photography, couples were forced to get wedding albums because there was no other way to view the photos. We would provide the couple with a proof album of smaller prints and then they would choose their album selections from that. Back then if they did not want an album nobody would ever see their pictures including themselves. I am probably dating myself by the reference to the good old days, but that's what they were in the wedding photography world. Not much you can do with a film negative without printing it.
Sandra and Charlene took the plunge and purchased one of our albums and they were very glad they did. In this case, it was a surprise present from one of them to the other. I can't think of a better way to show love for your other half than to present them with a beautiful San Francisco city hall wedding album. I am sure they had a wonderful laugh while going through the book together and remembering how in love they are. This is what wedding albums are all about. They chose many photos of their laughter and even a couple of "out takes" we caught. Sorry, but a Facebook post just doesn't have the same impact. In addition, I know they enjoyed sharing their experience with friends and relatives as they looked at the book together.
Our San Francisco city hall wedding album is 8X11 and costs only $440. This book also makes a great Christmas or birthday present for your parents or grandparents. You are able to choose 40 images for this great wedding album and we do the rest. Our photo viewing website allows newlywed to easily select the photos they want by simply clicking their mouse or tablet. We also offer smaller city hall wedding album versions (6X8) which can be used as gifts or parents albums. So whether you are a LGBTQ couple or not, we have some great albums for you to check out. Ask us for more details and to see a real sample album.
Pictured above is another LGBTQ couple we photographed that same year. A fun loving couple that we covered during the Christmas season that year. Please see the other picture above that shows the City Hall Christmas tree in the background and was one of my favorites from that wedding. This shot was taken from the Mayor's Balcony with the tree slightly blurred for effect. I love the lighting on that photo and that was done with our off-camera flash. This type of pro lighting cannot be duplicated unless you have the right equipment and understand the best way to use it.
Thanks again to Sandra and Charlene for booking us for their Same-Sex SF City Hall wedding. We had a great time photographing your civil ceremony! We hope you come back to us for other photoshoots.
Click here to see SF City Hall Additional SF Galleries with full details about each wedding