San Francisco City Hall Photography Wedding Guide

wedding photography 

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Photo by Dubnoff Wedding Photography

Bride and Groom at SF City Hall

Your San Francisco City Hall Wedding - A Photographer's Guide for Brides and Grooms

Welcome to our San Francisco City Hall Wedding Photography Resources page for newly engaged couples getting married in the Bay Area. This site is brought to you by Dubnoff Photography. We provide you with low-cost San Francisco Bay Area Photography, to fit every budget. This site is intended to provide information for anyone looking for wedding related planning resources in San Francisco.   Specifically city hall weddings and other San Francisco events. Brides and grooms can read articles, find links and also learn more about weddings in this beautiful area. We are a Leading San Francisco City Hall wedding photographer with over 500 weddings to our credit. To see our work please go to Mike's city hall site SF City Hall Wedding Photographer by Michael .  We also have also have been photographing large weddings in this area for over 20 years.  We can provide you with both services, just ask us for details. To see client reviews click our San Francisco City Hall Photography Yelp page .  We also photograph wedding in Orange County, California so if you are planning a wedding in Southern California let us know, no charge for travel.  Let us know what other Destinations you are interested in, we can go just about anywhere to photograph a wedding! Looking for a top Quinceanera photographer for SF City Hall?  click the link to learn more.

For more information, please check out my articles  below. They provide information on how to get married at City Hall and useful photography tips.  

How to NOT Choose a Wedding Photographer

Wedding Photography - Focus on Results! 

 

How to Schedule your City Hall Wedding
Start with your marriage license!  You can make an appointment with the County Clerks office by calling (415) 554-4950 or make on online reservation by clicking the link. If you decide to obtain your marriage license on the same day as your ceremony, be sure to allow at least 30 minutes between the marriage license appointment and the time of your ceremony. We actually suggest you go with 60 minutes for more cushion time, but the County Clerk only requires 30. There is some great general information on the San Francisco website - click to the San Francisco Civil Ceremony page to view it all.  If you really want to be safe, you can obtain your marriage license the day before you ceremony just in case there are issues.  This will give you the time to resolve any problems that develop.  We have actually seen this help a few of our international couples get married on time.  Something to think about! 

Your Ceremony at City Hall
You have 2 options for ceremony locations at City Hall. Most people pay the $100 and get married in the Rotunda at the top of the stairs (occasionally the bottom of the stairs).  You are allowed to bring 6 guests, and this is now being enforced.  Couples with more than 6 guests will most likely be sent to the private room for their marriage ceremony.  One thing to note, however, they don't seem to count the wedding photographer in the guess count.  Yes, I know that the  City Hall website says that they do count us, but I have never seen this enforced.  Even with the new stricter rules that have recently been enacted.

Reserved City Hall Ceremony
If you have a big wedding planned, you can rent out either the Mayors Balcony or the 4th Floor Balcony.  These locations allow for a very large number of people and they set up chairs and keep the general public out. They will rope off your location and so no tourists will wander through your wedding and take pictures of you for their travel photo albums! You can reserve the location for one hour. Of course, there is a price to pay for this privilege and the last time I checked it was around $1,000. 

San Francisco Weddings
Of course City Hall isn't the only place to get married in San Francisco.  There are so many beautiful locations, too many to list here.  The Legion of Honor is a great location as are the many venues available through the SF Park website including the Palace of Fine Arts.  The North Beach area has many fun and old-time venues and there are so many beautiful churches if you want a religious ceremony. The Cliff House, South of Market, The Italian Club, The Athletic Club, the list goes on and on.  Just be sure you book these venues well in advance, at least 1 year ahead to be safe.  San Francisco is a very popular place to get married. Ghirardelli Square is also quite popular, but a bit more touristy.

Hire a Professional Wedding Photographer
If you are going to take advantage of the beauty of City Hall and these other San Francisco Venues, you must hire a professional. There are many great wedding photographers in the area. One of the truly great things about having your nuptials at City Hall is the fact that you can book some of the best wedding photographers in Northern California, but for a lower rate.  You can have your photos done by a local wedding photographer that would normally charge $4,000 for a full wedding and only pay about $1,000!  Even more exciting is the fact that you will pay less, but actually receive more.  Why?  Because when you book a wedding photographer for a full wedding there are so many other things going on that the bride and groom usually only are "allowed" 20 minutes for wedding photography.  This is because you have guests waiting and caterers catering.   With a City Hall wedding you will have so much time for wedding pictures that you might ask us to stop!  

This site was brought to you by Dubnoff Wedding Photography.  We have provided information about our wedding photography sites for your convenience.   Please click the links for our sample wedding portfolio albums and city hall packages and  prices: San Francisco City Hall Wedding Photographer and Same-Sex Marriages.  These sites feature recent City Hall weddings in San Francisco, California. We have been photographing weddings in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years and would love to be your photographer.  We will make your experience exciting and fun and won't over pose you.  With over 1,400 weddings to our credit we have experience with all cultures, religions and gender. We are a Gay / Lesbian / Same-Sex friendly wedding photographer. We were one of the first Photographers to shoot weddings when it became legal to perform LGBTQ ceremonies at City Hall.   We Specialize in city hall weddings and would love to photograph yours!  We also strongly recommend this Oakland Videographer if you are looking for professional wedding videography.

 

Dubnoff Wedding Photography

 San Francisco, CA  94105

 

 

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