Congrats! You’ve decided to get married at San Francisco City Hall. It’s such a beautiful place to get married, and now you can plan the perfect way to celebrate. While it’s wonderful, it can be a challenge to figure out what you want because the possibilities are kind of endless, especially if you don’t know what different options can look and feel like.
As an experienced wedding photographer who has photographed over 100 weddings at SF City Hall, I want to help you get those creative juices flowing, as well as help you gain some clarity. With a little help, you can successfully plan a day that will make you and your partner happy. I’ve assembled real-life weddings to show you what some other couples have chosen to do when planning their San Francisco City Hall wedding day.
How much photography coverage is the right amount for my San Francisco City Hall wedding?
Well, that’s a very personal question, so it’s going to depend on your priorities. The first thing to ask yourself is, do you only want photos at San Francisco City Hall, or do you also want to take photos at one or more scenic places in San Francisco while you’re looking amazing in your wedding clothes? Some folks want to keep their photography as simple as possible and just want to capture their wedding and a few photos around city hall before calling it a day. Others want more variety and choose to take photos at another place they find beautiful or meaningful in San Francisco, especially after they’ve gone through all of the trouble of getting dressed up and looking sharp for their wedding!
In a nutshell, I recommend a minimum of 90 minutes of coverage if you want to just capture photos at City Hall. If you want to take photos at a second location, I recommend you sign up for at least 3 hours. Folks who have a private ceremony on the Mayor’s Balcony or 4th Floor usually host their guests at a lunch reception, and those folks usually sign up for 4+ hours of coverage. You can read about what to expect for different amounts of coverage below. To see my pricing page for San Francisco City Hall weddings, please click here.
My advice: Get at least 90 minutes of professional photography coverage for your San Francisco City Hall Wedding. One hour isn’t enough.
The first piece of advice I would give you when planning your San Francisco City Hall wedding is to make sure you sign up for at least 90 minutes of photographic coverage with your professional photographer. I start my packages at 90 minutes, and I actually don’t offer just one hour of coverage at city hall because I feel like one hour is too rushed. Let me explain why. Let’s say you’ve booked a 3pm civil ceremony at city hall. You line up once to check in and let them know you’ve arrived and then you wait again to be called into the office and have your witnesses sign your marriage license. And after that you walk up to the rotunda and wait again for the ceremony to begin. There is a lot of waiting and you should expect to actually be finished with your wedding ceremony between 20-35 minutes after your actual appointment time. I explain all of this in more depth in my San Francisco City Hall Wedding Guide here.
Then after the ceremony, the first thing I do is take family and friends photos before finishing up with couples photos. If you finish your ceremony at 3:35pm and then take family photos until 3:45pm, only having 15 minutes available for portraits is not enough because it’s not relaxing. City hall is vast and beautiful, but it also attracts tons of people so you have to be patient and share the popular photo taking spots with other couples. And importantly, you need time to feel like you can relax into your partner’s arms and not be worried about the clock. In my opinion, the secret to getting beautiful photos on your wedding day is planning a day you can enjoy and that lets you feel at ease.
Enjoy these examples of real-life weddings. You will learn how much coverage they signed up for and see what photos they were able to get on their wedding day. While this page is intended to highlight what the differences are between the 4 different wedding photography packages that I offer, it can also be helpful for anyone looking for ideas to help them plan their city hall wedding day.
What you can expect when you get 90 minutes of photography coverage for your San Francisco City Hall Wedding
As I explained above, I believe 1 hour is not enough time to capture a San Francisco City Hall wedding properly, so I start my photography packages at 90 minutes. That will be enough time for you to get photos of your wedding ceremony, family portraits, and couples’ portraits around SF City Hall. It will only be enough time to take photos at City Hall and it won’t be enough time for a second scenic location. You should have enough time to get photos at the two most popular spots at City Hall, on the grand staircase, and in front of the entrance doors, as well as several other places throughout the building. It’s perfect for people who really want to keep coverage simple but want beautiful photos. I sometimes have folks upgrade this package to two hours just to give themselves a little more time to wander around City Hall and take photos.
Here is an example of a real couple’s wedding. Samantha & Eivind signed up for my Valencia package that includes 90 minutes of coverage. I took photos of their civil ceremony, then took family photos and got photos around San Francisco City Hall. We spent a good amount of time on the 4th floor. I just love it up there.
A couple who opted for 90 minutes of wedding photography coverage for their SF City Hall wedding
What you can expect when you get 3 hours of photography coverage for your San Francisco City Hall Wedding
Choosing 3 hours of photography coverage for your San Francisco City Hall wedding will allow you to take photos of your wedding ceremony, take family portraits and couples portraits throughout City Hall, and you will have time to head to one other scenic location in San Francisco for couples’ portraits. San Francisco has so many beautiful places where you can take photos. It really can be a treat to add a stop for more photos. See a real-life example of a wedding that got this much coverage below.
Steven & Jen signed up for my Divisadero package that includes 3 hours of photo coverage. I photographed their civil ceremony, took family photos on the 4th floor, and then took the couple’s portraits around City Hall before heading to one of my favorite locations in SF, Pier 7. Pier 7 is a long, elegant pier with excellent views of the city in the background. Just see it for yourself in the photos!
What you can expect when you get 4 hours of photography coverage for your San Francisco City Hall Wedding
Opting for 4 hours of coverage will allow you to capture more of the story of your day. There are two main ways I see people use 4 hours of coverage. This is popular with folks who are renting the Mayor’s Balcony or the 4th Floor North Balcony for their wedding. Those folks have usually invited a group of guests that they will usually host for a reception after their ceremony, and so they are seeking coverage of their wedding, portraits and their reception. I have an example of this in the next section below the wedding example you will see next. Here, directly below, you will see the other way folks usually use 4 hours of coverage. Couples might choose to use it for some getting-ready photos at their hotel, a first look and photos at an iconic San Francisco location or two, as well as photos of their San Francisco City Hall wedding ceremony. The time of your ceremony can inform when you plan photos at other locations in San Francisco. You may choose to take photos around SF before or after your ceremony.
Eden & CK chose 4 hours of wedding day coverage, which is included in my Fillmore package. We started at their hotel for getting ready and first look photos, then took photos around Nob Hill before heading off to Baker Beach for photos with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, and then we ended up at city hall for their civil ceremony. They also made sure to exchange personal vows after the official city hall vows. It was such a sweet moment to share with their guests.
I helped them plan and prepare for their whole day and I even drove them around in my car. (I’ve driven many couples around in my car! It’s easy and keeps us together.) Here is the timeline I created for them to help keep the whole day on track.
- 9:00am Meet at hotel for getting ready photos + first look photos
- 9:55am Leave for Baker Beach
- 10:15am Arrive at Baker Beach, take photos
- 11:00am Leave for city hall
- 11:30am Manali drop off Eden + CK at city hall, then park
- 11:45am Grand staircase photo
- 11:50am Check in to office with witnesses (family waits at rotunda)
- 12:00pm ceremony appointment time
- 12:25pm family photos
- 12:35pm personal vows
- 01:00pm photos end
To view more of Eden & CK’s wedding, please check out my blog post on their wedding here.
What you can expect when you get 4 or more hours of photography coverage for your San Francisco City Hall Wedding
Barbara & Eric chose my California package, which includes a printed hardcover album, so they will get to enjoy their photos in their hands whenever they want, instead of letting them stay only in the digital realm. They upgraded their package to include 5 total hours of wedding day coverage, and an engagement session, which we did a few months before the wedding. Having 5 hours of photography coverage allowed them to take getting ready and first-look photos at the Fairmount hotel in San Francisco, photos of their private 4th Floor North Balcony wedding, photos of their very touching private vows at Land’s End, and then photos of their lunch reception at Fiorella Sunset, where they met up again with their guests.
To view another example of a couple who opted for 5 hours of photography coverage and rented out San Francisco City Hall privately on a Saturday morning, please view this wedding here.
Thanks for reading. My name is Manali, and I specialize in photographing weddings at San Francisco City Hall. I offer 4 different wedding photography packages for San Francisco City Hall, as well as add-on services. I love to help couples plan their day and can even help you find other vendors for your day, like your own private officiant, hair and make-up artist, or florist. Please let me know if that is something you are interested in when you inquire. Please learn more about my approach to city hall weddings and view pricing here. And if you like my work, find out if I am available on your date by filling out the contact form.
