This wedding at San Francisco City Hall was SO much fun! Danny and Rob were really easy to work with, and didn’t mind my tendencies for shooting details, weird angles, short depth of field, and candids. Oh, and laying on the ground. Yeah, I do lots of that during weddings! In fact, both being creative types themselves, they actually encouraged it. Now, these are my kinds of clients!

Danny and Rob were very open, nice and fun to be around. My only complaint was that the ceremony, and my time with them, was just too short!! I would have loved to had the honor to document them at a full day wedding. Their smiles, sense of style, humor and down right cute-ness made me sad to leave! Special thanks to my assistant Mischa, who brought his great energy and lent his steady hand to get some great shots looking down from the 4th floor!

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San Francisco City Hall
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, CA
http://www.sfgov.org

If you’re interested in the history of this amazing building, check out the following excerpt on City Hall, written by the talented Gregor Gosciniak. To read it in it’s entirety, please visit: http://www.citymayors.com/cityhalls/sanfrancisco_cityhall.html

Even though San Francisco has less than a million inhabitants, it has one of the biggest and most beautiful city halls in the US, with a dome taller than that of the Capitol in Washington DC. San Francisco City Hall, which opened in 1916 after the old City Hall was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake, is one of the best examples of Beaux Arts architecture in the world, and it is considered to have one of the most important interior spaces in the United States.

The exterior of City Hall is made of granite from the foothills of the Sierra. The interior is lavishly finished in California marble, Indiana sandstone and Manchurian oak. Two large open light courts, covered with glass ceilings, are situated on either side of the rotunda. The northern court houses a cafe for visitors and city workers and space for public events. The southern courtyard is home to San Francisco history exhibits.

The dome of San Francisco City Hall is the fifth largest in the world. It was originally covered with gold leaf gilded copper. Since the gilding was applied incorrectly, the copper eventually took on its familiar green patina. Today’s restored finish is gold leaf on a special paint.

The City Hall’s ground floor houses state of the art broadcast studios. On the first floor incorporates the great rotunda and the two light courts, while the second floor includes the Mayor’s office, supervisors’ chambers and committee meeting rooms. The third floor is used for bigger press conferences and receptions.

San Francisco’s National Landmark had to go through a four-year earthquake modernization project after the earthquake in 1989. The $300 million project was designed to preserve the historic nature of the building, while preventing earthquake damage in the future. Therefore San Francisco City Hall may be the biggest building in the world that is actually not attached to the ground. The modernization project included separating the structure from its original foundations and leaving it to rest on top of 600 base isolators made of rubber and stainless steel. When the next big quake hits, the isolators will dissipate the tremor’s shock waves before they can damage the building and its dome.

In 1978 a tragic event took place in City Hall when former city supervisor Dan White assassinated Mayor Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk. Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official in San Francisco and much has been written about the importance of his election and his death. Many people have been married at San Francisco City Hall. One of the most famous marriages was the one between Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe in 1954. In early 2004, queues of gay and lesbian couples formed outside the City Hall, after Mayor Gavin Newsom allowed same-sex couples to be married by city officials.

I hope you enjoyed the images from this San Francisco same sex, gay wedding. Check this website out for some great information: www.MarriageEquality.org

Click here if you’d like to see more San Francisco weddings, View My Portfolio, or  Contact Me. Have questions about getting married at San Francisco City Hall? Check out my Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.