On a brilliant Friday morning, we headed south into the city to meet Elisa and Joe for their San Francisco City Hall wedding. An hour later – unbeknownst to anyone other than Jaime and I – they emerged as husband and wife. It was our first time photographing in city hall and what an incredible energy the place has; There were couples of all shapes and sizes preparing for their marriages, city-councilmen and women bustling through halls, some sort of youth-beauty-pageant thing being prepared for, and on the second floor of the rotunda, a Celtic choir filled the grand space and provided ambience (and bursts of applause) for Joe and Elisa’s quick ceremony. Joe and Elisa came up for a visit in the fall and we took them on a walk around our neighborhood taking photos. It was clear to us how much they liked being around each other and, despite the absence of any guests apart from us the morning of their wedding, they both were filled with nervous excitement which was sweet. As their number came up on the tele-prompter, they entered the office of the court clerk and their officiant and signed the necessary documents. We then proceeded to the second level of the rotunda where they made it official. Although the ceremony was quick, they displayed and incredibly full range of emotions and after their kiss – and for the rest of the morning – they both couldn’t have been any happier. We headed to a park for a small picnic lunch, Jaime dropped their cake (true story – don’t trust Jaime to carry your wedding cake), we laughed, toasted with them and left them to enjoy their first afternoon together as husband and wife. Simple and perfect.
