Thy and Brandon travelled from Seattle with a few family members and a couple good friends for their intimate San Francisco City Hall wedding. Now you’re probably thinking what Brandon’s friends thought when he told them about their destination wedding venue…city hall? San Francisco’s city hall is one of the most incredible buildings in the city, a breathtaking Beaux-Arts monument that was recognized in the late 70’s by the American Institue of Architects as one of the finest examples of French Renaissance architecture in the country. Stretching over 2 city blocks and featuring an enormous dome that’s higher than that of the nation’s capitol and the fifth largest in the world. Point is, San Francisco City Hall is a pretty incredible place to be married.
In Thy’s words:
We wanted something intimate that was more about us and those close to us. We didn’t want a giant wedding where we would not even really be able to spend time with the people who mattered most. We’re a relatively shy and practical couple that just wanted the memory to be relatively stress-free.
A simple city hall wedding doesn’t mean that you need to forego a gorgeous Vera Wang wedding dress, however, and Thy looked incredible as she made her way up the grand staircase to meet Brandon. The ceremony itself was quite short – only a few minutes – yet despite the short duration, it was still quite emotional. Brandon’s mother was in tears and Thy described the feeling as “surreal when the commissioner had us promise to take care of each other for the rest of our lives.”
Every day, countless couples shuffle into the security gate of San Francisco’s City Hall and emerge as husband and wife, off to begin the next phase of their lives together. I was glad to be able to tag along a bit longer with Brandon and Thy after we took some family portraits around the upper mezzanine as we tiki-toured around the city. It doesn’t get any more intimate than signing as witness to a couple’s marriage before packing them into your car for a tour around San Francisco.
The couple met years before in the city where Brandon was living through a mutual friend and Thy described it as proper love at first sight. It wasn’t intentional but we based our walking photo tour around the Nob Hill area which coincidentally was not far from where Brandon’s apartment was during his time in the city which brought back some great memories for them. Big credit to the couple for dealing with my non-linear creative direction and their keen enthusiasm for traversing some of the city’s steepest neighborhood streets. They more than earned the wedding dinner they would have later that afternoon before heading off to a few days down in Big Sur to celebrate together. How perfect is that!
