We are one of the leading Same-Sex city hall wedding photographers and have been since it was legalized in California back in 2013. We have been servicing the LGBTQ community ever since and have witnessed and photographed well over 200 legal Gay / Lesbian marriages. We often talk about how amazing it was (especially early on), to be part of so many marriages of couples that had been together for many years. In the very first week after same-sex marriage was legalized we photographed a wedding of couple who had been together for 38 years! Imagine being in a committed relationship for that long and finally having the chance to get married legally.
It is no wonder that so many gay couples rushed to have their wedding at San Francisco city hall back in 2013 and even into 2014. We photographed close to 50 of our 200 LGBTQ weddings in those first 2 years! Many of them were also in very long relationships and now finally were able to get married. We heard the same stories almost every time. Loving couples together for many years, but could not get married because of laws that were woefully out of date with the times. Even today, there are people trying to outlaw gay marriage and that is really a shame.
As San Francisco City Hall wedding photographers, we think it is important to personalize our service for each of our same-sex couples. Not everyone wants the same type of photography style, posing and romanticism. We never want to make our couples uncomfortable, but at the same time we want to make sure we are providing them with every opportunity to have the perfect wedding shoot. We have had a few older couples ask us to do less romantic photos because they were still not comfortable with public displays of affection. Feel free to let us know if you want lots of posing or prefer more candid type of images. How romantic do you want the photos to be? We feel it is important to talk about these issues in advance because it makes the shoot go smoother and avoids any feelings of being uncomfortable. Ideally, once the shoot starts, we do not have to discuss any of this, we just go! This technique has worked for us for many years and we know that our LGBTQ clients appreciate it.
One of the things that are often missing at Same-Sex marriages are flowers. In most cases the couple just doesn't think about it, but then regrets it when they see other couples at San Francisco city hall with floral arrangements or boutonnieres. Why do I feel that this is so important? Well, while we certainly love photographing weddings at San Francisco City Hall there are a few things that make it this building an ideal place for flowers in your photos. The walls and the floors are all different shades of gray and white. The architecture, the lighting, the windows, all make SF City Hall an amazing place to take wedding pictures. The only thing lacking is color. Adding a nice bouquet with lots of color or a Boutonniere for the men really provides a nice accent and breaks up the monotony of the gray. As you can see in the photo below, it is also works nice to have some color in the outfit. I loved this burgundy tux worn by one of the men. It really stands out, but in a nice and classy way. Also, you should feel free to add any personalized accessories that are important to both of you. See below for more details and ideas.
Another fun thing to bring to your San Francisco City Hall nuptials are signs. Many of our couples bring clever or fun signs that they hold for a few photos. Sometimes the sign can say "Just Married" Or "We got Hitched". I have even had couples bring a sign to hold that simply says: "Thank you!" A great idea for the couple to use in their thank you cards to their guests! Some of our couples will also bring hats of sports Jerseys. A more recent sign we saw that was very clever was "Mommy and Daddy got married!". I am sure you can guess who held this sign up for the wedding pictures. There are all kinds of fun things to enhance your LGBTQ wedding photography shoot, or any photo session. Our main goal is to make your special city hall wedding photography day magical and fun.
