I like this San Francisco city hall ceremony scene because it shows all the people watching with intent interest as the couple say their vows. Sometimes if you want to create an image that provokes lots of fond memories it is nice to show the guests watching the proceedings. Occasionally this type of activity can backfire because sometimes guests can look disinterested even if they are not. So we find ourselves carefully going through any wedding images that show family and friend to make sure that everyone looks OK. We just want to avoid any embarrassing types of wedding photos that might detract otherwise exceptional wedding pictures. The wedding shown above took place at San Francisco City Hall and was completed before the County clerk put the 6 guest limit into effect. We will no longer see crowds like this in the rotunda because now you will need to pay for a reserved ceremony if you're going to have a large guest count. In any case, many of our wedding clients would sometimes push the envelope and bring 20 or more guests. Occasionally this caused some disruption of other activity at City Hall. As it turns out it was one of these large groups that ruined it for everyone else by making lots of noise. Rumor has it that one of these weddings involved a bunch of small children that were running around City Hall, out of control in making too much noise. The Board of Supervisors and the Mayor's office both heard them and complained to the San Francisco County Clerk and that was the end of that.
When this ceremony was complete, we lined up family and friends and photographed quite a large number of family photos. We like to control this part of the shoot. It helps make it go a lot faster if we can help the family line up and create pleasant poses. Our clients are more than happy to allow us to supervise this process because in truth, nobody really loves family photos. It is usually just something to get over with so we can move on to the fun stuff. However, we take this part of the wedding photography coverage very seriously because we know how important family photos are to our clients. These will be the lasting memories they take with them into the future. I know from a personal standpoint that whenever I go back and look at my wedding the first thing I look at are family and friend pictures. It is fun to see how people have changed over the years. Of course I look at pictures of my wife and I as well but we know what each other looks like (as I like to say!) To be the best wedding photographer you can be, these are the types of things you need to think about and remember. Your bride and groom are putting a lot of faith in your skills and ability and they expect not only great photos but great service. We pride ourselves in being very responsive to our City Hall client's needs. We have been photographing weddings at this great venue for over 10 years and we've learned quite a bit over that time. If you'd like to learn more, please feel free to check out the rest of our website