How To Get Married At San Francisco City Hall The 2020-2021 Guide
This guide is mainly to help you once San Francisco City Hall is open to the public again. But, it wouldn't be a guide if we didn't tell you what your options are right now. As of 2020, you can get a marriage license and have an online wedding through the SF City Hall website:
https://sfgov.org/countyclerk/county-clerk-services-during-covid-19-response
You'll both need to be present over the age of 18 and have valid I/D to get your marriage license, even online.
It's $112 for the public license and $93 for their online zoom wedding. However, we think our ceremonies are much more fun than a zoom wedding in your living room, so we offer unique inclusive packages anywhere in the Bay Area and Lake Tahoe. Check out our outdoor elopements HERE. Simply bring that California marriage license, hand it to our officiant and he'll enact your ceremony, and turn in your license to the County Clerk that you obtained it from. You're married!
You can also get your marriage license through the San Francisco County Clerk and it's good anywhere in the state of California for 90 days. For example get your license in San Francisco and use it in Lake Tahoe on the California side.
To get married with our inclusive wedding packages, you can also get your marriage licence through any other County Clerk in California, and sometimes that's easier and they have a shorter wait time. Please ask and we will be happy to advise you on that. Please contact us if you are confused and we'll help you get to the altar with all your paperwork in proper order.
Do we need a separate appointment for the license AND the ceremony? Why do we need two appointments?
This question is very often asked, and important to understand. To get married at SF City Hall using their deputized marriage commissioners, it is crucial to make two appointments. Both of these appointments will take place in room 168 on the first floor. The staff here will help you fill out all of your paperwork, check you in and check your I.D. You MUST have a valid, current driver’s license, military ID or passport with you, or you can’t get married. If you need a witness and are eloping without guests, my team members and I would love to sign as your witness. I always tell my couples that I feel like I’m saying YES to love every time I sign.
Why two appointments? The first one is for you to get your marriage license while the other one is for the ceremony. A marriage license legal document that allows you to get married, but you are not legally married until the second part, holding the ceremony and saying your vows, is completed and your license is signed and turned back in. You can walk into SF City Hall up to 90 days before your ceremony to get your marriage license. This is advisable, especially if you’re planning a private ceremony. In case you plan to get your license at the same date as your civil wedding ceremony, then make it a priority to set the appointment one hour before your scheduled ceremony. A half an hour is not enough and you could end up being late.
You can make the reservations exactly ninety days in advance, but not sooner. This means that if you plan on choosing a popular time or date, such as on a Friday afternoon, you have to book it as soon as possible. City Hall does sell out of dates, so staying up until midnight on that 90 day mark to grab your preferred day and time is sometimes the best way. There are three weddings booked for every half hour, so there are plenty of appointments available if you are early to sign up.
You can book your wedding photography with us farther ahead than that, and some couples book up to two years out to budget their expenses. There is never a fee to change your date and time, so don't feel that you are locked in, if you have an emergency and need to move your wedding date or change your package.
What if we've been married before?
If you've ended a previous marriage within 90 days of your new marriage, you will need to show a certified copy of your divorce decree and know the exact date. Please read their rules on what makes a copy certified. If you ended your previous marriage more than 90 days ago, then you do not need to do anything.
Can we still get married at City Hall even if it's not open to the public yet?
If you're a fan of the gorgeous building with her huge blue dome and white stone exterior, you can still have that in your wedding photos. We're happy to meet you in the small park across the street for an intimate pop up wedding with family and friends. You can even bring your pet, because this space doubles as a super mellow dog park. The tall black iron gates and beautiful green lawn serve as a lovely wedding location, and SF City Hall is very visible as your backdrop. It's also got a tiny parking lot that's easy for car drop off, and there's plenty of street parking.
Do you know of any good places we can go to eat and celebrate after our wedding? Do we ever!
Wayfare Tavern, 558 Sacramento St, San Francisco. has its own private dining room on the second floor which is both roomy and intimate at the same time. It has a real vault, leather chairs and a beautiful long table for all of your party to gather around. The drinks are strong and the food is really great. It's located in the financial district, and has that private club feel to it.
Absinthe 398 Hayes St, San Francisco. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this is the most popular spot for lunch or dinner after a City Hall wedding. It's walkable for most, and has that French bistro vibe. This restaurant also has a private dining room and in 2020 they put up parkettes outside for al fresco dining, that will be in place at least through June 2021. Fantastic service and a really nice menu, plus great champagne make this anm easy choice. They will also make you a wedding cake in house.
Fable 558 Castro Street, San Francisco. Adorable outdoor patio garden on three levels with space heaters. I'm really in love with this space and it's located in the heart of the castro district, but you wouldn't know it from the totally enclosed garden that makes up the whole restaurant. The food is diverse and wonderful with vegan options and a full bar. Great deserts and friendly staff.You could rent out the whole place, or just the upper deck for your party.
Epic Steakhouse 369 The Embarcadero, San Francisco. If you're looking for a stunning view of the permanent light show on the Bay Bridge, that's got a waterfront view, the best steak and wine (full bar too) then look no further.
Seating in the main room gives you an amazing view out the two story windows facing the water. Here, you can snuggle up in big leather horseshoe booths for smaller groups, or if you have a bigger group, there's a dedicated private room upstairs with it's own deck and bar just for your group! The deck is also a fantastic mini photo studio with the bridge and bay behind you,it's so pretty it almost doesn't look real at sunset.They'll also bake you a wedding cake, OR you can order the build your own ice cream sundae which has about fifty topping choices. Just saying.
Where to Hold the Ceremony?
Most wedding ceremonies take place in the Rotunda at the top of the grand staircase. San Francisco City Hall’s website states that you can be accompanied by up to six guests. I’ve known them to be flexible on this point if your guests are quiet so that other ceremonies are not disturbed. Because the building is 500,000 square feet of marble and sandstone, cheering and clapping do echo. Many couples worry that they won’t be allowed to have their wedding in this location, but normally that’s where they are held. When would you not be able to get married in the Rotunda?
In the very rare event that there is a private event booked there.
Tuesday afternoons when the Board of Supervisors meets. They request quiet for their meetings and some weddings have apparently been very…happy!
The Mayor’s inauguration every four years or if there is a large political event that requires security. I’ve only seen that once in all the years I’ve been there.
Just after Thanksgiving, they spend several days setting up the incredibly beautiful Hope Project Christmas tree. In this case, your wedding will be held nearby, usually on the Mayors Balcony or the lovely fourth floor under the half dome windows. These are both fantastic alternatives, and both spots can be rented by the hour if you want a larger or more private wedding.
If you’ve fallen in love with SF City Hall, but also want a fairytale wedding where you can walk down a real aisle, then you’ll want to look into renting the Mayor's Balcony on the second floor. This space can comfortably seat up to one hundred loved ones or party people, depending on your crew.
The standouts of this space are the giant Roman numeral clock that sits above the Mayor's Balcony and overlooks the grand staircase and photo worthy gilded railings that will run right behind your ceremony. It's really stunning and there are a few vantage points to get the best shots.
You are also treated to a stunning view of the iconic domed ceiling and entire atrium. Talk about the “wow” factor! Chair rental is separate; speak with the City Hall Events Department. They have several different styles of wedding chairs to choose from at various price points.
We are on their preferred vendor’s list and are allowed to be on premise to photograph these events. Vendors that work on these floors have insurance to cover City Hall.
This list of the best private places to get married at City Hall would not be complete without mentioning the two fourth floor locations. The North and South Hall’s are located on opposite sides of the fourth floor. This is the top floor of the building, so the dome and gargantuan half dome windows will loom large both in front of you and behind you. Most people gasp at the incredible light up there upon first seeing it. A lot of the most dramatic wedding photography that you’ll see online, showcases these two locations, and their ornate carving and urns.
You can rent these spaces for one hour between 9 am to 4 pm, Monday through Friday. During the time you have rented any of these three spaces, your area will be cordoned off and the name of your party will be posted on flyers for guests to identify your wedding space. It's kind of nice to show up and have your name printed on a nice little sign!
Very important: If you rent the fourth floor or Mayor's Balcony spaces, you need to hire your own wedding officiant. City Hall does not provide them with this option. We have several wedding officiants that are all non denominational ministers, but you can request a blessing if you like.
How do I get to San Francisco City Hall and where do we park?
Staying overnight in San Francisco before your City Hall wedding is always a good idea. You can avoid the stress of morning traffic and long car rides in your wedding outfits, and enjoy a relaxing morning together. Most couples take a hired car to the wedding to avoid parking altogether. You just hop out and head through the famous gold lettered doors on Polk Street (Now this section right in front of City Hall has been renamed 1 Dr.Carlton B Goodlett Place, so tell your driver if he is confused, but it’s still part of Polk Street) If you and your guests are driving your own cars, just set your GPS to 355 McAllister St. You'll only see a small P for parking sign, and ramp that goes down to the convenient underground parking lot. Elevators take you back to street level and let you out directly across the street from the venue.
There is some street metered parking, and you can keep your vehicle there for four-hour blocks of time. If you have a large group to move around and want to do it in style, there are always limo services, but as a nod to our city, you can now hire motorized retired cable cars and drivers to shuttle your guests around town and on tours of the city. This is a good way to entertain guests while you finish your wedding photo shoot or to bring guests to dinner. We also recommend our fully restored VW bus photo tours. There are seven colorful buses available and each holds six guests plus your photographer. Fun, stylish and a great ride to dinner after your wedding.
How do I find quality vendors for hair and makeup, flowers and hire the officiate for my private ceremony?
This is our thing, and it's what we do best. For all the brides and grooms out there that are so burnt out and stressed out on wedding planning, we've got you. It was because of endless conversations with couples that had no idea who to choose or where to even find the best vendors, that we put our all inclusive packages together. It started small. We started working with an officiant that we really loved, and then a fantastic makeup artist reached out to ask if we needed somebody on our team. Those turned out to be very solid long lasting partnerships and we built on that. Our all inclusive wedding packages will match you with hair and make up, photo and video, your floral needs and the best wedding officiants. We now have an exclusive partnership with a vintage VW bus company for photo tours for you and your guests around the city and over the Golden Gate Bridge for stunning, one of a kind wedding portraits. Please tell us what you need and we probably already have a contact for you.
Why choose San Francisco City Hall as your wedding venue?
This building has roots deep in my heart, and after over ten years working with couples at SF City Hall, I could probably write a book on why I love it so much.
This majestic building is now in the National Register of Historic Places and takes up two full city blocks. At five hundred thousand square feet of Beaux Arts architecture, there is no shortage of jaw-dropping locations for wedding photography both inside and outside of the building.
City hall is literally made of tons of marble and sandstone, the majority of this stone came from various states around the U.S., Pennsylvania, Vermont, Alabama and Colorado. Celebrities have been coming here to get married for decades. Most people have heard that Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio got married here in 1954, and that’s true, but most people don’t know that famous artist Frieda Khalo (The subject of the 2002 movie starring Selma Hayek) and muralist Diego Rivera, were married to each other for the *second* time here in 1940, and TV’s Rosie O’Donnell and Kelli Carpenter rented the whole building and had their nuptials here is 2004. There’s also a huge list of movies that have been shot here, including Raiders of the Lost Ark and A View to a Kill, in the James Bond franchise.
What I find really interesting is that this building really resonates with so many different types of people. We've served couples from every continent and race, and everyone feels the same sense of excitement and joy here. If you look around, you'll see happy faces tilted to the ceiling, and smiling at the incredible view from the main floor.It serves as a fantastic venue for many wedding styles from a classic 1920’s Great Gatsby wedding to modern off beat. It's a chameleon.
Have a debt free wedding that's still going to impress your guests. This venue is called The People's Palace for good reason. Everyone is welcome, and everyone can afford to take the same beautiful wedding photographs here. You don't have to be wealthy to have your pictures look like you are. There's true equality here.
When is the best time to take wedding pictures at San Francisco City Hall?
Are you a morning person? SF City Hall opens up at 8 am Monday through Friday, and if there's any way that you can get your hair and make up done (most HMUA charge an early morning fee, but it's worth it) and get there on time, then plan to be there between 8 am and 9 am to start. When you see the most beautiful photographs of this building with no other guests in the images, these couples have often gotten up very early. Another very worthwhile benefit of getting there so early, is that they won't be setting up for any evening parties or events then. This building is a popular venue for corporate parties as well as civic functions and the opening of the SF ballet, opera and symphony. When they do set up for an evening event, they'll begin closing off the rotunda and stairs by noon or 2 pm and once that happens, our couples and photo and video team can't access the grand staircase and very often the other floors of the building.
If you aren't a morning person, that's ok. We suggest meeting around three or four pm and having our officiant perform your ceremony so you don't get held up in the County Clerk office, which is often backed up by the end of the day on Thursday and always on Fridays and popular dates. Don't worry, we'll guide you through the process.
Can we take more wedding pictures around town?
Yes, please! We have worked out some fantastic locations for you to extend your wedding day photography. It’s good to have somebody to guide you to all the prime locations at the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, Lovers Lane and those amazing cityscape shots from high atop our famous hills. Visit The Palace of Fine Arts and catch those magical but elusive Cable Cars.(we have a secret spot where the cable operators are very chill about wedding photos!) We know a thing or two about the beaches, the bridges and everything in between.
Whatever it is that you’re looking to do, let’s talk it out and find the best places for the two of you. It is our greatest hope that family members in years to come will say your wedding pictures are their most cherished family heirloom, as they show their friends and family the great love story of the two of you.